1. How
Percep*on
of
Social
Conflict
Affects
Essen*alist
Thinking
Y.
Xu,
J.
Book,
S.
Ernst,
C.
Marsalisi,
B.
Gordon,
S.
Singhal
&
J.
Coley
Categoriza*on
and
Reasoning
Lab,
Northeastern
Psychology
Department
Background
Psychological
Essen/alism
The
belief
that
some
deep,
unobservable
essen5al
property
(‘essence’)
determines
category
membership
and
causes
observable
similari5es
among
category
members.
Essen/alist
Thinking
of
Social
Categories
People
essen5alize
social
categories
such
as
gender,
race,
religion,
poli5cal
affilia5on,
etc.
Environmental
Effects
on
Essen/alist
Thinking
Current
Study
Aim
The
current
study
aims
to
inves5gate
how
perceived
social
conflict
would
facilitate
or
alleviate
essen5alist
thinking
about
relevant
social
categories.
Hypothesis
We
hypothesize
that
the
percep5on
of
intense
social
conflict
would
increase
essen5alist
thinking
of
social
categories
both
involved
and
not
involved
in
the
conflict.
Method
Study
Design
Subjects
will
see
videos
presen5ng
conflicts
between
two
social
groups
and
rate
on
the
essen5alist
thinking
measures
of
various
social
categories.
Conflict
Manipula*on
Each
subject
will
be
randomly
assigned
into
one
of
the
5
study
condi5ons.
In
4
of
the
5
condi5ons,
subjects
will
see
one
video
depic5ng
direct
social
conflict
between
two
racial/
poli5cal/
religious/
sports
fan
groups.
Social
Essen*alism
Measure
Naturalness,
Necessity,
Uniformity,
Informa*veness
Eg.
Naturalness
ra*ng:
“Some
categories
may
be
more
natural
than
others,
whereas
others
may
be
more
ar5ficial.
Please
rate
how
natural
each
social
category
is.
“
Predicted
Results
Discussion
References
Underlying
Essence
of
Doghood
Category:
Interdisciplinary
Topics
Undergraduate
&
Graduate
Student
Poster
Abstract
#
808
Diversity
Conflict
By
manipula5ng
the
percep5on
of
social
conflict,
the
current
experiment
helps
us
explore
how
social
environmental
input
affects
the
way
people
categorize
social
groups
and
use
it
as
inference
basis.
The
follow-­‐up
study
will
examine
how
the
presence
of
social
diversity
would
affect
essen5alist
thinking
of
social
categories.
Deeb,
I.,
Segall,
G.,
Birnbaum,
D.,
Ben-­‐Eliyahu,
A.
&
Diesendruck,
G.
(2011).
Seeing
isn't
believing:
the
effect
of
intergroup
exposure
on
children's
essen5alist
beliefs
about
ethnic
categories.
Journal
of
Personality
and
Social
Psychology,
101(6),
1139-­‐1156.
Haslam,
N.,
Rothschild,
L.
&
Ernest,
D.
(2000).
Essen5alist
beliefs
about
social
categories.
Bri6sh
Journal
of
Social
Psychology,
39,
113-­‐127.
Three
Predicted
Models
Social
categories
involved
in
the
conflict
video
Social
categories
in
the
same
dimension
as
targetFocal- Non Target
Focal- Target
Non Featured Social
categories
unmen5oned
in
the
video
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Diffusion
Model
Generalized
Model
Specific
Model
Focal-Target
Focal- Non
Target
Non Featured
Control