Figure 2.

Probabilities of essentialist responses by condition for Study 1 from Rhodes et al., 2012 [³⁴]. Error bars represent Wald 95% confidence intervals. Data are from a composite measure of essentialist beliefs that included the extent to which participants expected category properties to be determined by birth or the environment, the extent to which they explained individual properties by reference to the category, and the extent to which they thought of the category as homogeneous. In the two comparison conditions (Specific, No-label), children and adults reliably rejected these essentialist beliefs about the novel category, even after fairly extensive exposure to category labels and properties. The Generic condition increased the likelihood that participants would endorse essentialist beliefs about the category. Reprinted from “Cultural transmission of social essentialism” by Rhodes, Leslie, & Tworek, 2012, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. Copyright 2012, National Academy of Sciences. Reprinted with permission.