About
Sarah-Jane Leslie (Ph.D., Princeton, 2007) is the Class of 1943 Professor of Philosophy. She has previously served as Dean of the Graduate School, Vice Dean for Faculty Development in the Office of the Dean of the Faculty, Director of the Program in Linguistics, and Founding Director of the Program in Cognitive Science at Princeton University. She is also affiliated faculty in the Department of Psychology and the Center for Statistics and Machine Learning, and various other centers and programs. She is the author of numerous articles in philosophy and psychology, published in journals such as Science, PNAS, Philosophical Review, and Noûs.
Much of her work is focused on gender gaps in educational and career choices. Her finding that academic gender gaps are most pronounced in disciplines that emphasize the need for “raw brilliance” was named as one of 2015’s most interesting scientific findings by Edge. She also examines how we categorize and generalize information about the world around us, and how the language young children hear shapes their perception of social groups. She is also interested in machine learning/artificial intelligence and is Princeton’s lead in an international consortium on Philosophy, AI, and Society. She has delivered the Andrew Carnegie Lecture at the University of Aberdeen, the Gareth Evans Memorial Lecture at Oxford University, the Daniel Greenberg Lecture at Reed College, and was the 2015 recipient of the Stanton Award from the Society for Philosophy and Psychology. Her work has been covered extensively in the media, including by the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and the Guardian. She has appeared on BBC, NPR, WHYY, and CBC Radio, and on television on NBC.News
Archived News
- SJL returns to the faculty after serving as Dean of the Graduate School
- Science: Women feel like imposters in disciplines that value ‘brilliance’
- SJL named dean of the Graduate School at Princeton
- SJL appears on BBC Radio 4
- SJL appears on NBC's TODAY and Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly.
- SJL named Vice Dean for Faculty Development in the Office of the Dean of the Faculty.
- Hillary Clinton discusses recent findings concerning young girls' gender stereotypes about intelligence. More Info
- SJL discusses recent findings on Science Friday. For more coverage of young girls’ stereotypes about intelligence, including The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and BBC News, see Media.
- New York Times: Why Young Girls Don't Think They are Smart Enough, by Andrei Cimpian and SJL. More Info
- Gender stereotypes about intellectual ability emerge early and influence children's interests, Science, 2017. More Info
- The Program in Linguistics is featured in Princeton Alumni Weekly. More Info
- Rutgers University names SJL as a 250th Anniversary Fellow. More Info
- Marjorie Rhodes and Sarah-Jane Leslie receive $150,000 grant from Princeton’s Center for Human Values to support their work on essentialism and hierarchies.
- In spring of 2017, Sarah-Jane Leslie will be Acting Chair of the Department of Philosophy.
- Marjorie Rhodes and Sarah-Jane Leslie receive $1.59M grant from the National Institutes of Health to support their work on the linguistic transmission of maladaptive beliefs.
- The language students use in teaching evaluations predicts the discipline’s diversity. More Info
- Sarah-Jane Leslie elected to Princeton’s Committee on Appointments and Advancement, 2016-17
- Sarah-Jane Leslie delivers talk to Princeton’s School of Engineering and Applied Science. More Info
- Andrei Cimpian and Sarah-Jane Leslie’s work on gender gaps named as one of the 2015’s most interesting scientific findings. More Info
- The Program in Linguistics is honored to support ASL at Princeton. More Info
- Andrei Cimpian and Sarah-Jane Leslie receive $1.3M grant from the National Science Foundation to support their research on gender gaps. More Info
- Sarah-Jane Leslie named the Daniel Greenberg Distinguished Scholar at Reed College. More Info
- Princeton creates new Program in Cognitive Science. More Info
- 2015 Stanton Award from the Society for Philosophy and Psychology goes to Sarah-Jane Leslie. More Info
- Sarah-Jane Leslie delivers the Gareth Evans Memorial Lecture at Oxford University. More Info
- CBC Radio: “We expect you’ll be brilliant! Unless you’re a woman.” Sarah-Jane Leslie on Nora Young’s Spark More Info
- “Expectations of brilliance underlie women’s representation across academic disciplines” (Science, 2015) covered extensively in the media. More Info
Media
Television Appearances
NBC, Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly, July 9th 2017
"Girls may see boys as smarter starting at age 6, new study indicates"
NBC, TODAY, July 6th 2017
Radio Appearances
"Implicit Bias"
BBC Radio 4, Analysis, with David Edmonds, June 5th 2017
"Girls Lose Sight of Own 'Brilliance' at Young Age"
Science Friday, Christie Taylor, January 27th 2017
"Girls & Brilliance"
CBC Radio, Ottawa Morning with Bridget O'Toole, January 27th 2017
Also on CBC Radio for Windsor Morning, Island Morning, West Coast Morning, The Trailbreaker, A New Day, Daybreak Kamloops, Saskatoon Morning, Vancouver Early Edition
"We expect you'll be brilliant! Unless you're a woman."
