title: Fluid movement and fluid social cognition: bodily movement influences essentialist thought.
abstract: Rigid social categorization can lead to negative social consequences such as stereotyping and prejudice. The authors hypothesized that bodily experiences of fluidity would promote fluidity in social-categorical thinking. Across a series of experiments, fluid movements compared with nonfluid movements led to more fluid lay theories of social categories, more fluidity in social categorization, and consequences of fluid social-categorical thinking, decreased stereotype endorsement, and increased concern for social inequalities. The role of sensorimotor states in fluid social cognition, with consequences for social judgment and behavior, is discussed.
authors.affiliation: 1Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Michael L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Slepian
authors.forename: Max
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Weisbuch
authors.forename: Kristin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pauker
authors.forename: Brock
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bastian
authors.forename: Nalini
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ambady
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009068:Movement; D011897:Random Allocation; D012938:Social Perception; D013850:Thinking
keywords: embodied cognition; essentialism; processing style; social cognition