New York University.
Princeton University.
Child Dev. 2021 Jul;92(4):e531-e547. doi: 10.1111/cdev.13527. Epub 2021 Jan 29.
A problematic way to think about social categories is to essentialize them-to treat particular differences between people as marking fundamentally distinct social kinds. From where do these beliefs arise? Language that expresses generic claims about categories elicits some aspects of essentialism, but the scope of these effects remains unclear. This study (N = 204, ages 4.5-8 years, 73% White; recruited predominantly from the United States and the United Kingdom to participate online in 2019) found that generic language increases two critical aspects of essentialist thought: Beliefs that (a) category-related properties arise from intrinsic causal mechanisms and (b) category boundaries are inflexible. These findings have implications for understanding the spread of essentialist beliefs across communities and the development of intergroup behavior.
一种有问题的思考社会类别的方式是将其本质化——将人与人之间的特殊差异视为标志着根本不同的社会类型。这些信念从何而来？表达关于类别一般性主张的语言会引发一些本质主义的观点，但这些影响的范围尚不清楚。本研究（N=204，年龄 4.5-8 岁，73%为白人；主要从美国和英国招募，于 2019 年在线参与）发现，通用语言增加了本质主义思维的两个关键方面：（a）与类别相关的属性源于内在的因果机制，以及（b）类别界限是不可变的。这些发现对于理解本质主义信念在社区中的传播以及群体间行为的发展具有重要意义。