CBC Radio, Nora Young, March 22nd 2015
"Do fictional geniuses hold back real women?"
NPR, Geoff Brumfiel, January 15th 2015
"Academic gender gaps tied to stereotype about genius, Princeton study finds"
WHYY, Jessica McDonald, January 15th 2015
Articles and Op-Eds for a Broad Audience
"The Brilliance Paradox: What Really Keeps Women and Minorities from Excelling in Academia"
Scientific American, Andrei Cimpian and Sarah-Jane Leslie, August 16th 2017
"Brilliance Comes in More Than 1 Gender"
Scientific American Blog Network, Andrei Cimpian and Sarah-Jane Leslie, February 9th 2017
"Why Young Girls Don’t Think They are Smart Enough"
New York Times, Andrei Cimpian and Sarah-Jane Leslie, January 26th 2017
Print and Online Media Coverage of Work
"Women Feel Like Imposters in Disciplines that Value 'Brilliance'"
Science, Mennatalla Ibrahim, August 13th 2021
"Why Brilliant Women Get Overlooked"
The London Times, Tom Whipple, December 11th 2018
"Women and Girls Less Likely to be Considered for 'Brainy' Tasks"
The Guardian, Nicola Davis, December 10th 2018
"Watch your Language"
Nature, February 14th 2018
"'Looking for Brilliant Minds' Translates as 'Women Need not Apply'"
Pacific Standard, Tom Jacobs, January 9th 2018
"Why is Silicon Valley So Awful to Women?"
The Atlantic, Liza Mundy, March 14th 2017
"Hillary Clinton Talks Gender Inequality in Girls Inc. Speech" (Video Here)
Teen Vogue, Brittney McNamara, March 7th 2017
"The Time Is Now for Women to Run for Office"
Motto, Gretchen Carlson, February 23rd 2017
"By Age Six, Girls Have Already Stopped Thinking of Their Gender as 'Brilliant'"
Smithsonian Magazine, Ben Panko, January 27th 2017
"Study: 6-year old girls say they are less 'brilliant' than boys. Why?"
