scholarly journals Children's use of generic labels, discreteness, and stability to form a novel category

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Peretz-Lange ◽  
Paul Muentener
Keyword(s):  
Social Category ◽  
Social Categories ◽  
Color Categories ◽  
Inductive Inferences ◽  
Category Formation ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Baseline Experiment

Children hold rich essentialist beliefs about natural and social categories, representing them as discrete (mutually exclusive with sharp boundaries) and stable (with membership remaining constant over an individual’s lifespan). Children use essential categories to make inductive inferences about individuals. How do children determine what categories to consider essential and to use as an inductive base? Although much research has demonstrated children’s use of labels to form categories, here we explore whether children might also use the observed discreteness or stability of a trait to form categories based on that trait. In the present study, we taught children about novel creatures and provided them with a cue (discreteness, stability, labels, or no cue) to form texture categories rather than shape or color categories. Experiment 1 found that children (4–6 years, n = 140) used labels but not discreteness or stability cues to form texture categories more often than at baseline. Experiment 2 (5–6 years, n = 152) found that children who later recognized the stability and discreteness cues used them to form categories more often than those who did not later recognize the cues, but were still overall less likely to use these cues than to use labels cues. Results underscore the unique importance of labels as a cue for category formation and suggest that children do not readily rely on the stability and discreteness of a trait to form animate categories despite readily inferring that such categories are stable and discrete. Implications for natural and social category representations are discussed.

scholarly journals Reducing Social Judgment Biases May Require Identifying the Potential Source of Bias

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (8) ◽  
pp. 1232-1251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordan R. Axt ◽  
Grace Casola ◽  
Brian A. Nosek
Keyword(s):  
Social Judgment ◽  
Bias Reduction ◽  
Social Category ◽  
Social Categories ◽  
Zero Bias ◽  
Social Bias ◽  
Total N ◽  
Potential Source ◽  
Judgment Biases ◽  
Social Biases

Social judgment is shaped by multiple biases operating simultaneously, but most bias-reduction interventions target only a single social category. In seven preregistered studies (total N > 7,000), we investigated whether asking participants to avoid one social bias affected that and other social biases. Participants selected honor society applicants based on academic credentials. Applicants also differed on social categories irrelevant for selection: attractiveness and ingroup status. Participants asked to avoid potential bias in one social category showed small but reliable reductions in bias for that category ( r = .095), but showed near-zero bias reduction on the unmentioned social category ( r = .006). Asking participants to avoid many possible social biases or alerting them to bias without specifically identifying a category did not consistently reduce bias. The effectiveness of interventions for reducing social biases may be highly specific, perhaps even contingent on explicitly and narrowly identifying the potential source of bias.

scholarly journals Reducing social judgment biases may require identifying the potential source of bias

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordan Axt ◽  
Grace Casola ◽  
Brian A. Nosek
Keyword(s):  
Social Judgment ◽  
Bias Reduction ◽  
Social Category ◽  
Social Categories ◽  
Zero Bias ◽  
Social Bias ◽  
Total N ◽  
Potential Source ◽  
Judgment Biases ◽  
Social Biases

Social judgment is shaped by multiple biases operating simultaneously, but most bias-reduction interventions target only a single social category. In seven pre-registered studies (Total N > 7,000), we investigated whether asking participants to avoid one social bias impacted that and other social biases. Participants selected honor society applicants based on academic credentials. Applicants also differed on social categories irrelevant for selection: attractiveness and ingroup status. Participants asked to avoid potential bias in one social category showed small but reliable reductions in bias for that category (r = .095), but showed near zero bias reduction on the unmentioned social category (r = .006). Asking participants to avoid many possible social biases or alerting them to bias without specifically identifying a category did not consistently reduce bias. The effectiveness of interventions for reducing social biases may be highly specific, perhaps even contingent on explicitly and narrowly identifying the potential source of bias.

scholarly journals Feminist approach to geriatric care: comprehensive geriatric assessment, diversity and intersectionality

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Merle Weßel
Keyword(s):  
Standardized Testing ◽  
Geriatric Assessment ◽  
Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment ◽  
Older Patients ◽  
Geriatric Medicine ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Assessment Process ◽  
Social Category ◽  
Social Categories ◽  
The Social

AbstractDespite being a collection of holistic assessment tools, the comprehensive geriatric assessment primarily focuses on the social category of age during the assessment and disregards for example gender. This article critically reviews the standardized testing process of the comprehensive geriatric assessment in regard to diversity-sensitivity. I show that the focus on age as social category during the assessment process might potentially hinder positive outcomes for people with diverse backgrounds of older patients in relation to other social categories, such as race, gender or socio-economic background and their influence on the health of the patient as well as the assessment and its outcomes. I suggest that the feminist perspective of intersectionality with its multicategorical approach can enhance the diversity-sensitivity of the comprehensive geriatric assessment, and thus improve the treatment of older patients and their quality of life. By suggesting an intersectional-based approach, this article contributes to debates about justice and diversity in medical philosophy and advocates for the normative value of diversity in geriatric medicine.

Carrot-Eaters and Creature-Believers: The Effects of Lexicalization on Children's Inferences About Social Categories

1999 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 489-493 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan A. Gelman ◽  
Gail D. Heyman
Keyword(s):  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Social Categories ◽  
Verbal Predicate ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Over Time

This article examines how language affects children's inferences about novel social categories. We hypothesized that lexicalization (using a noun label to refer to someone who possesses a certain property) would influence children's inferences about other people. Specifically, we hypothesized that when a property is lexicalized, it is thought to be more stable over time and over contexts. One hundred fifteen children (5- and 7-year-olds) learned about a characteristic of a hypothetical person (e.g., “Rose eats a lot of carrots”). Half the children were told a noun label for each character (e.g., “She is a carrot-eater”), whereas half heard a verbal predicate (e.g., “She eats carrots whenever she can”). The children judged characteristics as significantly more stable over time and over contexts when the characteristics were referred to by a noun than when they were referred to by a verbal predicate. Lexicalization (in the form of a noun) provides important information to children regarding the stability of personal characteristics.

