Search

As an account of the cognitive processes that support psychological essentialism, the inherence heuristic clarifies the basis of individual differences in essentialist thinking, and how they are associated with prejudice. It also illuminates die contextual variability of social essentialism, and where its conceptual boundaries should be drawn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychological essentialism operates in two realms that have consequences for our attitudes towards groups and individuals. Although essentialism is more familiar in the context of biological group membership, it can also be evoked when considering unique artefacts, especially when they are emotionally significant items. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent evidence shows that psychological essentialism is neither a universal nor stable feature of human cognition. The extent to which people report essentialist intuitions varies enormously across cultures and education levels, and is also influenced by subde, normatively irrelevant contextual manipulations. These results challenge die notion that the human mind is "fitted" with a built-in inherence heuristic that produces essentialist intuitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]