The Christian Science Monitor, Eva Botkin-Kowacki, January 27th 2017
"Parents, take note! By age 6, girls less likely to believe they are 'brilliant'"
The Times of India, AFP, January 27th 2017
"Girls feel less 'smart' than boys by age 6, research says"
CNN, Juliet Perry and Meera Senthilingam, January 27th 2017
"Girls equate 'brilliance' with men: study"
Herald Sun, Emma Batha, January 27th 2017
"Elementary School Girls Think Boys Are Smarter"
Time, Kate Dwyer, January 27th 2017
"Little Girls Doubt That Women Can Be Brilliant, Study Shows"
NBC News, The Associated Press, January 27th 2017
"By age 6, girls less likely to say women 'really, really smart,' study finds"
Phildelphia Inquirer, Tom Avril, January 27th 2017
"Girls as young as six think 'brilliance' is for boys: study"
Newsweek, Lucy Clarke-Billings, January 27th 2017
"Girls lose faith in their own talents by the age of six"
BBC News, James Gallagher, January 27th 2017
"Girls believe brilliance is a male trait, research into gender stereotypes shows"
The Guardian, Nicola Davis, January 27th 2017
"Why 6 Is the Most Important Age to Remind Your Daughter She’s Smart"
New York Magazine, Jen Gann, January 26th 2017
"6-Year-Old Girls Already Have Gendered Beliefs About Intelligence"
The Atlantic, Ed Yong, January 26th 2017
"We've been misled about the difference between genders"
The Washington Post, Robert Gebelhoff, January 26th 2017
"Research shows young girls are less likely to think of women as 'really, really smart'"
The Washington Post, Nick Anderson, January 26th 2017
"Young Girls Are Less Apt To Think That Women Are Really, Really Smart"
NPR, Katherine Hobson, January 26th 2017
"Little girls doubt that women can be brilliant, study shows"
The Associated Press, Maria Danilova, January 26th 2017
"By age 6, gender stereotypes can affect girls' choices"
National Science Foundation, January 26th 2017
"Girls Start Doubting Their Own Brilliance As Young As 6, Researchers Say"
The Huffington Post, Nick Visser, January 26th 2017
"Gender stereotypes are strong even in 6-year-olds"
Mashable, Maria Gallucci, January 26th 2017
"Smart Talk: Stereotypes about 'brilliance' may set in for girls as early as age 6"
News at Princeton, Office of Communications, January 26th 2017
"The Dawning of a New Era for Linguistics at Princeton"
Princeton Alumni Weekly, Alastair Gee, January 11th 2017
"How 'Genius' Holds Back Female Academics"
Cited, Gordon Katic, and Sam Fenn (radio appearance), March 8th 2016
"My Brilliant (White Male) Professors"
Inside Higher Ed, Scott Jaschik, March 4th 2016
"Like the Oscars, #PhilosophySoWhite"
Los Angeles Times, Myisha Cherry and Eric Schwitzgebel, March 4th 2016
"The En-Gendering of Genius"
In response to Edge's Annual Question 2016: What do you consider the most interesting recent [scientific] news? What makes it important?
Edge, Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, January 4th 2016
"Views on bias can be biased"
Science News, Bethany Brookshire, October 26th 2015
"Snookered"
The Times Literary Supplement, David Papineau, July 15th 2015
"Men are brilliant, women are bossy: What research tells us about unconscious bias, gender, and 'genius'"
Salon, Kate McDonough, February 10th 2015
"The danger of believing talent is innate"
The Wall Street Journal, Alison Gopnik, February 4th 2015
"Women less welcome than men in fields demanding brilliance"
Bioscience Technology, Cynthia Fox, January 28th 2015
"Hidden hurdle looms for women in science"
Scientific American, Boer Deng, January 20th 2015
"Women shun fields that are perceived to require 'innate ability'"
Physics World, Jude Dineley, January 19th 2015
"University challenge"
The Economist, Geoffrey Carr, January 17th 2015
"Does the 'innate genius' stereotype widen the STEM gender gap?"
Science Friday, Alexa Lim, with special guest Carol Dweck, January 16th 2015
"'Natural genius' myth deters women from science"
The Telegraph, Siobhan Fenton, January 16th 2015
"Gender Gap: Women welcome in 'hard working' fields, but 'genius' fields are male-dominated, study finds"
The Washington Post, Rachel Feltman, January 15th 2015
"Cracking the gender gap"
NBC, Stacey Naggiar, January 15th 2015
"Disciplines that expect 'brilliance' tend to punish women"
The Chronicle of Higher Education, Madeleine Will, January 15th 2015
"In US academia, fields that cherish sheer genius shun women"
Reuters, Will Dunham, January 15th 2015
"Women deterred from many fields by stereotypes of 'brilliance'"
Bloomberg, Lauren Colby, January 15th 2015
"Gender gap in academia strongest in fields that emphasize 'brilliance'"
Al-Jazeera America, Marisa Taylor, January 15th 2015
"'Spark of brilliance' bias holding back women in science?"
