Essentialist Beliefs Research Articles

Do young American children essentialize ethnicity? Examining inductive inferences about Hispanic/Latinx individuals in an ethnically diverse sample

AbstractHispanic and Latinx individuals represent one of the largest and fastest growing ethnic groups in the United States. Yet research has not investigated whether young children hold essentialist beliefs about this prevalent social category. The present study addressed this issue by examining whether children used this ethnic category to make inductive inferences about novel individuals, one dimension of essentialism. A total of 108 children, 5 to 7 years of age (54 female; 56 Hispanic, 46 non‐Hispanic), completed a forced‐choice inference task. Children did not expect members of the same ethnic group to share properties, and this did not vary with their own ethnic group membership. This suggests that in the US, the belief that ethnicity is causally informative undergoes a protracted developmental trajectory, as has been observed for essentialist beliefs about race.

Essentializing Happiness Mitigates the Changes in Subjective Well-Being Following Negative Life Events.

People hold different beliefs about the changeability of happiness. Some believe that happiness is biologically predetermined and thus unchangeable (essentialist beliefs), while others believe that it is malleable and can be changed (non-essentialist beliefs). Do these beliefs have a tangible impact on how individuals actually experience well-being? Here, we predict and empirically demonstrate that endorsing essentialist beliefs about happiness (EBH) can result in a self-fulfilling prophecy that buffers the changes in subjective well-being (SWB) following life events. Through a series of four studies utilizing diverse methodologies (total N = 7,364), we provide converging evidence that happiness essentialists, compared to non-essentialists, experience relatively stable levels of SWB following life events, particularly negative ones. We find that this pattern also emerges when people recall past events or anticipate hypothetical or impending future events. Together, happiness essentialism extends beyond mere belief and has real-world implications for how individuals experience fluctuations in SWB.

Changes in essentialist beliefs about cognitive aging predicts changes in mental health: Evidence from a 10-year longitudinal study.

The belief that aging-related cognitive decline is inevitable is associated with impaired cognitive performance of older adults. Little is, however, known about the association between changes in essentialist beliefs about cognitive aging and mental health in the long term and among both younger and older adults. From a theoretical perspective, it would be expected that changes in essentialist beliefs about cognitive aging predict changes in mental health among older adults compared to younger adults. These differential associations have not yet been prospectively investigated. Using longitudinal data, the association between changes in essentialist beliefs about cognitive aging and mental health outcomes and the moderation effect of age were assessed. Mental health includes well-being and mental illness (depression, anxiety, and panic symptoms). Data from adult participants (n = 4,963 with a mean age of 55.41 years, range 28-84 years) in a U.S. national longitudinal study were analyzed. A series of two-wave latent change score models indicated that changes in essentialist beliefs about cognitive aging are associated with changes in well-being and mental illness. Age did not moderate the relationship between changes in essentialist beliefs about aging and changes in mental health (i.e., mental illness and well-being). The present study highlights change-to-change dynamics between essentialist beliefs about cognitive aging and mental health, regardless of age. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Challenging Misconceptions about Race in Undergraduate Genetics.

Racial biases, which harm marginalized and excluded communities, may be combatted by clarifying misconceptions about race during biology lessons. We developed a human genetics laboratory activity that challenges the misconception that race is biological (biological essentialism). We assessed the relationship between this activity and student outcomes using a survey of students' attitudes about biological essentialism and color-evasive ideology and a concept inventory about phylogeny and human diversity. Students in the human genetics laboratory activity showed a significant decrease in their acceptance of biological essentialism compared with a control group, but did not show changes in color-evasive ideology. Students in both groups exhibited increased knowledge in both areas of the concept inventory, but the gains were larger in the human genetics laboratory. In the second iteration of this activity, we found that only white students' decreases in biological essentialist beliefs were significant and the activity failed to decrease color-evasive ideologies for all students. Concept inventory gains were similar and significant for both white and non-white students in this iteration. Our findings underscore the effectiveness of addressing misconceptions about the biological origins of race and encourage more research on ways to effectively change damaging student attitudes about race in undergraduate genetics education.

