• About
    • Login
    View Item 
    •   Institutional Repository Home
    • Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    • Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    •   Institutional Repository Home
    • Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    • Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Browse

    All of Institutional RepositoryCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsDepartmentThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsDepartment

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    Gender bias through production about and memory for names

    Gardner, Bethany
    0000-0002-5154-2040
    : http://hdl.handle.net/1803/16130
    : 2020-08-25

    Abstract

    Two online experiments investigate how alternative forms for reference to individuals—first, last, and full names—affect inferences about the gender of the referent. Given distributional correspondences between first names and gender, first and full names provide probabilistic information about an individual's gender, whereas last names do not. We asked what inferences people make about a referent’s gender based on whether they are referenced using their first, last, or full fame, as well as distributional characteristics of the first name. Results of a sentence continuation task (Experiment 1) revealed that when a character is introduced by last name alone, participants overwhelmingly chose he/him over she/her pronouns to subsequently reference the character. This bias was also apparent when the character was introduced using a first or full name, as participants were less likely to use she/her pronouns than the gender distribution of the first names would predict. When explicitly queried about the referent’s gender (Experiment 2), characters introduced by last name alone were again preferentially inferred as male, and this bias persisted even when first and full names were used. We discuss implications for models of how world knowledge is linked to language use.
    Show full item record

    Files in this item

    Icon
    Name:
    GARDNER-THESIS-2020.pdf
    Size:
    548.8Kb
    Format:
    PDF
    View/Open
    Icon
    Name:
    Gardner, Bethany - Thesis - ...
    Size:
    548.8Kb
    Format:
    PDF
    View/Open
    Icon
    Name:
    Gardner, Bethany - Thesis - ...
    Size:
    548.8Kb
    Format:
    PDF
    View/Open
    Icon
    Name:
    Gardner, Bethany - Thesis - ...
    Size:
    548.8Kb
    Format:
    PDF
    View/Open

    This item appears in the following collection(s):

    • Electronic Theses and Dissertations

    Connect with Vanderbilt Libraries

    Your Vanderbilt

    • Alumni
    • Current Students
    • Faculty & Staff
    • International Students
    • Media
    • Parents & Family
    • Prospective Students
    • Researchers
    • Sports Fans
    • Visitors & Neighbors

    Support the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries

    Support the Library...Give Now

    Gifts to the Libraries support the learning and research needs of the entire Vanderbilt community. Learn more about giving to the Libraries.

    Become a Friend of the Libraries

    Quick Links

    • Hours
    • About
    • Employment
    • Staff Directory
    • Accessibility Services
    • Contact
    • Vanderbilt Home
    • Privacy Policy