The Christian Science Monitor, Pete Spotts, January 15th 2015
"Women are less likely to become scientists because of a 'misconceived idea of brilliance', study finds"
The Independent, Steve Connor, January 15th 2015
"Missing out, women who play down their genius"
Daily Mail, Fiona Macrae, January 15th 2015
"Academic fields that cherish sheer genius shun women"
The Huffington Post, January 15th 2015
"Hidden hurdle looms for women in science"
Nature News, Boer Deng, January 15th 2015
"Emphasizing natural brilliance might keep women away from certain fields"
The Smithsonian Magazine, Marissa Fessenden, January 15th 2015
"Perceptions of brilliance and gender gaps in academe"
Inside Higher Ed, January 15th 2015
"The gender gap is wider in fields associated more with 'brilliance' than with hard work"
The Week, Julie Kleigman, January 15th 2015
"US Academic Fields that cherish 'spark of genius' shun women"
South China Morning Post, January 15th 2015
"La vieja idea del genio cientifico perjudica la carrera de las investigadoras"
El Confidential, Rocio Benavente, January 15th 2015
"Des stereotypes intellectuels sexistes penalisent les femmes dans les science"
Le Parisien, Patrick Kovarik, January 15th 2015
"A 'brilliant' new theory on the gender gap"
Pacific Standard, Kate Wheeling, January 15th 2015
"Women can't be geniuses? Stereotypes may explain gender gap"
Live Science, Bahar Gholipour, January 15th 2015
"Attitude, not aptitude, may contribute to the gender gap"
Science News, Bethany Brookshire, January 15th 2015
"Belief that some fields require 'brilliance' may keep women out"
AAAS Science News, Rachel Bernstein, January 15th 2015
"Stereotypes: Mind the gender gap"
Princeton Alumni Weekly, Jessica Lander, October 22nd 2014
"Q&A with Carol Dweck"
New York Times, Vikas Bajaj, December 12th 2013
"Would You Accept DNA from a Murderer?"
NPR, Tania Lombrozo, June 10th 2013
"Generalized Phrases Can Foster Stereotypes in Kids, Study Says"
LA Times, Mary MacVean, August 8th 2012
"How Generic Language Leads Children to Develop Social Stereotypes"
Huffington Post, Marjorie Rhodes, August 7th 2012
"Stereotyping and Prejudice in Children Begins with Generic Language Learning"
Medical Daily, Amber Moore, August 7th 2012
"Kids who hear stereotypes believe them, and more"
Futurity, August 7th 2012
"Hearing generic language helps fuel stereotypes, researchers find"
Phys Org, August 6th 2012
"Generic Language Helps Fuel Stereotypes"
Science Daily, August 6th 2012
"Philosophy Tests"
Princeton Alumni Weekly, David Menconi, May 16th 2012
Selected Publications
Books
Lerner, A., Cullen, S., & Leslie, S.J. (Eds.). (2020). Current Controversies in the Philosophy of Science. Routledge.
Articles
Wang, M. M., Cardarelli, A., Leslie, S.-J., & Rhodes, M. (2022). How Children’s Media and Teachers Communicate exclusive and essentialist views of science and scientists. Developmental Psychology PDF
Muradoglu, M., Horne, Z., Hammond, M. D., Leslie, S. J., & Cimpian, A. (2021) Women—particularly underrepresented minority women—and early-career academics feel like impostors in fields that value brilliance. Journal of Educational Psychology. PDF
- Covered by Science.
