All that talk of parents not having a favourite? Turns out that might just be a big lie.
We know that mums and dads are constantly stating that they love their kids an equal amount, but either they're lying to their kids, or lying to themselves as well.
A new study published in the online Journal of Consumer Psychology (via
Eurekalert), which isn't set to appear in full until January 2018, has found some evidence that seems to indicate whether parents prefer their sons or daughters.
Having asked parents directly, over 90% of them stated that they treat children of different genders equally (that still leaves nearly one in ten parents being bracingly honest, and we'd love to know what
they said), it turns out that using a very simple test could show immediately whether the parents had a preference.
Mothers and fathers who have two children - one son and one daughter - were told they would be given a $25 treasury bond and they had to decide which one of their children was to receive it.
According to the study, mothers were more likely to give the bond to their daughters, and fathers were more likely to give the bond to their sons.
Kristina Durante, a professor of marketing at Rutgers Business School in New Jersey, who helped perform the study, found that the reasoning behind it was very basic-level humanity kinda stuff.
"We found that the effect was very robust in four different experiments and across cultures. The bias toward investing in same-gendered children occurs because women identify more with and see themselves in their daughters, and the same goes for men and sons."
So there you have it. Apparently, mums like daughters better and dads like sons better.
How you use that information is up to you.
Clip via memberts