Race in the eye of the beholder: Decomposing perceiver- and target-level variation in perceived racial prototypicality

Perceivers' ability to use multiple sources of information when forming impressions—including top-down, perceiver-level features, and bottom-up, target-level features—is a hallmark of social cognition. We investigate this primary foundation by examining the role of perceiver-level and target-level variation in perceived racial prototypicality in the U.S. In Study 1 (200 unique faces; 2608 raters), we quantified contributions of perceiver- and target-level effects to perceived racial prototypicality. Perceiver- and target-level contributions varied across racial category (Asian, Black, Latine, Middle Eastern, and Multiracial), with Multiracial and Middle Eastern prototypicality being more perceiver-driven. Although several appearance features (e.g., perceived ambiguity, skin tone) related to perceived prototypicality, there were distinctions in how perceivers used them (e.g., some people strongly used skin tone to infer Black prototypicality, while others used this less or not at all). A second study (N = 511) experimentally manipulated race essentialist beliefs. While there was no impact on perceived racial prototypicality, regardless of the category (Asian, Black, Latine, Middle Eastern, Multiracial, and Native American), Middle Eastern, Multiracial, and Native American prototypicality were generally more perceiver-driven than other categories, converging with Study 1. Further, perceivers' social dominance orientation, but not several other individual differences, were associated with less use of each of these categories. Taken together, findings suggest perceived racial prototypicality may originate less from stable individual differences like attitudes and instead reflects both i) differences in perceptions of target features and ii) differences in how people use particular target features in making racial prototypicality judgments.

Unraveling the Most Important Predictors of Eudaimonic and Hedonic Well-Being in Korean Adults: A Machine Learning Approach

The quest to unravel what contributes to happiness continues to captivate interest in both everyday experiences and academic discourse. Nonetheless, empirical research on the relative importance of possible candidates and their associations with two key aspects of well-being—eudaimonia (the good life) and hedonia (pleasure)—is limited. This study addresses this gap by exploring the relative strength of 32 predictors from multiple domains on psychological well-being (PWB) and subjective well-being (SWB). Using a machine learning approach on a dataset of 559 Korean adults, we identified distinct primary determinants for each well-being aspect. For PWB, meaning in life, self-esteem, and essentialist beliefs about happiness emerged as the strongest predictors requiring careful consideration. For SWB, depressive symptoms, subjective socioeconomic status, and emotional stability were salient predictors. Our findings highlight potential cultural nuances in the prioritization of happiness and offer valuable insights for policymakers and decision-makers in tailoring interventions and strategies to optimize individual well-being.

The development of social essentialist reasoning in Iran: Insight into biological perception, cultural input, and motivational factors.

People express essentialist beliefs about social categories from an early age, but essentialist beliefs about specific social categories vary over development and in different contexts. Adapting two paradigms used with Western samples to measure social essentialism, we examined the development of essentialist beliefs about seven social categories (gender, race, nationality, religion, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and team fan bases) among 5- to 10-year-old children (N = 88) and adults (N = 273) in Iran, a population that is underrepresented in psychology research. Focusing on natural-kind reasoning, we investigated the relative contribution of biological perception of social categories as well as cultural and motivational factors in the development of essentialist beliefs about these categories. Our findings suggest that biological perception of social categories plays a key role and that cultural and motivational factors become more relevant in essentialist reasoning about social categories that are not perceived as biologically marked. The developmental patterns of essentialist reasoning in our study also closely parallel those found in other cultures, namely the United States and Turkey, further suggesting the primary role of biological perception of social categories in natural-kind reasoning about the social world. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Transformative tales: The role of story videos on children's reasoning about transgender identities.

The current study explored whether positive contact through stories could influence how young children think about transgender identities and gender in general. A total of 174 children ages 5-6 and 9-10 were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: Jazz (participants watched a video regarding a transgender child named Jazz), Blue (participants watched a video regarding a marker that looked red on the outside but inside was really blue) and control (no video). Both videos described the main character as feeling different inside than outside, and their social transition to their preferred identity; researcher scaffolding supported the video messages. Children who viewed the Jazz video had: (a) greater understanding of transgender identities and (b) no overall differences in gender essentialism, but (c) lower gender essentialism on three specific measures (gender immutability, innate toy behaviours and innate preferences). Also, gender essentialism was lower in older versus younger children. In this study, a direct, realistic story was the only effective means of teaching children about transgender identities and reducing belief in gender immutability. Thus, stories can be a way to teach children about the social world and change essentialist beliefs, but the impact may be limited and greatly affected by features of the story.