Leshin, R.A., Leslie, S.J., & Rhodes, M. (2021). Does It Matter How We Speak About Social Kinds? A Large, Preregistered, Online Experimental Study of How Language Shapes the Development of Essentialist Beliefs. Child Development, 92(4), e531-e547. PDF
Rhodes, M., Cardarelli, A., & Leslie, S.J. (2020). Asking young children to “do science” instead of “be scientists” increases science engagement in a randomized field experiment. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(18), 9808-9814. PDF
Johnston, M., & Leslie, S.J. (2019). Cognitive Psychology and the Metaphysics of Meaning. Metaphysics and Cognitive Science. Oxford: Oxford University Press: pp. 183-205. PDF
Lei, R., Green, E., Leslie, S.J., & Rhodes, M. (2019). Children lose confidence in their potential to “be scientists,” but not in their capacity to “do science”. Developmental Science, 22(6), e12837. PDF
Rhodes, M., Leslie, S.J., Yee, K., & Saunders, K. (2019). Subtle linguistic cues increase girls’ engagement in science. Psychological Science, 30(3), 455-466. PDF
Gelman, S.A., Leslie, S.J., Gelman, R., & Leslie, A.M. (2019). Do children recall numbers as generic? A strong test of the generics-as-defaults hypothesis. Language Learning and Development, 15(3), 217-231. PDF
Bian, L., Leslie, S. J., & Cimpian, A. (2018). Evidence of bias against girls and women in contexts that emphasize intellectual ability. American Psychologist, 73(9), 1139–1153. PDF
- Covered by several media outlets, including the Guardian and London Times.
Bian, L., Leslie, S.J., & Murphy, M., Cimpian, A. (2018). Messages about brilliance undermine women’s interest in educational and professional opportunities. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 76, 404-420. PDF
- Covered by several media outlets, including Nature and Pacific Standard.
Chestnut, E., Lei, R., Leslie, S.J., & Cimpian, A. (2018). The myth that only brilliant people are good at math and its implications for diversity. Education Sciences, 8(2), 65. PDF
Rhodes, M., Leslie, S.J., Bianchi, L.B., & Chalik, L. (2018). The role of generic language in the early development of social categorization. Child Development. DOI 10.1111/cdev.12714. PDF
Bian, L. Leslie, S.J, & Cimpian, A. (2017). Gender stereotypes about intellectual ability emerge early and influence children’s interests. Science, 355(6323), 389-391. PDF
- Covered by over 200 news outlets around the world, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the BBC.
- Discussed on over 20 radio stations, including CBC, and Science Friday
- Altmetric (analysis of quantity and quality of online attention) rank: #6 out of 37,562 articles in Science; #93 of 7,060,405 articles in any journal analyzed by Altmetric (as of January 2017)
Chalik, L., Leslie, S.J., & Rhodes, M. (2017). Cultural context shapes essentialist beliefs about religion. Developmental Psychology, 53(6), 1178-1187. PDF
Rhodes, M., Leslie, S.J., Saunders, K., Dunham, Y., & Cimpian, A. (2017). How does social essentialism affect the development of inter-group relations? Developmental Science. DOI 10.1111/desc.12509. PDF
Leslie, S.J. (2017). The Original Sin of Cognition: Fear, Prejudice and Generalization. The Journal of Philosophy, 114(8), 1-29. PDF
Meyer, M., Gelman, S.A., Roberts, S.O., & Leslie, S.J. (2016). My heart made me do it: Children's essentialist beliefs about heart transplants. Cognitive Science. DOI 10.1111/cogs.12431. PDF
Wodak, D., & Leslie, S.J. (2017). The Mark of the Plural: Generics and Race. Routledge Companion to the Philosophy of Race.
Gelman, S.A., Sanchez, I. & Leslie, S.J. (2016). Memory for generic and quantified sentences in Spanish-speaking children and adults. Journal of Child Language, 43(6), 1231-1244. PDF
Lerner, A., & Leslie, S.J. (2016). Generics and Experimental Philosophy. In W. Buckwalter & J. Sytsma (eds.), The Blackwell Companion to Experimental Philosophy. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, pp. 404-417. PDF
Horne, Z., Storage, D., Cimpian, A., & Leslie, S.J. (2016). The frequency of words like “brilliant” and “genius” in teaching evaluations predicts the representation of women and African Americans across academia. PLoS ONE, 11(3), e0150194. PDF
• Covered by several media outlets, including Inside Higher Ed
Leslie, S.J., & Lerner, A. (2016). Generic Generalizations. In E. Zalta (ed.), Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, PDF.
