Ducks lay eggs and lions have manes: The acceptability of gender-specific minority generic sentences

Minority characteristic generic statements such as ducks lay eggs are judged to be generally true of the class, despite being true of a minority of cases, such as healthy female ducks of egg-laying age. Five studies explored the factors responsible for the acceptance of minority generic statements about biological kinds. Studies 1 and 2 found that minority generic statements about animals that are true of just 1 sex were no more likely to be accepted as true of the class than were statements true of just 1 of 2 subtypes, not differentiated by sex. Further studies showed that gender-specific properties are more often accepted when related to reproduction (ducks lay eggs) than to appearance (deer have antlers). It is proposed that reproductive properties are more easily interpreted as referring to the kinds themselves, on account of their role in naive biological theories of the kinds. The result supports the view that minority generics are accepted to the degree that they are embedded in naive theories of a biological kind.