Here\u2019s an old riddle. If you haven\u2019t heard it, give yourself time to answer before reading past this paragraph: a father and son are in a horrible car crash that kills the dad. The son is rushed to the hospital; just as he\u2019s about to go under the knife, the surgeon says, \u201cI can\u2019t operate\u2014that boy is my son!\u201d Explain. (Cue the final Jeopardy! music.)<\/p>\n
If you guessed that the surgeon is the boy\u2019s gay, second father, you get a point for enlightenment, at least outside the Bible Belt. But did you also guess the surgeon could be the boy\u2019s mother? If not, you\u2019re part of a surprising majority.<\/p>\n
In research conducted by Mikaela Wapman (CAS\u201914) and Deborah Belle, a College of Arts & Sciences psychology professor, even young people and self-described feminists tended to overlook the possibility that the surgeon in the riddle was a she. The researchers ran the riddle by two groups: 197 BU psychology students and 103 children, ages 7 to 17, from Brookline summer camps. (They did the latter study through the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP).)<\/p>\n