Balancing Prosocial Effort Across Social Categories: Mental Accounting Heuristics in Helping Decisions

2020 ◽  
pp. 014616722097668
Author(s):  
Johanna Peetz ◽  
Andrea L. Howard
Keyword(s):  
Mental Accounting ◽  
Diary Study ◽  
Social Category ◽  
Social Categories ◽  
Perceived Utility ◽  
Hypothetical Scenario ◽  
Helping Others ◽  
Scenario Study

Three studies examine whether individuals might use mental accounting heuristics in helping decisions, budgeting their prosocial effort in similar ways to how money is budgeted. In a hypothetical scenario study ( N = 283), participants who imagined that they previously helped someone of a specific social category (e.g., “family,” “colleagues”) were less willing to help someone of that category again. Similarly, when reporting actual instances of day-to-day help in a diary study ( N = 443), having helped more than usual in a social category yesterday was associated with less effort and less time spent on helping in the same category today. In contrast, helping more than usual in other social categories did not reduce helping today. Finally, a scenario study ( N = 489) suggested that the mental accounting effect in helping decisions may, in part, be explained by perceived utility of help (helping others in the same social category is seen as less rewarding).

Unique Hue Stimulus Choice: A Constraint on Hue Category Formation

2005 ◽  
Vol 5 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 387-408 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rolf Kuehni
Keyword(s):  
Derived Categories ◽  
Small Subset ◽  
Stimulus Choice ◽  
Color Categories ◽  
Category Formation ◽  
Basic Color ◽  
Color Categorization ◽  
Unique Hues

AbstractBerlin & Kay hue-related basic color categories are compared with the ISCC-NBS system of object color categorization. Though independently derived, categories of the former form a small subset of the latter. A conjecture is proposed that explains the absence of yellow-green and blue-green basic hue categories and the potential for a violet category as the result of constraints on primitive hue category formation due to considerable variation in stimuli selected by color-normal observers as representing for them unique hues.

The Price of Equality: Suboptimal Resource Allocations across Social Categories

2010 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen M. Garcia ◽  
Max H. Bazerman ◽  
Shirli Kopelman ◽  
Avishalom Tor ◽  
Dale T. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Category ◽  
Resource Allocations ◽  
Social Categories ◽  
Equal Distribution ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Ethical Implications ◽  
Distribution Of Resources ◽  
Profit Maximizing ◽  
Decision Making Biases

AbstractThis paper explores the influence of social categories on the perceived trade-off between a relatively bad but equal distribution of resources between two parties and a profit maximizing yet unequal one. Studies 1 and 2 showed that people prefer to maximize profits when interacting within their social category, but chose not to maximize individual and joint profits when interacting across social categories. Study 3 demonstrated that outside observers, who were not members of the focal social categories, also were less likely to maximize profits when resources were distributed across social category lines. Study 4 showed that the transaction utility of maximizing profits required greater compensation when resources were distributed across, in contrast to within social categories. We discuss the ethical implications of these decision making biases in the context of organizations.

Features of the Social Status of the Rayats in the Kaitag Domain of Dagestan in the Middle of the 19th Century

2020 ◽  
pp. 45-49
Author(s):  
T.Ch. Dzhabaeva
Keyword(s):  
Social Status ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
Social Category ◽  
Social Categories ◽  
Archival Material ◽  
The Social ◽  
Legal Position ◽  
Different Origins ◽  
The 19Th Century

The article considers the dependent social categories of the population that existed in the mountainous possessions of Middle and Southern Dagestan in the middle of the 19th century, but occupied an unequal property and legal position in the system of productive forces. This was a consequence of their different origins and features of natural and geographical conditions. Even within individual feudal domains, the rayats of different villages served different duties. The range and volume of duties of the rayats to their feudal lords was quite extensive and voluminous. This was especially evident in the Kaitag domain of Dagestan, where their position in terms of exploitation brought them closer to the serfs of Russia. However, with all the duties performed by the rayats in relation to the becks, they could not be called serfs. The article examines the categories of the dependent class of rayats in the Lower Kaitag, the sources of their formation, and various levels of feudal dependence. On the basis of archival material, all types of duties of the Lower Kaitag rayats are analyzed, however, despite their severity, there are signs of a lack of complete enslavement of this social category.

Attitudes and Social Categories: Complementary Explanations of Innovation-Adoption Behavior

1980 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
M A Brown
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Innovation Adoption ◽  
Comprehensive Model ◽  
Social Category ◽  
Behavioral Models ◽  
Social Categories ◽  
Common Variance ◽  
Agricultural Innovations ◽  
Real World Situation ◽  
Appalachian Ohio

This paper explores the relationships between an individual's attitudes toward innovation adoption, his or her social category with respect to adoption, and innovation-adoption behavior. First the paper describes how attitudes and social categories can theoretically be linked to innovation adoption, and proposes a comprehensive model in which the two sets of variables are viewed as explaining both unique and common variance in adoption behavior. The paper then empirically examines the intercorrelations of attitudes, social categories, and innovation adoption in a real-world situation: The diffusion of five agricultural innovations in a portion of Appalachian Ohio. The results indicate that some attitudes are significantly related to social categories, whereas others are not; both sets of variables are highly associated with innovation adoption, but attitudes more so than social categories; finally, each set of variables explains some unique aspects of innovation adoption. Thus the findings suggest that comprehensive behavioral models must include psychological as well as socioeconomic and locational variables.

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