Abstract
How fundamentally different do people generally think men and women are? Gender essentialism refers to beliefs that women and men have distinct, innate, and fixed biological essences that differentiate them from each other. Exposure to popularized neuroscience research may shape such views. We examined whether exposure to scientific evidence for gender differences or similarities in the brain affects beliefs about gender essentialism, and indirectly shapes sexism and justification of gender inequality, using samples from Turkey. Study 1 (n = 414 undergraduates) showed that exposure to evidence on brain similarities led to lower gender essentialist beliefs, which, in turn, negatively predicted sexism and justification of gender inequality. Unexpectedly, exposure to evidence on gender differences did not lead to an increase in gender essentialist beliefs. Although men scored higher than women on all measures, the indirect effects were significant for both men and women. In Study 2 (n = 119 online community respondents), we found indirect effects of exposure to evidence of brain similarities on justification of gender inequality. We discuss the implications of our findings for challenging gender essentialist views among students and the general public through exposure to research on gender similarities and increased critical thinking about scientific research evidence.
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Ethical approval for the studies reported in this paper have been obtained from Bogazici University Social Sciences and Humanities Ethics Board for Research with Human Participants (SBINAREK). Participants provided informed consent before the study and received a written debriefing form after the study. The materials were used in Turkish.
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Şahin, Ö., Soylu Yalcinkaya, N. The Gendered Brain: Implications of Exposure to Neuroscience Research for Gender Essentialist Beliefs. Sex Roles 84, 522–535 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-020-01181-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-020-01181-7