title: Nomina sunt omina: on the inductive potential of nouns and adjectives in person perception.
abstract: Six studies (N = 491) investigated the inductive potential of nouns versus adjectives in person perception. In the first 5 studies, targets were either described by an adjective (e.g., Mark is homosexual) or by the corresponding noun (e.g., Mark is a homosexual) or by both (Study 3). The authors predicted and found that nouns, more so than adjectives, (a) facilitate descriptor-congruent inferences but inhibit incongruent inferences (Studies 1-3), (b) inhibit alternative classifications (Study 4), and (c) imply essentialism of congruent but not of incongruent preferences (Study 5). This was supported for different group memberships and inclinations (athletics, arts, religion, sexual preference, drinking behavior, etc.), languages (Italian and German), and response formats, suggesting that despite the surface similarity of nouns and adjectives, nouns have a more powerful impact on person perception. Study 6 investigated the inverse relationship, showing that more essentialist beliefs (in terms of a genetic predisposition rather than training) lead speakers to use more nouns and fewer adjectives. Possible extensions of G. R. Semin and K. Fiedler's (1988) linguistic category model and potential applications for language use in intergroup contexts are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy. acarnaghi@units.it
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carnaghi
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Maass
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gresta
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bianchi
authors.forename: Mara
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cadinu
authors.forename: Luciano
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Arcuri
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D010552:Personality Assessment; D011578:Psycholinguistics; D012660:Semantics; D012933:Social Identification; D013240:Stereotyping; D014705:Verbal Behavior