Unstable, indistinct, and cohesive? How group cognitions shape attitudes toward transgender and nonbinary people as a function of gender essentialism.

Abstract

Knowledge of whether and how people think of transgender and nonbinary (TGNB) individuals as constituting gender groups is scarce, but these group cognitions may help explain well-documented prejudice toward these individuals. Given that TGNB individuals defy the traditional gender binary, cisgender perceivers may default to viewing TGNB people as not representing a distinct social group (unlike "men" and "women"), perceive their group membership as unstable, and perceive them as a cohesive (out)group. Across three preregistered studies, we examined these group cognitions and whether they partly explain the connection between strong gender essentialist thinking and negative attitudes toward TGNB people. Correlational and experimental evidence (Studies 1 and 2) demonstrates that perceivers report negative attitudes toward TGNB people in part because they view them as relatively unstable and indistinct gender groups, especially perceivers with strong gender essentialist beliefs. In Study 3, as hypothesized, strengthening the belief that transgender identity is stable reduced negative feelings toward transgender people in general, improved attitudes toward a specific transgender individual, and promoted more positive expectations for intergroup contact with transgender people. These effects were particularly strong among people who view gender in highly essentialist terms. These findings advance current understanding of prejudice toward TGNB people and the cognitive mechanisms that give rise to it. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).