Essentialist beliefs about the self predict psychological well-being

ABSTRACT The current studies tested whether self-essentialist beliefs (SEBs; that is, believing one’s identity is defined by enduring, inherent properties) enhance self-perceptions and psychological well-being. In Studies 1A (n = 208) and 1B (n = 305), we found that SEBs predicted self-perceptions and well-being, even with related variables controlled. Study 2 (n = 129) replicated and extended these findings in a short longitudinal design. In Studies 3A (n = 488), 3B (n = 404), 4 (n = 232), and 5 (n = 390), we manipulated SEBs and tested for effects on self-perceptions and well-being. Our manipulations successfully influenced SEBs, but generally did not directly affect self-perceptions and well-being. However, we consistently found indirect effects of the manipulations (via manipulation-check measures) in the predicted directions.

Mother’s Instinct? Biological Essentialism and Parents’ Involvement in Work and Childcare

AbstractDespite wide public support for gender equality in work and caregiving, family responsibilities are still divided predominantly along traditional gender lines. This study examined the role of biological essentialism in the division of family roles using a nationally representative sample of British parents with young children (N = 5,605). Both mothers’ and fathers’ essentialist beliefs about men’s and women’s innate ability to care for children were associated with a more traditional division of childcare tasks, more hours of childcare provided by the mother, and fewer hours of childcare provided by the father. When gender role attitudes were considered together with biological essentialism, only essentialism was a significant predictor of involvement in childcare. Finally, the results supported our predictions that the effect of biological essentialism is mediated through parents’ work hours, and that essentialism affects mothers’ and fathers’ involvement in work and childcare in opposite directions. Taken together, the findings suggest that essentialist beliefs are a key hindrance to greater gender equality because they motivate parents to divide roles according to traditional gender norms. These findings may be of particular interest to practitioners and policy makers interested in increasing fathers’ involvement in childcare, mothers’ participation in the labor force, and overall gender equality.

Who, how, and when do children help? A systematic review of children's outgroup prosocial behavior

AbstractGiven the ingroup bias in children's prosocial behaviors, understanding what characterizes and predicts children's prosocial behaviors directed at outgroups has implications for more harmonious intergroup relations. We conducted a systematic review outlining the important theoretical frameworks that drive research in this area and examined the targets, types, and predictors surrounding prosocial behavior toward socially relevant outgroups among children ages 3–12 years. A total of 24 studies were included in the narrative synthesis. A range of targets of prosocial behavior (i.e., who was the intended recipient of the act) was observed and included both individual outgroup members and the collective outgroup. The studies also varied in the types of outgroup prosocial behavior assessed, including resource allocation, helping intentions, and collective prosocial behavior. Predictors of prosocial behavior occurred at two levels: individual and contextual. Individual predictors included contact, outgroup stereotypes, essentialist beliefs, empathy and mentalization, and fairness. Contextual factors included geographic proximity, reciprocity and collaboration, cost of helping, structural inequality, and intergroup conflict. Finally, we focus on age‐related changes to map the developmental trajectory of both the characteristics and predictors of prosocial behaviors. In a divided world, the implications for future research on outgroup prosocial behavior during childhood are discussed. We also reflect on the need for future longitudinal and culturally embedded research.

