Genetic Essentialism: On the Deceptive Determinism of DNA
By Ilan Dar-Nimrod, Steven J. Heine. Psychological bulletin, 2011
687 citations recorded by the source corpus.
This paper introduces the notion of genetic essentialist biases: cognitive biases associated with essentialist thinking that are elicited when people encounter arguments that genes are relevant for a behavior, condition, or social group. Learning about genetic attributions for various human conditions leads to a particular set of thoughts regarding those conditions: they are more likely to be perceived as a) immutable and determined, b) having a specific etiology, c) homogeneous and discrete, and, d) natural, which can lead to the naturalistic fallacy. There are rare cases of “strong genetic explanation” when such responses to genetic attributions may be appropriate, however people tend to over-weigh genetic attributions compared with competing attributions even in cases of “weak genetic explanation,” which are far more common. Research on people’s understanding of race, gender, sexual orientation, criminality, mental illness and obesity is reviewed through a genetic essentialism lens, highlighting attitudinal, cognitive and behavioral changes that stem from consideration of genetic attributions as bases of these categories. Scientists and media portrayals of genetic discoveries are discussed with respect to genetic essentialism, as is the role that genetic essentialism has played (and continues to play) in various public policies, legislation, scientific endeavors, and ideological movements in recent history. Last, moderating factors and interventions to reduce the magnitude of genetic essentialism are discussed that identify promising directions to explore in order to reduce these biases.
Subfields: Genetics
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/4652da09cbf8d421f7f7723dcfdd63607fa8487c
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In Genetics
Citations in the corpus
- Biogenetic Explanations of Mental Disorder (2015, background): “Genetic and neurobiological causes are particularly apt to be seen as essence-like (Dar-Nimrod & Heine, 2011; Haslam, 2011): unmalleable, invisible, deterministic, and central to personhood.”
- Implicit Gender Stereotypes and Essentialist Beliefs Predict Preservice Teachers’ Tracking Recommendations (2016, background): “This might especially hold true for the belief in genetic determinism, as it has been suggested that the default understanding of math stereotypes is a conception of biological gender differences (cf. Dar-Nimrod & Heine, 2011).”
- Essentially Biased: Why People Are Fatalistic About Genes (2017, background): “Genetic essentialism, neuroessentialism, and stigma: Commentary on Dar-Nimrod and Heine (2011).”
- Coolness: An Empirical Investigation (2012, background): “Adopting certain attitudes or theories about the world has been shown to be an effective buffer for those who might otherwise be adversely affected by viewing themselves as a minority or a member of a lower-status group (e.g., Dar-Nimrod & Heine, 2006, 2011).”
- Evaluating the Domain Specificity of Mental Health–Related Mind-Sets (2016, background): “For instance, research concerning genetic essentialism suggests that when people encounter messages about the genetic origins of attributes or behaviors, they tend to view them as innate and unchangeable (Dar-Nimrod & Heine, 2011).”