Meyer, M., Cimpian, A., & Leslie, S.J. (2015). Women are underrepresented in fields where success is thought to require brilliance. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1-12. PDF
Leslie, S.J., Cimpian, A., Meyer, M., & Freeland, E. (2015). Expectations of Brilliance Underlie Gender Distributions Across Academic Disciplines. Science, 347(6219), 262-265. PDF
- Named as one of the most interesting scientific findings of 2015 by Edge and Süddeutsche Zeitung
- Covered by over 50 international print media outlets including The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and NBC
- Covered on the radio by NPR, WHYY, CBC, and Science Friday
- Selected for a Science Perspective
Cimpian, A., & Leslie, S.J. (2015). Response to technical comment on “Expectations of Brilliance Underlie Women’s Representation Across Academic Disciplines. Science, 349(6246), 391-c. PDF
Gelman, S.A., Leslie, S.J., Was, A.M., & Koch, C.M. (2015). Children's interpretations of general quantifiers, specific quantifiers, and generics. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 30(4), 448-461. PDF
Sutherland, S., Cimpian, A., Leslie, S.J., & Gelman, S.A. (2015). Memory Errors Reveal a Bias to Spontaneously Generalize to Categories. Cognitive Science, 39(5), 1021-1046. PDF
Leslie, S.J. (2015). 'Hillary Clinton is the only man in the Obama Administration': Dual Character Concepts, Generics, and Gender. Analytic Philosophy, 56(2), 111-141. PDF
Leslie, S.J. (2015). Generics. In R. Audi (ed.) Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Leslie, S.J. (2015). Generics Oversimplified. Nous, 49(1), 28-54. PDF
Leslie, S.J. (2014). Carving Up the Social World with Generics. Oxford Studies in Experimental Philosophy, 1, 208-232. PDF
Lerner, A., & Leslie, S.J. (2013). Generics, Generalism, and Reflective Equilibrium: Implications for Moral Theorizing from the Study of Language. Philosophical Perspectives, 27, 366-403. PDF
Prasada, S., Khemlani, S., Leslie, S.J., & Glucksberg, S. (2013). Conceptual Distinctions Amongst Generics. Cognition, 126, 405-422. PDF
Meyer, M., Leslie, S.J., Gelman, S.A., & Stilwell, S. (2013). Essentialist Beliefs about Organ Transplants in the United States and India. Cognitive Science, 37, 668-710. PDF
- Covered by several media outlets in the US and India, including NPR
Leslie, S.J. (2013). Essence and Natural Kinds: When Science Meets Preschooler Intuition. Oxford Studies in Epistemology, 4, 108-165. PDF
Johnston, M. & Leslie, S.J. (2012). Concepts, Analysis, Generics, and the Canberra Plan. Philosophical Perspectives, 26, 113-171. PDF
Leslie, S.J. (2012). Generics Articulate Default Generalizations. Recherches Linguistiques de Vincennes: New Perspectives on Genericity at the Interfaces (A. Mari, ed.), 41, 25-45. PDF
Rhodes, M., Leslie, S.J., & Tworek, C. (2012). Cultural Transmission of Social Essentialism. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), 109(34), 13526-13531. PDF
- Chosen for a Trends in Cognitive Sciences (TICS) Spotlight feature, written by Sandra Waxman
- Covered by several media outlets, including the LA Times and the Huffington Post
Leslie, S.J. & Gelman, S.A. (2012). Quantified Statements are Recalled as Generics. Cognitive Psychology, 64, 186-214. PDF
Brandone, A. Cimpian, A., Leslie, S.J. & Gelman, S.A. (2012). Do Lions Have Manes? For Children, Generics are about Kinds rather than Quantities. Child Development, 83(2), 423-433. PDF
Khemlani, S., Leslie, S.J. & Glucksberg, S. (2012). Inferences about Members of Kinds: The Generics Hypothesis. Language and Cognitive Processes, 27, 887-900. PDF
Leslie, S.J. (2012). Eros and the Redemption of the Gods: Themes from Wagner. in A. Hamilton and N. Zangwill (eds.), Scruton's Aesthetics, Palgrave Macmillan. PDF
Leslie, S.J. (2012). Generics. In G. Russell and D. G. Fara (eds.), The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Language. New York: Routledge, pp. 355-367. PDF
Leslie, S.J. (2011). Essence, Plenitude, and Paradox. Philosophical Perspectives, 25, 277-296. PDF