What makes us “we”? The positivity bias in essentialist beliefs about group attributes

Psychological essentialism refers to the tendency to view entities as having enduring properties that make them what they are (i.e., essences). Emerging research suggests people possess a positivity bias in essentialism (PBE), a preference to view positively (vs. negatively) evaluated attributes as the essences of an entity. Four experiments (total N = 1020) tested group attributes' association (ingroup vs. outgroup) as a boundary condition of PBE. We expected PBE to be stronger for ingroup than for outgroup and this difference to be accentuated by (a) identity centrality and (b) self-uncertainty. In Studies 1–3, we asked participants to generate one positive attribute and one negative attribute for ingroup and outgroup respectively and measured PBE. PBE was found to be stronger for ingroup attributes and was even reversed for outgroup attributes. Identity centrality, but not self-uncertainty, accentuated this effect. In the pre-registered Study 4, we asked participants to generate as many attributes as possible and replicated the main findings. Moreover, we found differences in PBE, along with intergroup affect, prospectively accounted for intergroup cooperative intentions. The findings suggest that essentialist beliefs about attributes are constrained by collective self-enhancement and have unique implications in intergroup contexts.

Can essences mix? An essentialist theory of genetic hybrids in the human and animal domain

This paper reviews research on biological essentialist beliefs and what these entail for perceiving genetic hybrids. It is suggested that hybrid perception results from the characteristics of essentialist reasoning, according to which living beings are endowed with a specific identity as a member of a natural kind. The most important elements of attributing an essence onto an individual are its perceived causal power to determine group membership, being immutable, discrete with regard to an individual's membership in exactly one category, making members of a category appear homogeneous, and ensuring intergenerational stability. Mixing two essences as in genetic engineering strips the hybrid of an unambiguous identity in perception, and results in its devaluation. Such devaluation seems to occur on a non-conscious level and across cultures. The basic claims not only hold for animals but also apply to the human domain and to inter-ethnic procreation, primarily for respondents with conservative worldviews.

Gender essentialism and benevolent sexism in anti‐trans rhetoric

AbstractThe past half‐decade has seen an exponential rise in proposed and debated anti‐trans legislation in the United States. These bills are often positioned at the center of divisive political debates between Republicans (who typically support these laws) and Democrats (who typically do not). In the process of discussing these debates, there has been widespread dissemination of anti‐trans rhetoric that has the potential to impact public opinion. In this review, we approach this rhetoric through the lens of social psychology with a specific focus on instances where anti‐trans legislation is portrayed as beneficial for the rights of other vulnerable groups of people, such as cisgender women and children. We identify psychological constructs reflected in anti‐trans rhetoric and then review existing literature on the consequences and beliefs associated with these constructs. Based upon this review, we argue that the kind of reasoning used to promote anti‐trans laws—specifically, essentialist beliefs and benevolent sexism—is actually associated with outcomes that are detrimental to the very groups these laws purport to protect. Given these potentially adverse effects of essentialism and benevolent sexism, we reflect on ways to reduce the impact of these psychological constructs in everyday life and suggest some alternatives to these laws that would improve the lives of both cisgender and transgender individuals. Next, we briefly discuss other forms of anti‐trans rhetoric and suggest ways that social psychology can be used to positively reframe rhetoric and policy to promote the welfare of transgender and gender‐diverse individuals. We close our paper with a brief discussion of limitations and summary of our ideas.

Essential shape: The role of essentialist beliefs in preferences for misshapen produce

Understanding the reasons behind consumer rejection of misshapen produce is important because of its dramatic consequences on food waste. Drawing on psychological essentialism, we conduct seven studies to investigate the role of produce shape-related essentialist beliefs (i.e., the belief that produce shape is determined by an underlying and unobservable essence) in consumers’ evaluations of misshapen produce. Our findings show that essentialist beliefs about produce shape are divided into four distinct dimensions (i.e., biological basis, discreteness, informativeness, and immutability). We find that endorsing discreteness beliefs decreases preferences for misshapen produce. Immutability beliefs produce the opposite effect, whereas informativeness and biological basis have little to no effect. These effects operate through typicality judgments. These findings suggest that considering essentialist beliefs have the potential to help enhance the acceptance of edible albeit misshapen produce.

