Are essentialist beliefs associated with prejudice?

Gordon Allport (1954) proposed that belief in group essences is one aspect of the prejudiced personality, alongside a rigid, dichotomous and ambiguity‐intolerant cognitive style. We examined whether essentialist beliefs—beliefs that a social category has a fixed, inherent, identity‐defining nature—a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:British journal of social psychology 2002-03, Vol.41 (1), p.87-100
Main Authors: Haslam, Nick, Rothschild, Louis, Ernst, Donald
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
African Americans
Attitudes
Beliefs
Biological and medical sciences
Culture
Essentialism
Factor Analysis, Statistical
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Group Dynamics
Group Norms
Homophobia
Homosexuality, Male
Humans
Individual Collective Relationship
Ingroup bias
Judgment
Male
Midwestern United States
Personality
Prejudice
Psychological Theories
Psychological Theory
Psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Race
Racism
Regression Analysis
Sexism
Social categories
Social interactions. Communication. Group processes
Social Perception
Social psychology
Social Theories
Social theory
Stereotyping
Women
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Summary:Gordon Allport (1954) proposed that belief in group essences is one aspect of the prejudiced personality, alongside a rigid, dichotomous and ambiguity‐intolerant cognitive style. We examined whether essentialist beliefs—beliefs that a social category has a fixed, inherent, identity‐defining nature—are indeed associated in this fashion with prejudice towards black people, women and gay men. Allport's claim, which is mirrored by many contemporary social theorists, received partial support but had to be qualified in important respects. Essence‐related beliefs were associated strongly with anti‐gay attitudes but only weakly with sexism and racism, and they did not reflect a cognitive style that was consistent across stigmatized categories. When associations with prejudice were obtained, only a few specific beliefs were involved, and some anti‐essentialist beliefs were associated with anti‐gay attitudes. Nevertheless, the powerful association that essence‐related beliefs had with anti‐gay attitudes was independent of established prejudice‐related traits, indicating that they have a significant role to play in the psychology of prejudice.
ISSN:0144-6665
2044-8309
DOI:10.1348/014466602165072