Evidence map›Paper›PMID 21142350›Full record

ReviewPsychological bulletin2011

Genetic essentialism: on the deceptive determinism of DNA.

Ilan Dar-Nimrod, Steven J Heine

Open access · greenAbstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Psychological bulletin, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 187 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
187citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
9.7field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

187 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 723 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Behavioral impact of return of genetic test results for complex disease: Systematic review and meta-analysis.Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association · 2018
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  12. Fixable or fate? Perceptions of the biology of depression.Journal of consulting and clinical psychology · 2013
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  13. Personality factors moderate the associations between apolipoprotein genotype and cognitive function as well as late onset Alzheimer disease.The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry · 2012
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127 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Ilan Dar-NimrodDepartment of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada. ilan_dar-nimrod@urmc.rochester.edu
Steven J Heine
University of British Columbia · CA

Funding

NIMH INSTITUTIONAL NATIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE AWARDT32MH018911 · NIMH · UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER · PI CAINE, ERIC D. · 1988 to 2012
$2.9M
NIMH NIH HHS T32 MH018911
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

This article 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 overweigh genetic attributions compared with competing attributions even in cases of "weak genetic explanation," which are far more common. The authors reviewed research on people's understanding of race, gender, sexual orientation, criminality, mental illness, and obesity through a genetic essentialism lens, highlighting attitudinal, cognitive, and behavioral changes that stem from consideration of genetic attributions as bases of these categories. Scientific 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, which identify promising directions to explore in order to reduce these biases, are discussed.

Indexed as

Genetic DeterminismAttitude to HealthCognitionCriminalsEthnicityEugenicsFemaleGender IdentityGeneticsHealth Knowledge, Attitudes, PracticeHumansMaleMental DisordersObesityPhenotypePrejudice

Identifiers

PMID21142350
PMCPMC3394457
OpenAlexW2169627183

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.