Six hundred eighty participants were recruited from MTurk to rate men, women, and leaders on agency and communion. Researchers employing Schein’s (1973, 1975) paradigm, ubiquitously conclude that the greater conceptual distance between leaders and women compared to leaders and men is problematic for women in leadership roles. Thus, the illusory mind–body divide may arise from the very workings of the human mind. These observations (from Western participants) cannot establish universality, but the association of Dualism with ToM suggests its roots are psychological. A final analysis confirms that males’ ToM scores are lower, and ToM scores further correlate with embodiment intuitions (in Experiments 1–2). Experiment 3 further shows that males are less inclined towards Empiricism-a putative byproduct of Dualism. Experiments 1–2 show that males indeed perceive the psyche as more embodied-as more likely to emerge in a replica of one’s body, and less likely to persist in its absence (after life). If ToM begets Dualism, then males should exhibit weaker Dualism, and instead, lean towards Physicalism (i.e., they should view bodies and minds alike). Past research has shown that males are poorer mind-readers than females. Here, we ask whether Dualism emanates from within the human psyche, guided, in part, by theory of mind (ToM). A large literature suggests that people are intuitive Dualists-they tend to perceive the mind as ethereal, distinct from the body.
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