Organize

Organize QMD files to keep main dir from getting too messy. (Renaming updates cache which resaves .RData files, no actual changes to contents)

.gitignore

@@ -5,11 +5,11 @@ docs/
 *.Rmarkdown
 
 # Tracking version in docs/
-exp1_files/
-exp2_files/
-exp3_files/
-exp4_files/
-supplementary_analyses_files/
+1_exp_files/
+2_exp_files/
+3_exp_files/
+4_exp_files/
+6_supplementary_analyses_files/
 
 # History files
 .Rhistory

0_abstract.qmd

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+# Abstract {.unnumbered}
+
+Singular *they* is becoming increasingly common and accepted, but many people find it difficult to learn, instead making seemingly-counterintuitive errors like “she uses they/them pronouns.” Existing pronoun production models argue that speakers select pronouns based on morphosyntactic information associated with a name, or based on semantic/conceptual knowledge about a person. However, learning to use singular *they* may require a change in production processes. The first three experiments argue for a model where speakers may instead need to retrieve information from episodic memory about a person’s stated pronouns or which pronouns other speakers use to refer to them. Experiment 1 establishes a measure for how people learn to associate pronouns with a person, and how they use this information to select which pronouns to produce. Experiment 2 investigates how providing people with information about why paying attention to gendered language is important and how seeing singular *they* modeled can support memory for and production of singular *they*. Experiment 3 moves from written to spoken production, testing how including pronouns on nametags and in introductions---common EDI recommendations---affects pronoun choice. Experiment 4 investigates online comprehension, using the visual world paradigm to characterize how singular *they* is being integrated into existing processing mechanisms. The results demonstrate that people can learn that someone uses they/them after only brief introductions, and that a PSA, including pronouns on nametags, and including pronouns in introductions can support accurate production of singular *they*. These findings help extend processing models to account for a wider range of people’s language use and contribute to evidence-based best practices for creating gender-inclusive environments.

