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.

Preverbal infants expect members of social groups to act alike

“…Paired-sample t tests revealed that infants in the animate condition, like those in Experiment 1, looked significantly longer to inconsistent trials (56.5% of looking time) than to consistent trials [43.5%; t (23) = 2.87, P < 0.01; this difference was also reflected in a strong trend toward a main effect of trial type in the ANOVA, F (1,40) = 3.974, P = 0.053]. In contrast, for infants in the inanimate condition the difference between looking times to inconsistent (49.3%) and consistent trials (50.7%) was not statistically significant [t (23) = 0.33, P > 0.7; Fig. 2].…”

“…By the preschool years, parents and other adults have begun to instruct children in the conventional behavior of their own groups, and they talk about the behaviors of social groups in generic terms (22). Children may generalize from this input and come to expect that groups are likely to be characterized by particular behaviors and that adherence to those behaviors is normative (23). Children might also learn from interacting with others that conventional behaviors can be socially rewarding, correct, or useful.…”

The differential effects of labelling: how do ‘dyslexia’ and ‘reading difficulties’ affect teachers’ beliefs

“…Rothbart and Taylor (1992) further suggested that essentialist thinking may affect perceptions of specific groups, and accentuate inter-group differences. The pervasive nature of essentialist thinking and the role of language in the cultural transmission of essentialist attributions (as outlined by Rhodes, Leslie, and Tworek, 2012) have implications for practitioners and administrators concerned about the potential for stereotyping and prejudice.…”

“…It is, however, conceivable that essentialist views of groups of children (or 'categories of special educational need') may, through adherence to prejudicial beliefs or assumptions, undermine teachers' preparedness to engage fully with inclusive education. In relation to teachers' beliefs in their efficacy (Jordan & Stanovich, 2004;TschannenMoran & Johnson, 2011) it is possible that beliefs in the essentialist characteristics of certain groups undermine teachers' beliefs that it is possible to support greater progress and/or achievement for children (Rhodes et al, 2012;Southerland et al, 2011).…”

Children's media communicates essentialist views of science and scientists

“…For example, Rhodes et al (2012) introduced 4-year-old children to a new, made-up social category, called "Zarpies" via a series of statements that described specific individuals (e.g., "This is a Zarpie. This Zarpie loves to sing") or that made generic claims (e.g., "This is a Zarpie.…”