Voice as a Cue for Gender Prejudice: From Cognitive Bias to Essentialist Beliefs in Adolescents’ Responses to Voice‐Based Gender Nonconformity

Abstract

Guided by Developmental Intergroup Theory (DIT), this study examined adolescents’ prejudice toward speakers with gender‐nonconforming (GN) voices and its cognitive underpinnings. Chinese adolescents aged 9–18 ( N = 218) evaluated gender‐conforming (GC) and GN voice stimuli and completed measures of the inherence heuristic and gender essentialism. First, GN voices elicited greater prejudice than GC voices. Second, boys showed stronger prejudice toward GN voices than girls, and age‐related patterns were selective: older adolescents reported weaker gender essentialist beliefs and reduced prejudice toward GN female voices, whereas no comparable age‐related change emerged for GN male voices. Third, structural equation modeling supported a mediation model in which gender essentialism accounted for the association between the inherence heuristic and prejudice. By applying DIT to voice‐based gender nonconformity, this study highlights early cognitive roots of gender bias and points to potential early interventions targeting cognitive heuristics.