Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

How gender-expectancy affects the processing of “them”

Doherty, Alice; Conklin, Kathy

How gender-expectancy affects the processing of “them” Thumbnail


Authors

Alice Doherty

KATHY CONKLIN K.CONKLIN@NOTTINGHAM.AC.UK
Professor of Psycholinguistics



Abstract

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.

Citation

Doherty, A., & Conklin, K. (2016). How gender-expectancy affects the processing of “them”. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 70(4), 718-735. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470218.2016.1154582

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Feb 9, 2016
Online Publication Date Mar 15, 2016
Publication Date Dec 15, 2016
Deposit Date Aug 30, 2017
Publicly Available Date Aug 30, 2017
Journal Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology
Print ISSN 1747-0218
Electronic ISSN 1747-0226
Publisher SAGE Publications
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 70
Issue 4
Pages 718-735
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/17470218.2016.1154582
Keywords Pronoun; Number agreement; Gender agreement; Stereotypical gender; Language usage
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/833281
Publisher URL http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17470218.2016.1154582
Additional Information This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology on 15/03/2016, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/17470218.2016.1154582
Contract Date Aug 30, 2017

Files





You might also like



Downloadable Citations