Project Description
ESRC South Coast Doctoral Partnership (SCDTP) funded. Project code: PSYC4270118

Supervision team:
Dr Erik Gustafsson
Dr Tara Woodyer
Dr Stefanie Sonnenberg

Project in brief

Children’s toys are heavily gendered, resulting in boys and girls developing varied sets of skills which may either help or hinder them in their future curricula and career choices. Media and advertisements further encourage the prevalence of gender stereotypes in many forms, including toy catalogues. Recently some progress has been made in developing gender neutral toy descriptions in advertising, to encourage children to take part in cross gender play. The present project investigates the impact of gender-neutral material on children’s attitude and behaviours, and on the conversation they have with parents and peers.

Specific candidate requirements:

Applicants for this PhD position should have at least a completed BA or BSc honours level degree in psychology, geography or cognate discipline from an accredited course (minimum 2.1 award) (required); Experience with child research participants (desired); basic knowledge of quantitative and qualitative data analysis (desired).

For all funding, students must have qualifications of the standard of a good honours degree at first or upper second-class level, from a UK academic higher education institution. Degree qualifications gained from outside the UK, or a combination of qualifications and/or experience that is equivalent to a relevant UK degree, may be accepted.

The studentship includes an annual maintenance grant, of £14,553 (2017/18).

For more information and to apply: http://www.port.ac.uk/postgraduate-research/psychology/funded-phd-opportunities/whom-are-these-toys-for-investigating-the-influence-of-gender-neutral-toys-adve.html

The closing date for applications is 22 January 2018, 11.59 pm.

Funded PhD: Investigating the Influence of Gender-neutral Toys Advertisement on Children’s Attitudes and Play Behaviours