Why we default to thinking of a person as a man

What is it about?

When asked to consider a person, most people generate a man. Evidence for this behavior is found when people consider diverse groups – “humans,” “internet users,” “Americans,” etc. – all of which include both women and men equally. The present review argues that this behavior reflects a psychological bias to think of men as more typical or normal than women. The review draws on research about categories to propose explanations for why this psychological bias occurs and what can be done about it.

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Why is it important?

Little is known about why people think of a generic person as a man, despite this person=male bias being acknowledged by philosophers for at least 100 years and documented by psychologists for at least the last 40. Further, the tendency to use men to represent everyone can have substantial consequence. For instance, it is thought to contribute to higher mortality rates for women than men with heart disease. By organizing multifarious research on this bias into a cohesive explanatory framework, the present review concretely points to potential root causes and areas for intervention.

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