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Cultural transmission of social essentialism.

ABSTRACT: Social essentialism entails the belief that certain social categories (e.g., gender, race) mark fundamentally distinct kinds of people. Essentialist beliefs have pernicious consequences, supporting social stereotyping and contributing to prejudice. How does social essentialism develop? In the studies reported here, we tested the hypothesis that generic language facilitates the cultural transmission of social essentialism. Two studies found that hearing generic language about a novel social category diverse for race, ethnicity, age, and sex led 4-y-olds and adults to develop essentialist beliefs about that social category. A third study documented that experimentally inducing parents to hold essentialist beliefs about a novel social category led them to produce more generic language when discussing the category with their children. Thus, generic language facilitates the transmission of essentialist beliefs about social categories from parents to children.

SUBMITTER: Rhodes M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3427061 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Cultural transmission of social essentialism.

Rhodes Marjorie M Leslie Sarah-Jane SJ Tworek Christina M CM

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20120806 34

Social essentialism entails the belief that certain social categories (e.g., gender, race) mark fundamentally distinct kinds of people. Essentialist beliefs have pernicious consequences, supporting social stereotyping and contributing to prejudice. How does social essentialism develop? In the studies reported here, we tested the hypothesis that generic language facilitates the cultural transmission of social essentialism. Two studies found that hearing generic language about a novel social categ ...[more]

PMID: 22869722

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