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Journal ArticleDOI

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

TLDR
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.
Abstract
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.

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Social class, solipsism, and contextualism: how the rich are different from the poor.

TL;DR: This framework describes how class-based contextualist and solipsistic tendencies shape the self, perceptions of the social environment, and relationships to other individuals and details 9 hypotheses and relevant empirical evidence concerning how class influences behavior.
Journal ArticleDOI

The essence of innocence: Consequences of dehumanizing Black children.

TL;DR: The present research finds converging evidence that Black boys are seen as older and less innocent and that they prompt a less essential conception of childhood than do their White same-age peers.
Journal ArticleDOI

The Psychology of Worldviews

TL;DR: A worldview (or "world view") is a set of assumptions about physical and social reality that may have powerful effects on cognition and behavior as mentioned in this paper, and it is defined as "a set of beliefs about the world view".
Journal ArticleDOI

Genetic essentialism: on the deceptive determinism of DNA.

TL;DR: The authors reviewed research on people's understanding of race, gender, sexual orientation, criminality, mental illness, and obesity through a genetic essentialism lens, highlighting attitudinal, cognitive, and behavioral changes that stem from consideration of genetic attributions as bases of these categories.
Posted Content

Social Inequality and the Reduction of Ideological Dissonance on Behalf of the System: Evidence of Enhanced System Justification among the Disadvantaged

TL;DR: The authors found that low income respondents and African Americans were more likely than others to support limitations on the rights of citizens and media representatives to criticize the government, and low income Latinos are more likely to trust in U.S. government officials and to believe that "the government is run for the benefit of all" than were high income Latinos.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI

Self-efficacy: toward a unifying theory of behavioral change.

TL;DR: An integrative theoretical framework to explain and to predict psychological changes achieved by different modes of treatment is presented and findings are reported from microanalyses of enactive, vicarious, and emotive mode of treatment that support the hypothesized relationship between perceived self-efficacy and behavioral changes.
Book

Multiple Regression: Testing and Interpreting Interactions

TL;DR: In this article, the effects of predictor scaling on the coefficients of regression equations are investigated. But, they focus mainly on the effect of predictors scaling on coefficients of regressions.
Book

The Nature of Prejudice

TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe the dynamics of prejudgment, including: Frustration, Aggression and Hatred, Anxiety, Sex, and Guilt, Demagogy, and Tolerant Personality.
Journal ArticleDOI

A new scale of social desirability independent of psychopathology.

TL;DR: It seems clear that the items in the Edwards Social Desirability Scale would, of necessity, have extreme social desirability scale positions or, in other words, be statistically deviant.
Journal ArticleDOI

Implicit Social Cognition: Attitudes, Self-Esteem, and Stereotypes.

TL;DR: The present conclusion--that attitudes, self-esteem, and stereotypes have important implicit modes of operation--extends both the construct validity and predictive usefulness of these major theoretical constructs of social psychology.
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