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Inherence is an aspect of psychological essentialism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2014

Tara C. Dennehy*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01002. [email protected]://people.umass.edu/tdennehy

Abstract

Inherence is not a distinct construct from psychological essentialism; it is one of several underlying beliefs. I propose that inherence is only one entry point to the perception of an essence and posit that context may influence which aspects of essentialist reasoning precede inferring an essence. I also discuss how psychological essentialism can uniquely account for violations of category-based expectancies.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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