About this session

Friday, 4:40 PM - 6:10 PM

Expanding the Framework of Social Essentialism: Developmental Research from China, Lebanon, Singapore and United States

Social essentialism, the psychological belief that social categories – such as race, gender, and class – (1) have an innate essence that constitutes membership and (2) provide inductively rich predictions of unrelated characteristics, has long been a central focus in socio-cognitive developmental research. Research on the developmental trajectory of essentialist beliefs indicates a global, early emerging tendency to essentialize culturally relevant categories at a young age. This is important, because essentialist beliefs have been theorized to be an important cognitive factor that shapes intergroup dynamics and prejudice. However, research on the development of social essentialism has primarily focused on single social domains, in single cultural environments.

In a series of four talks, our symposium offers an exciting glimpse of research that considers how the development and consequences of social essentialist beliefs may differ when considering multiple and/or intersecting identities and across micro-(individual), and macro- (environmental, societal) contexts. Talk one explores how culture shapes essentialist beliefs across five facets of essentialism in children in the U.S. and China. Talk two showcases how variation in religious upbringing in the religiously diverse context of Lebanon impacts the development of social essentialism. Talk three compares how racial identity impacts essentialist beliefs about nationality across two multi-racial contexts, Singapore and the U.S. Talk four explores the positive and negative implications of essentialist beliefs across different domains amongst American children. Together, these talks highlight how a more nuanced exploration of essentialist beliefs helps scholars better understand when and why essentialism has negative – or positive, consequences.

Paper #1
Title	How Culture Shapes the Structure of Essentialist Beliefs: Evidence from China and the USA
Presenting author	Dr. Yian Xu, Ph.D., Kennesaw State University, United States

Paper #2
Title	Developmental Trajectories in Children’s Essentialist Reasoning about Social Categories in the Religiously-Diverse Context of Lebanon
Presenting author	Dr. Maliki E. Ghossainy, Ph.D., Boston University, United States

Paper #3
Title	Intersectional Racial Identities Impacts Children's Essentialist Beliefs and Consequences of American and Singaporean National Identities
Presenting author	Jordan Keoni Legaspi, MS, University of Massachusetts Amherst, United States

Paper #4
Title	Essentialism is Positively Related to Classist Attitudes, but negatively Related to Homophobic Attitudes in Childhood
Presenting author	Jane Singman, Purdue University, United States

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Session chair
Jordan Keoni Legaspi, University of Massachusetts Amherst, United States

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