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http://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog/?doi=10.1007/s11199-016-0646-6&domain=pdf
Web End = http://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog/?doi=10.1007/s11199-016-0646-6&domain=pdf
Web End = Sex Roles (2016) 75:409421 DOI 10.1007/s11199-016-0646-6
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Gender Essentialism in Children and Parents: Implications for the Development of Gender Stereotypingand Gender-Typed Preferences
Meredith Meyer1 & Susan A. Gelman2
Published online: 27 June 2016# Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016
Abstract Psychological essentialism is a set of lay beliefs about categories, according to which certain categories are seen as natural and arising from an inborn, causal force or Bessence.^ Social categories, including gender, are often essentialized by both adults and children. The current study examines how gender essentialism relates to other gender-relevant beliefs and preferences, in both a child sample (5- to 7-year-olds) and an adult sample (the childrens parents). Childrens and parents essentialism predicted childrens gender-typed preferences, but not childrens prescriptive stereotyping. In contrast, parents essentialism predicted their own prescriptive stereotyping, but not their gender-typed preferences. Implications of these findings are discussed in the contexts of (a) past findings linking essentialism with stereotyping and (b) the practical implications of developmental shifts in the correlates of essentialism, including ways in which stereotyping and rigid beliefs about gender may be reduced.
Keywords Psychological essentialism . Stereotyped behavior . Stereotyped attitudes . Development
Psychological essentialism is a lay theory about how categories are structured. Two main beliefs compose essentialism. First, essentialized categories are seen as richly structured natural kinds, with many similarities among category members that extend beyond superficial features to include deep and
non-obvious commonalities. Second, essentialized categories are believed to possess an underlying causal force, or Bessence,^ that is innate, stable, and immutable. This essence is assumed to be causally responsible for the emergence of category-typical features (Gelman 2003). Work in the social domain suggests that social groups are often essentialized and that viewing groups this way predicts a number of other important social inferences, including stereotype endorsement and certain forms of prejudice (Bastian and Haslam 2006; Gaunt 2006; Hoffman and Hurst 1990; Morton et al. 2009; Smiler and Gelman 2008; Yzerbyt et al. 1998, 2001). However, much less is known about the development of this association, and the full complexity of how essentialism, stereotyping, and other social judgments interrelate remains unclear. We address these issues in the current study. In the remainder of our introduction,...