Current study
In this study, our goal is to explore how generic statements (compared
with specific statements) elicit different components of essentialist
thinking about a novel social category, and to examine if content of
generics (biologic vs. cultural) modulate this effect. By doing so, (1)
we can test whether previous results are generalizable to a non-WEIRD
society and to speakers of a language other than English and (2) we take
a step to shed light on the underlying mechanisms explained above. Based
on previous research, we predict that generic descriptions about a novel
social category, compared to specific descriptions about a member of a
social category, lead children to appeal to category-based, intrinsic
explanations. Yet, we expect that only generics with biological
predicates give rise to an inborn/inheritable view of the category.