Essentialistic Beliefs about Policemen and Criminals
Keywords:
Essentialism, Naturalism, Entitativity, Police-men, CriminalsAbstract
The purpose of this article is to report the results of an experimental study about essentialistic beliefs conducted according to the brain transplant paradigm. A sample of Brazilians (101) and Spaniards (138) were submitted to a mental experiment in a 2 (Country) x 2 (direction of the brain’s transplant) design. A log-linear analysis showed no clear main effects of the country, but an interaction between country and brain transfer. The justifications given by the participants were analyzed showing that contextual pressures were adopted to justify the stability of behavior while other type of explanations were mainly used to justify behavioral changes after the presumed brain transplant. The implications of these findings are discussed.
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References
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Medin, D. (1989). Concepts and conceptual structure. American Psychologist, 44(12), 1469-1481.
Medin, D., Goldstone, R., & Gentner, D. (1993). Respects for similarity. Psychological Review, 44, 1469-81.
Medin, D., & Shoben, E. (1988). Context and structure in conceptual combination. Cognitive Psychology, 20, 158-190.
Pereira, M., Alvaro, J.L. & Schweiger, I (2010). Essentialism and the expression of social stereotypes: a comparative study in Spain, Brazil and England. Spanish Journal of Psychology, 13 (2), 808-817
Picket, C. (2001). The effects of entitativity beliefs on implicit comparisons between group members. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27(5), 515-525.
Rosch, E. (1975). Cognitive representations of semantic categories. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 104, 192-233.
Rosch, E., Mervis, C., Gray, W., Johnson, D., & Boyes-Braem, P. (1976). Basic objects in natural categories. Cognitive Psychology, 8, 383-439.
Rothbart, M., & Taylor, M. (1992). Category labels and social reality: do we view social categories as natural kinds? Em G. Semin & K. Fiedler (Eds.). Language, interaction and social cognition (pp.11-36). London: Sage.
Sherman, J. (1996). Development and mental representations of stereotypes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 1126-1141
Yzerbyt, V., Rocher, S., & Schadron, G. (1997). Stereotypes as explanations: a subjective essentialistic view of group perception. Em R. Spears, P. Oakes, N. Ellemers & A. Haslam (Eds.). The Psychology of stereotyping and group life. (pp.20-50). London: Basil Blackwell.
Gelman, S. (2004). Psychological essentialism in children. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 8, 404-409.
Gottfried, G., Gelman, S., & Schultz, J. (1999). Children’s understanding of the brain: from early essentialism to biological theory. Cognitive Development, 14, 147-174.
Haslam, N. (1998). Natural kinds, human kinds, and essentialism. Social Research, 65(2), 1-10.
Haslam, N., Bain, P., Douge, L., Lee, M., & Bastian, B. (2005). More human than you: attributing humanness to self and others. Journal of Personality an Social Psychology, 89(6), 937-950.
Heider, F. (1970). Psicologia das relações interpessoais. São Paulo: Pioneira (edição original: 1958).
Johnson, C. N. (1990). If you had my brain, where I would be? Children’s understanding of the brain and identity. Child Development, 61, 962-972.
Jones, E., & Davis, K. (1965). From acts to dispositions: the attribution process in perception of person. Em L. Berkowitz (Ed.). Advances in Experimental Social Psychology (vol. 2) (pp. 219-266). New York: Academic Press.
Keller, J. (2005). In genes we trust: the biological component of psychological essentialism and its relationship to mechanisms of motivated social cognition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88(4), 686-702.
Macrae, C., & Bodenhausen, G. (2000). Social cognition: thinking categorically about others. Annual Review of Psychology, 51, 93-120.
Mahalingam, R. (2003). Essentialism, culture, and power: representations of social class. Journal of Social Issues, 59(4), 733-749.
Mahalingam, R., & Rodriguez, R. (2003). Essentialism, power and cultural psychology of gender. Journal of Cognition and Culture, 2, 157-174.
Malle, B. (1999). How people explain behavior: a new theoretical framework. Personality and Psychology Social Review, 3, 23-48.
Malle, B. (2006). How the mind explains behavior. Folk explanations, meaning and Social Interactions. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.
Medin, D. (1989). Concepts and conceptual structure. American Psychologist, 44(12), 1469-1481.
Medin, D., Goldstone, R., & Gentner, D. (1993). Respects for similarity. Psychological Review, 44, 1469-81.
Medin, D., & Shoben, E. (1988). Context and structure in conceptual combination. Cognitive Psychology, 20, 158-190.
Pereira, M., Alvaro, J.L. & Schweiger, I (2010). Essentialism and the expression of social stereotypes: a comparative study in Spain, Brazil and England. Spanish Journal of Psychology, 13 (2), 808-817
Picket, C. (2001). The effects of entitativity beliefs on implicit comparisons between group members. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27(5), 515-525.
Rosch, E. (1975). Cognitive representations of semantic categories. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 104, 192-233.
Rosch, E., Mervis, C., Gray, W., Johnson, D., & Boyes-Braem, P. (1976). Basic objects in natural categories. Cognitive Psychology, 8, 383-439.
Rothbart, M., & Taylor, M. (1992). Category labels and social reality: do we view social categories as natural kinds? Em G. Semin & K. Fiedler (Eds.). Language, interaction and social cognition (pp.11-36). London: Sage.
Sherman, J. (1996). Development and mental representations of stereotypes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 1126-1141
Yzerbyt, V., Rocher, S., & Schadron, G. (1997). Stereotypes as explanations: a subjective essentialistic view of group perception. Em R. Spears, P. Oakes, N. Ellemers & A. Haslam (Eds.). The Psychology of stereotyping and group life. (pp.20-50). London: Basil Blackwell.
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Published
2011-02-12
How to Cite
Pereira, M. E., Estramiana, J. L. Álvaro, Vasconcelos, C., & Alves, M. V. (2011). Essentialistic Beliefs about Policemen and Criminals. Psicologia: Teoria E Pesquisa, 26(4), 707–715. Retrieved from https://periodicos.unb.br/index.php/revistaptp/article/view/17495
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Section
Estudos Empíricos