Leslie, S.J., Khemlani, S. & Glucksberg, S. (2011). All Ducks Lay Eggs: The Generic Overgeneralization Effect.Journal of Memory and Language, 65, 15-31. PDF
Leslie, S.J. (2011). Generics. Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy.PDF
Leslie, S.J. (2009). ‘If’, ‘Unless’, and Quantification. In R. Stainton and C. Viger (eds.) Compositionality, Context and Semantics. Studies in Linguistics and Philosophy (SLAP), vol. 85, Dordrecht: Springer.PDF
Leslie, S.J. (2008). Generics: Cognition and Acquisition. Philosophical Review, vol. 117, no. 1, pp. 1-47.PDF
Leslie, S.J. (2007). Generics and the Structure of the Mind. Philosophical Perspectives, vol 21, no.1,pp. 375-403. PDF
Leslie, S.J. (2007). Moderately Sensitive Semantics. In G. Preyer (ed.), Context Sensitivity and Semantic Minimalism: Essays on Semantics and Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. PDF
Conference Proceedings
Foster-Hanson, E., Leslie, S. J., & Rhodes, M. (2016). How does generic language elicit essentialist beliefs? Proceedings of the 38th Annual Cognitive Science Society. Philadelphia, PA: Cognitive Science Society. PDF
S. Khemlani, S. J. Leslie, & S. Glucksberg. (2009) Generics, Prevalence, and Default Inferences. Proceedings of the 31st Annual Cognitive Science Society. Amsterdam: Cognitive Science Society. PDF
S. J. Leslie, S. Khemlani, S. Prasada, and S. Glucksberg. (2009). Conceptual and Linguistic Distinctions between Singular and Plural Generics. Proceedings of the 31st Annual Cognitive Science Society. Amsterdam: Cognitive Science Society. PDF
S. Khemlani, S. J. Leslie, S. Glucksberg, & P. R. Fernandez. (2007). Do Ducks Lay Eggs? How People Interpret Generic Assertions. Proceedings of the 29th Annual Cognitive Science Society.Nashville, TN: Cognitive Science Society. PDF
GENDER GAPS AND GENIUS CULTURES
Above: a brief video overview of the research.
Why are women still so underrepresented in some academic disciplines? Andrei Cimpian and Sarah-Jane Leslie have found that, due to cultural stereotyping, women are underrepresented in disciplines where success is viewed as a matter of raw, innate brilliance. Further, stereotypes linking brilliance with males are acquired by children as young as 6 years of age; thus girls’ educational trajectories may be shaped by these beliefs as early as elementary school.
Representative publications:
Leslie, S.J., Cimpian, A, Meyer, M., & Freeland, E. (2015). Expectations of Brilliance Underlie Women's Representation Across Academic Disciplines. Science, 347(6219), 262-265. PDF
Bian, L. Leslie, S.J, & Cimpian, A. (2017) Gender stereotypes about intellectual ability emerge early and influence children’s interests. Science, 355(6323), 389-391. PDFMuradoglu, M., Horne, Z., Hammond, M. D., Leslie, S. J., & Cimpian, A. (2021) Women—particularly underrepresented minority women—and early-career academics feel like impostors in fields that value brilliance. Journal of Educational Psychology. PDF
Below: coverage on the TODAY show.
Practical Suggestions for Educators: If educators, academics, and administrators wish to increase the diversity of a particular discipline, they may wish to alter the messages they send regarding what is needed for success in the discipline. A brief summary of suggestions on how to begin to do this, drawing on the work of Carol Dweck and colleagues, can be found here.
Television: Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly, TODAY.
Radio: NPR, WHYY, Science Friday, CBC Radio.
Print: The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, NBC, Bloomberg Businessweek, Reuters, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Christian Science Monitor, Salon, The Huffington Post. Al Jazeera America, The Daily Mail, The Independent, The Telegraph, Bioscience Technology, Scientific American, AAAS Science News, Nature News, Science News, Live Science, Physics World, The Pacific Standard, Le Parisien, El Confidencial, South China Morning Post, The Smithsonian Magazine, The Australian, The Week, Inside Higher Ed, and others.
