Commentary

Yuill, Nicola; Gelman, Susan A.

doi:10.1159/000277221

Cited by 33 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 9 publications

(10 reference statements)

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“…Moreover, the studies demonstrate that essentialist beliefs about personality are not only held, but are also held preferentially for particular kinds of characteristics and have several social-cognitive implications. Just as academic trait theory presents a somewhat essentialist view of traits, so do implicit personality theories apply essentialist assumptions, as Gelman (1992) proposed.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All of these studies address aspects of essentialist thinking about personality-particularly inherence, immutability, naturalness, and informativeness or inductive potential-but they do not conceptualize these as elements of a broader essentialist view. Gelman (1992) first drew attention to essentialist assumptions in lay conceptions of personality. Commenting on work by Yuill (1992), which theorizes that people hold a realist view of traits as underlying causal entities rather than mere descriptive labels, Gelman proposed that the realist view corresponds to a belief in essences.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Essentialist Beliefs about Personality and Their Implications

Haslam¹,

Bastian²,

Bissett

2004

Pers Soc Psychol Bull

248

177

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Two studies examine implicit theories about the nature of personality characteristics, asking whether they are understood as underlying essences. Consistent with the hypothesis, essentialist beliefs about personality formed a coherent and replicable set. Personality characteristics differed systematically in the extent to which they were judged to be discrete, biologically based, immutable, informative, consistent across situations, and deeply inherent within the person. In Study 1, the extent to which characteristics were essentialized was positively associated with their perceived desirability, prevalence, and emotionality. In Study 2, essentialized characteristics were judged to be particularly important for defining people's identity, for forming impressions of people, and for communicating about a third person. The findings indicate that people understand some personality attributes in an essentialist fashion, that these attributes are taken to be valued elements of a shared human nature, and that they are particularly central to social identity and judgment.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Essentialist Beliefs about Personality and Their Implications

Haslam¹,

Bastian²,

Bissett

2004

Pers Soc Psychol Bull

248

177

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…According to their research many people think like this. According to Julie Gelman (1992Gelman ( , 2003 among others a view of traits as underlying causal entities rather than mere descriptive labels is deeply entrenched.…”

Section: The Self Stereotyping and Lookismmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Lookism’, Common Schools, Respect and Democracy

Davis

2007

J Philosophy of Education

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Conceptions of aggression and withdrawal in early childhood

Giles

Heyman

2004

Infant and Child Development

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Two studies investigate young children's beliefs about aggression and withdrawal in others with reference to the possibility of stability and change. Study 1 (N ¼ 41) provides evidence that preschool children (1) view aggression in more essentialist ways (i.e. they believe it to be more stable and less changeable) than withdrawal and (2) believe that friends hold a greater potential to create change in aggression and withdrawal than do other potential sources of influence, such as parents and teachers. Study 2 (N ¼ 25) replicates the findings of Study 1 and also demonstrates that by preschool age, children hold systematic ideas about the effectiveness of strategies that friends can use to change the behaviour of their peers. These ideas include the belief that prosocial strategies, such as showing peers how to make friends, are more effective than requests to stop engaging in undesirable behaviour. Study 2 also demonstrates that preschoolaged participants engaged in essentialist reasoning to a greater extent than did a comparison group of 20 7-8 year olds. Copyright # 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Commentary

Cited by 33 publications

References 9 publications

Essentialist Beliefs about Personality and Their Implications

Essentialist Beliefs about Personality and Their Implications

‘Lookism’, Common Schools, Respect and Democracy

Conceptions of aggression and withdrawal in early childhood

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