The Original Sin of Cognition

People frequently accept generalizations such as mosquitoes carry the West Nile virusand sharks attack bathers, despite knowing that very few mosquitoes and sharks actually possess the relevant properties. Such generalizations are accepted because the properties in question are especially dangerous and threatening, and our most fundamental way of forming general judgments is sensitive to this factor. Similar generalizations can be found in the social realm too: e.g., Muslims are terrorists,Blacks are rapists. I argue that these prejudiced generalizations are fundamentally mistaken because they presuppose that members of the groups in question share a distinctive nature or essence – that they are fundamentally all alike. I then draws on recent empirical research to suggest novel ways of undermining the assumption that members of certain social groups share a distinctive nature.