Undergraduate Honors Thesis

 

Uncovering the Underlying Essence of Fatherhood: Psychological Essentialism and Perceptions of Fathers Public Deposited

https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/undergraduate_honors_theses/b8515p00j
Abstract
  • Psychological essentialism is defined as the tendency to view entities as if they have an underlying, and often invisible, essence that makes them what they are (Medin & Ortony, 1989) and these essentialist conceptions about a group can be heightened when there is an assumed biological basis to group membership (Dar-Nimrod & Heine, 2011). The present study addresses this concept and asks whether or not essentialist perceptions of fathers can be manipulated when participants are shown the biological changes that occur when men become fathers. It was hypothesized that (1) on average, mothers would be essentialized more than fathers, (2) the difference in essentialism ratings between mothers and fathers within each of the four conditions would follow a linear trend, and (3), participants in the conditions that focused on fathers would support work-related policies that affect parents more than the other conditions. The current study was able to confirm all three of these hypotheses and goes onto further discuss what these findings mean in a real-world setting.
Creator
Date Awarded
  • 2016-01-01
Academic Affiliation
Advisor
Committee Member
Granting Institution
Subject
Last Modified
  • 2019-12-02
Resource Type
Rights Statement
Language

Relationships

In Collection:

Items