In genes we trust: the biological component of psychological essentialism and its relationship to mechanisms of motivated social cognition

Three studies analyzed the biological component of psychological essentialism (laypeople's belief that social categories have an underlying nature/natural foundation) as it pertains to mechanisms of motivated social cognition. A new scale assessing the belief in genetic determinism is introduce...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of personality and social psychology Vol. 88; no. 4; p. 686
Main Author Keller, Johannes
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 01.04.2005
Subjects
Adult
Attitude
Female
Genetic Determinism
Humans
Male
Motivation
Prejudice
Social Perception
Stereotyping
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Summary:Three studies analyzed the biological component of psychological essentialism (laypeople's belief that social categories have an underlying nature/natural foundation) as it pertains to mechanisms of motivated social cognition. A new scale assessing the belief in genetic determinism is introduced as a measure of the biological component of essentialism. Results speak to the reliability and validity of the scale and show that essentialist beliefs are associated with basic social-cognitive motives and are also related to processes of stereotyping and prejudice. An experimental study found that rendering essentialist information salient elicits increased levels of prejudice and in-group bias, particularly in persons holding chronic essentialist beliefs.
ISSN:0022-3514
DOI:10.1037/0022-3514.88.4.686