Imagine you are conducting a study on how bilingual individuals perceive gender roles in their cultures. You find that those who speak a language with gendered nouns (like Spanish) have different perspectives compared to those who speak a language without gendered nouns (like English). According to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, what could be a plausible explanation for this difference in perception?

The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis suggests that the language we speak influences how we think and perceive the world around us. In the case of bilingual individuals, those who speak a language with gendered nouns, like Spanish, might view gender roles more strictly because their language assigns a gender to objects and concepts. For example, in Spanish, the word for "bridge" is feminine (la puente), which could lead speakers to associate bridges with qualities typically seen as feminine. On the other hand, English speakers, who use a language without gendered nouns, may have a more fluid understanding of gender roles, as their language does not enforce such distinctions. This difference in language structure could lead to varying attitudes and beliefs about gender roles in their cultures.