How gender-expectancy affects the processing of “them”
How sensitive is pronoun processing to expectancies based on real-world knowledge and language usage? The current study links research on the integration of gender stereotypes and number-mismatch to explore this question. It focuses on the use of them to refer to antecedents of different levels of g...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
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Taylor & Francis
2016
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/45187/ |
| _version_ | 1848797085582753792 |
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| author | Doherty, Alice Conklin, Kathy |
| author_facet | Doherty, Alice Conklin, Kathy |
| author_sort | Doherty, Alice |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | How sensitive is pronoun processing to expectancies based on real-world knowledge and language usage? The current study links research on the integration of gender stereotypes and number-mismatch to explore this question. It focuses on the use of them to refer to antecedents of different levels of gender-expectancy (low–cyclist, high–mechanic, known–spokeswoman). In a rating task, them is considered increasingly unnatural with greater gender expectancy. However, participants might not be able to differentiate high-expectancy and gender-known antecedents online because they initially search for plural antecedents (e.g., Sanford & Filik), and they make all-or-nothing gender inferences. An eye-tracking study reveals early differences in the processing of them with antecedents of high gender-expectancy compared with gender-known antecedents. This suggests that participants have rapid access to the expected gender of the antecedent and the level of that expectancy. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:58:16Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-45187 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:58:16Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-451872020-05-04T18:25:46Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/45187/ How gender-expectancy affects the processing of “them” Doherty, Alice Conklin, Kathy How sensitive is pronoun processing to expectancies based on real-world knowledge and language usage? The current study links research on the integration of gender stereotypes and number-mismatch to explore this question. It focuses on the use of them to refer to antecedents of different levels of gender-expectancy (low–cyclist, high–mechanic, known–spokeswoman). In a rating task, them is considered increasingly unnatural with greater gender expectancy. However, participants might not be able to differentiate high-expectancy and gender-known antecedents online because they initially search for plural antecedents (e.g., Sanford & Filik), and they make all-or-nothing gender inferences. An eye-tracking study reveals early differences in the processing of them with antecedents of high gender-expectancy compared with gender-known antecedents. This suggests that participants have rapid access to the expected gender of the antecedent and the level of that expectancy. Taylor & Francis 2016-12-15 Article PeerReviewed Doherty, Alice and Conklin, Kathy (2016) How gender-expectancy affects the processing of “them”. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 70 (4). pp. 718-735. ISSN 1747-0218 Pronoun; Number agreement; Gender agreement; Stereotypical gender; Language usage http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17470218.2016.1154582 doi:10.1080/17470218.2016.1154582 doi:10.1080/17470218.2016.1154582 |
| spellingShingle | Pronoun; Number agreement; Gender agreement; Stereotypical gender; Language usage Doherty, Alice Conklin, Kathy How gender-expectancy affects the processing of “them” |
| title | How gender-expectancy affects the processing of “them” |
| title_full | How gender-expectancy affects the processing of “them” |
| title_fullStr | How gender-expectancy affects the processing of “them” |
| title_full_unstemmed | How gender-expectancy affects the processing of “them” |
| title_short | How gender-expectancy affects the processing of “them” |
| title_sort | how gender-expectancy affects the processing of “them” |
| topic | Pronoun; Number agreement; Gender agreement; Stereotypical gender; Language usage |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/45187/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/45187/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/45187/ |