On the comprehension and production of pronouns

Abstract

Four experiments investigated whether subjects understand the supposedly generic he generically. In Experiment I, subjects responded YES if an auditorily presented sentence could refer to a female and otherwise NO. Responses were 98% correct for sentences containing sex-specific nouns and pronouns, but 87% incorrect (i.e., NO) for sentences containing generic he . In Experiment II, subjects heard identical sentences but responded YES if the sentence could refer to a male. Responses were 99% correct, indicating high availability of the concept “male” for sentences containing generic he . In Experiment III, responses were 97% incorrect with she substituted for he in otherwise identical generic sentences. Experiment IV determined the effect of removing the pronouns from the sentences. The results inspired a general model of processes underlying the comprehension and production of pronouns.