Social kind generics and the dichotomizing perspective

ABSTRACT Generics about social kinds (or GSKs) frequently propagate descriptions that carry normative force (e.g., “women are emotional”). Some philosophers of language attribute this to GSKs’ tendency to transmit essentialist beliefs about social kinds. According to these accounts, utterances of GSKs implicate that there is something in the nature of social kinds that causes them to possess the properties described, and that individual members of these social kinds therefore ought to exhibit (or be expected to exhibit) these properties. Here, I draw on empirical evidence to suggest an alternative account. According to my framework, an utterance of a GSK implicates a distinction between the social kind described and its salient conceptual opposite, producing what I call a dichotomizing perspective. For example, “women are emotional” suggests that men are not. Importantly, such distinctions frequently persist in the societal common ground as a function of social power, in part due to their alignment with hierarchical social structures between dichotomized social kinds. This enables such GSKs to perpetuate biased patterns of attention, expectation, and behavior even in the absence of essentialist belief.

I am what I am: The role of essentialist beliefs and neurodivergent identification on individuals' self-efficacy.

Essentialism is the belief that members of particular categories (e.g., social and cultural) are united by an innate underlying essence. While such beliefs have been associated with negative outcomes such as stereotyping, discrimination, and prejudice, minority group members can sometimes use essentialist beliefs to validate their identities. Here, we focus on people who identify as "neurodivergent"-individuals whose brains differ from typical neurology (such as those with autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, etc.). We examined whether endorsing essentialist beliefs about neurodivergence serves a protective function among 316 neurodivergent-identifying individuals. As expected, endorsing essentialist beliefs was related to higher self-efficacy. This was especially true of people who highly identified as neurodivergent. These results illuminate how essentialist beliefs may empower a group that is often negatively stereotyped. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Mindsets of poverty: Implications for redistributive policy support

AbstractBelief systems impact poverty reduction efforts, as they can enhance, or diminish, support for redistributive economic policies. We examined the predictive utility of mindsets about the changeability (growth mindsets) or the stability (fixed mindsets) of the nature of poverty in society. We conducted six studies, two pre‐registered, using both cross‐sectional (N = 763) and experimental methods (N = 1361). Growth mindsets of poverty in society predicted greater support for redistributive policies, in part through decreased blame, although there was also a small but unreliable negative indirect effect through social class essentialism. The three experimental studies, each using a different approach, were successful in manipulating mindsets of poverty. However, only the approach leveraging system justifying beliefs had implications for blame, essentialist beliefs, and indirect consequences for policy support. We discuss potential implications of this work for leveraging multiple belief systems to optimally promote support for policies designed to abolish poverty.

Gender is conceptualized in different ways across cultures

AbstractGender can be considered an embodied social concept encompassing biological and cultural components. In this study, we explored whether the concept of gender varies as a function of different cultural and linguistic norms by comparing communities that vary in their social treatment of gender-related issues and linguistic encoding of gender. In Study 1, Italian, Dutch, and English-speaking participants completed a free-listing task, which showed Italians and Dutch were the most distinct in their conceptualization of gender: Italian participants focused more on socio-cultural features (e.g., discrimination, politics, and power), whereas Dutch participants focused more on the corporeal sphere (e.g., hormones, breasts, and genitals). Study 2 replicated this finding focusing on Italian and Dutch and using a typicality rating task: socio-cultural and abstract features were considered as more typical of “gender” by Italian than Dutch participants. Study 3 addressed Italian and Dutch participants’ explicit beliefs about gender with a questionnaire measuring essentialism and constructivism, and consolidated results from Studies 1 and 2 showing that Dutch participants endorsed more essentialist beliefs about gender than Italian participants. Consistent with socio-cultural constructivist accounts, our results provide evidence that gender is conceptualized differently by diverse groups and is adapted to specific cultural and linguistic environments.

How the Lewisian can Account for Kit Fine’s Essentialist Beliefs

AbstractThe Lewisean counterpart theorist– despite not defending a genuinely essentialist view of what is possible, de re, of individuals – generally has a way to make essentialist claims come out as true, in those contexts in which they are endorsed by a committed essentialist.In this paper, I am going to show that the normal system that the Lewisean adopts when she wants to make the essentialist a truth-teller does not work with Kit Fine: his essentialist beliefs, which support his counterexamples to the modal account of essentialism, cannot come out as true, in any contexts whatsoever, under the Lewisean view.After arguing that this represents a genuine problem for Lewis’s theory, I will propose a solution. I will indeed show that the Lewisean has a principled way to account for Fine’s essentialist beliefs, consistently with her own counterpart-theorist reading of them.