exp1.qmd → 1_exp.qmd

@@ -36,13 +36,13 @@ source("resources/formatting/printing.R")  # model results in text
 source("resources/formatting/aesthetics.R")  # plot and table themes
 ```
 
-[![](resources/icons/preregistered.svg){title="Preregistration" width="30"}](https://osf.io/cmkw5) [![](resources/icons/open-materials.svg){title="Materials" width="30"}](https://github.com/bethanyhgardner/dissertation/blob/main/materials/exp1) [![](resources/icons/open-data.svg){title="Data" width="30"}](https://github.com/bethanyhgardner/dissertation/blob/main/data) [![](resources/icons/file-code-fill.svg){title="Analysis Code" width="30"}](https://github.com/bethanyhgardner/dissertation/blob/main/exp1.qmd)
+[![](resources/icons/preregistered.svg){title="Preregistration" width="30"}](https://osf.io/cmkw5) [![](resources/icons/open-materials.svg){title="Materials" width="30"}](https://github.com/bethanyhgardner/dissertation/blob/main/materials/exp1) [![](resources/icons/open-data.svg){title="Data" width="30"}](https://github.com/bethanyhgardner/dissertation/blob/main/data) [![](resources/icons/file-code-fill.svg){title="Analysis Code" width="30"}](https://github.com/bethanyhgardner/dissertation/blob/main/1_exp.qmd)
 
 <br>
 
 ## Motivation
 
-In addition to learning that the grammatical representation of *they* allows it to corefer with specific singular referents, learning to use they/them pronouns may require a change in how speakers access pronouns during language production. Extending existing models of pronoun production from [grammatical gender](introduction.qmd#def-grammatical-gender "grammatical gender") to [social gender](introduction.qmd#def-social-gender "social gender") [@ackerman2019; @mcconnell-ginet2014] would predict that pronouns are accessed based on morphosyntactic gender marking associated with a person's name [e.g., @schmitt1999] or based on semantic/conceptual features of a person [e.g., @anton-mendez2010]. In order to use they/them for a person instead of the expected he/him or she/her, speakers may instead need to recall episodic information about the person's stated pronouns or which pronouns other speakers use to refer to them. It is clear from other contexts, such as referring to pets with *he* and *she*, that people can learn which gender-marked pronouns to use in contexts with few gender cues based on name or appearance. This suggests that learning [specific](introduction.qmd#def-specific "specific singular they") singular *they* should be feasible, but may involve retrieving a person's pronouns from memory, rather than inferring them based on cues such as their name.
+In addition to learning that the grammatical representation of *they* allows it to corefer with specific singular referents, learning to use they/them pronouns may require a change in how speakers access pronouns during language production. Extending existing models of pronoun production from [grammatical gender](0_introduction.qmd#def-grammatical-gender "grammatical gender") to [social gender](0_introduction.qmd#def-social-gender "social gender") [@ackerman2019; @mcconnell-ginet2014] would predict that pronouns are accessed based on morphosyntactic gender marking associated with a person's name [e.g., @schmitt1999] or based on semantic/conceptual features of a person [e.g., @anton-mendez2010]. In order to use they/them for a person instead of the expected he/him or she/her, speakers may instead need to recall episodic information about the person's stated pronouns or which pronouns other speakers use to refer to them. It is clear from other contexts, such as referring to pets with *he* and *she*, that people can learn which gender-marked pronouns to use in contexts with few gender cues based on name or appearance. This suggests that learning [specific](0_introduction.qmd#def-specific "specific singular they") singular *they* should be feasible, but may involve retrieving a person's pronouns from memory, rather than inferring them based on cues such as their name.
 
 The first experiment investigated how people learn to associate pronouns with a person when someone's pronouns cannot be inferred from the gender association of their first name. Participants read a series of vignettes which introduced 12 characters, each of whom was associated with a name, pronouns (he/him, she/her, or they/them), a pet, and a job. Memory for pronouns was tested in a multiple-choice recognition task, and production of pronouns was tested in a written sentence completion task.
 
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ Participants read descriptions of each character in the frame *\[Name\] uses \[p
 
 ### Predictions
 
-Given that people who use they/them pronouns report high rates of both unintentional errors and intentional [misgendering](introduction.qmd#def-misgendering "misgendering") [@cordoba2020; @goldberg2019; @james2016; @mclemore2018; @trevorproject2020], we predict that he/him and she/her will be remembered and produced more accurately than they/them. This outcome could be observed for one or more reasons: Participants may be unfamiliar with singular *they*, or familiar with comprehending it but unused to producing it. Singular *they* is also less frequent than *he* and *she*, and as a result may be more difficult to use, even for speakers already familiar with it. Additionally, if participants avoid using they/them as an option, instead choosing the pronouns typically associated with the character's name, accuracy for they/them would also be lower than accuracy for he/him and she/her. Alternatively, the relative novelty of they/them may improve memory, as distinctive information tends to be remembered better [@vonrestorff1933; @wallace1965]. Under this account, accuracy remembering and producing they/them would be higher than for he/him and she/her.
+Given that people who use they/them pronouns report high rates of both unintentional errors and intentional [misgendering](0_introduction.qmd#def-misgendering "misgendering") [@cordoba2020; @goldberg2019; @james2016; @mclemore2018; @trevorproject2020], we predict that he/him and she/her will be remembered and produced more accurately than they/them. This outcome could be observed for one or more reasons: Participants may be unfamiliar with singular *they*, or familiar with comprehending it but unused to producing it. Singular *they* is also less frequent than *he* and *she*, and as a result may be more difficult to use, even for speakers already familiar with it. Additionally, if participants avoid using they/them as an option, instead choosing the pronouns typically associated with the character's name, accuracy for they/them would also be lower than accuracy for he/him and she/her. Alternatively, the relative novelty of they/them may improve memory, as distinctive information tends to be remembered better [@vonrestorff1933; @wallace1965]. Under this account, accuracy remembering and producing they/them would be higher than for he/him and she/her.
 
 We hypothesize that learning to use singular *they* requires a change from inferring a person's pronoun (*he* or *she*) based on semantic/conceptual features of a person [e.g., @anton-mendez2010] or based on morphosyntactic gender associated with a person's name [e.g., @schmitt1999], and instead recalling episodic information about a person's stated pronouns. In the context of this experiment, the gender association of the character's name cannot predict whether that character uses *he/she* or *they*, meaning that the only way to consistently produce the correct pronouns is to remember the information from the character introductions. As a result, we predict that correctly remembering that a character uses they/them in the multiple-choice task should predict correctly producing *they* in the sentence completion task. Alternatively, pronoun choice in the production task may not be influenced by episodic memory for which pronouns a character uses. This would occur if, in language production, a speaker attempts to infer the character's pronouns based on their name rather than retrieving them from memory, or if a speaker chooses to not produce singular *they*. In this scenario, accuracy in the memory task would not predict accuracy in the production task.
 

exp2.qmd → 2_exp.qmd

@@ -33,13 +33,13 @@ source("resources/formatting/printing.R")  # model results in text
 source("resources/formatting/aesthetics.R")  # plot and table themes
 ```
 