Press releases: Princeton University, The University of Illinois, National Science Foundation.
LANGUAGE AND SOCIAL COGNITION
Can the study of language illuminate the philosophy and psychology of prejudice and stereotyping? Since prejudiced beliefs characteristically involve making generalizations about a group of people, understanding the nature of generic generalizations has the potential to illuminate aspects of social prejudice. Marjorie Rhodes and Sarah-Jane Leslie are investigating the impact of hearing generic language on young children’s social cognitive development.
Representative publications:
Rhodes, M., Leslie, S.J., & Tworek, C. (2012). Cultural Transmission of Social Essentialism. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), 109(34), 13526-13531. PDF
Leslie, S.J. (2014). Carving Up the Social World with Generics. Oxford Studies in Experimental Philosophy, 1, 208-232. PDF
Leshin, R.A., Leslie, S.J., & Rhodes, M. (2021). Does It Matter How We Speak About Social Kinds? A Large, Preregistered, Online Experimental Study of How Language Shapes the Development of Essentialist Beliefs. Child Development, 92(4), e531-e547. PDF
Media Coverage: Huffington Post, Science Daily, Phys Org, and others.
LET'S DO SCIENCE!
Teachers, parents, and media shows alike often encourage children to be scientists and otherwise use identity-focused language to describe science — e.g., “let’s be scientists! Scientists explore the world.” Marjorie Rhodes and Sarah-Jane Leslie report findings that such language is discouraging to children who may doubt that they fit the stereotype of a scientist. Girls, underrepresented minority children, and children from less privileged socio-economic backgrounds show greater persistence and engagement with science when they hear action-focused language, e.g. “let’s do science! Doing science means exploring the world."
Representative publications:
Rhodes, M., Leslie, S.J., Yee, K., & Saunders, K. (2019). Subtle linguistic cues increase girls’ engagement in science. Psychological Science, 30(3), 455-466. PDF
Lei, R., Green, E., Leslie, S.J., & Rhodes, M. (2019). Children lose confidence in their potential to “be scientists,” but not in their capacity to “do science”. Developmental Science, 22(6), e12837. PDF
Rhodes, M., Cardarelli, A., & Leslie, S.J. (2020). Asking young children to “do science” instead of “be scientists” increases science engagement in a randomized field experiment. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(18), 9808-9814. PDF
GENERIC GENERALIZATIONS
Generics are generalizations such as “tigers are striped”, “ducks lay eggs”, and “mosquitoes carry the West Nile virus”. These sentences pose difficulties for traditional formal semantics, but are acquired and processed quickly and easily by young children. This research project seeks to understand the features of our psychology that make this possible, and to explore the consequences of these features for philosophy more generally.
Representative publications:
Leslie, S.J. (2008). Generics: Cognition and Acquisition. Philosophical Review, 117, no. 1, 1-47. PDF
Leslie, S.J. (2012). Generics Articulate Default Generalizations. Recherches Linguistiques de Vincennes: New Perspectives on Genericity at the Interfaces (A. Mari, ed.), 41, 25-45. PDF
Johnston, M. & Leslie, S.J. (2012). Concepts, Analysis, Generics, and the Canberra Plan. Philosophical Perspectives, 26, 113-171. PDF
PHILOSOPHICAL CONVERSATIONS
The Marc Sanders Foundation sponsored a series of video interviews with philosophers, anchored by Sarah-Jane Leslie. The series, Philosophical Conversations, is available on YouTube. The topics include the ethics of cochlear implants, advances in experimental philosophy, conservatism and the environment, sex and objectification, the role of honor in moral revolutions, and many others. The series features Kwame Anthony Appiah, Elizabeth Harman, Joshua Knobe, Rae Langton, and Roger Scruton.
Kwame Anthony Appiah - Race and Psychological Essentialism
Rae Langton - Pornography, Speech and Silence
Roger Scruton - Wagner and Philosophy
