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Cited by 212Categorization, perception, and languageSyntax, Semantics, Linguistic VariationLanguage, Metaphor, and Cognition

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 56 of the 57 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Generic Statements Require Little Evidence for Acceptance but Have Powerful Implications

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Cimpian, Andrei, Brandone, Amanda C., Gelman, Susan A.·2010·Cognitive Science
DOI 10.1111/j.1551-6709.2010.01126.xPMC PMC2992340
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Abstract

Generic statements (e.g., “Birds lay eggs”) express generalizations about categories. In this paper, we hypothesized that there is a paradoxical asymmetry at the core of generic meaning, such that these sentences have extremely strong implications but require little evidence to be judged true. Four experiments confirmed the hypothesized asymmetry: Participants interpreted novel generics such as “Lorches have purple feathers” as referring to nearly all lorches, but they judged the same novel generics to be true given a wide range of prevalence levels (e.g., even when only 10% or 30% of lorches had purple feathers). A second hypothesis, also confirmed by the results, was that novel generic sentences about dangerous or distinctive properties would be more acceptable than generic sentences that were similar but did not have these connotations. In addition to clarifying important aspects of generics’ meaning, these findings are applicable to a range of real‐world processes such as stereotyping and political discourse.

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Research works printed but not linked: 4

  1. Carlson G. N, 1995, The generic book, 224
  2. Carlson G. N., 1995, The generic book
  3. Gelman S. A., 2004, Mother‐child conversations about gender: Understanding the acquisition of essentialist beliefs, Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 69
  4. Grice H. P, 1975, Syntax and semantics, 41

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Metadata

Authors
Cimpian, A., Brandone, A. C., & Gelman, S. A.
Affiliations
  • University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
  • University of Michigan (US)
Corresponding author
Cimpian, Andrei
ORCID
Venue
Cognitive Science
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2010-08-18
Volume
34
Issue
8
Pages
1452-1482
ISSN
  • 0364-0213 (ISSN-L)
  • 1551-6709
DOI
10.1111/j.1551-6709.2010.01126.x
PMC
PMC2992340
OpenAlex
W2102602565
Cited by
209
References
57
Citations by year
2026: 10 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 22 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 22 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 47 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 11
FWCI
10.40
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor (vor)
Locations
  • Cognitive Science (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • National Science Foundation
  • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R56HD036043, R01HD036043)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Categorization, perception, and language
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation
  • Social Sciences › Linguistics and Language › Language, Metaphor, and Cognition
Keywords
generic statements, category generalization, sentence acceptability, stereotyping, political discourse

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