-[![](resources/icons/preregistered.svg){title="Preregistration" width="30"}](https://osf.io/3dze4) [![](resources/icons/open-materials.svg){title="Materials" width="30"}](https://github.com/bethanyhgardner/dissertation/blob/main/materials/exp2) [![](resources/icons/open-data.svg){title="Data" width="30"}](https://github.com/bethanyhgardner/dissertation/blob/main/data) [![](resources/icons/file-code-fill.svg){title="Analysis Code" width="30"}](https://github.com/bethanyhgardner/dissertation/blob/main/exp2.qmd)
+[![](resources/icons/preregistered.svg){title="Preregistration" width="30"}](https://osf.io/3dze4) [![](resources/icons/open-materials.svg){title="Materials" width="30"}](https://github.com/bethanyhgardner/dissertation/blob/main/materials/exp2) [![](resources/icons/open-data.svg){title="Data" width="30"}](https://github.com/bethanyhgardner/dissertation/blob/main/data) [![](resources/icons/file-code-fill.svg){title="Analysis Code" width="30"}](https://github.com/bethanyhgardner/dissertation/blob/main/2_exp.qmd)
 
 <br>
 
 ## Motivation
 
-The results of Experiment 1 suggest that people can learn to associate pronouns with a person, but that accuracy for they/them remains lower than for he/him and she/her. Although remembering which characters used they/them was a strong predictor of producing singular *they*, accuracy in the sentence completion task was significantly lower than in the multiple-choice memory task. Experiment 2 investigated what kinds of exposure can support accurately remembering and producing singular *they*. The first factor tested is the role of conceptual knowledge about singular *they* and discussing gendered language preferences. Recent results show that participants are more likely to interpret *they* as the intended singular, instead of plural, after being told explicitly that the character uses they/them pronouns [@arnold2021] (see [Section 0.4.4](#names)). This is also supported by prior experiments about the [generic](introduction.qmd#def-generic "generic") masculine: When a course instructor included information about why they would be using generic *she* instead of generic *he* [@adamsky1981], and when alternatives were taught as options to students [@flanagan1982], students were less likely to use generic *he* in their assignments and more likely to use gender-neutral alternatives or generic *she*. Similarly, in German (where nouns are gender-marked) reading brief arguments in favor of gender-neutral language increased participants' use of gender-neutral generic nouns [@koeser2014].
+The results of Experiment 1 suggest that people can learn to associate pronouns with a person, but that accuracy for they/them remains lower than for he/him and she/her. Although remembering which characters used they/them was a strong predictor of producing singular *they*, accuracy in the sentence completion task was significantly lower than in the multiple-choice memory task. Experiment 2 investigated what kinds of exposure can support accurately remembering and producing singular *they*. The first factor tested is the role of conceptual knowledge about singular *they* and discussing gendered language preferences. Recent results show that participants are more likely to interpret *they* as the intended singular, instead of plural, after being told explicitly that the character uses they/them pronouns [@arnold2021] (see [Section 0.4.4](#names)). This is also supported by prior experiments about the [generic](0_introduction.qmd#def-generic "generic") masculine: When a course instructor included information about why they would be using generic *she* instead of generic *he* [@adamsky1981], and when alternatives were taught as options to students [@flanagan1982], students were less likely to use generic *he* in their assignments and more likely to use gender-neutral alternatives or generic *she*. Similarly, in German (where nouns are gender-marked) reading brief arguments in favor of gender-neutral language increased participants' use of gender-neutral generic nouns [@koeser2014].
 
 The second factor tested is exposure. As singular *they* becomes more common and accepted [@balhorn2004; @camilliere2021; @hekanaho2020; @minkin2021; @parker2019], speakers are increasingly likely to be exposed to it via media and social circles, and many of these instances do not come prefaced with a discussion about pronouns or gender identity. Potentially-comparable results from studies about non-sexist language reforms are mixed: students who saw alternatives to generic masculine forms modeled in task instructions increased their use of non-sexist forms, but did not decrease their use of generic masculine forms [@cronin1995]. In German, women were more likely to use alternatives to generic masculine role nouns after reading a text modeling them, but men did not change their language use until the instructions drew their attention to the gendered language used [@koeser2015].