Social Categorization & Stereotypes

What is categorization?

simplifying the environment by grouping people based on shared characteristics

What is social categorization and why do people use it?

• placing people into social groups and developing beliefs about group members

• to guide expectations and future interactions with group members

What are two key aspects of social categorization?

1. The content of stereotypic beliefs

2. The process by which categories are formed and accessed from memory

What does “content of stereotypic beliefs” refer to?

the characteristics associated with particular social groups

What does the “process” of categorization involve"?

how characteristics are retrieved from memory and applied to people

What are the three most common basic social categories?

gender, race and age

Why are basic social categories important?

they strongly influence first impressions and early interactions

What kinds of conclusions do people draw from basic categories?

traits, social roles and physical characteristics

What are subtypes?

subcategories within basic social categories that add more specific information

• they can be positive or negative

Why are subtypes important for intersectionality?

they allow people to belong to multiple categories at once (middle-aged white women)

Do subtypes eliminate basic social categories?

no, they add detail but do not replace broader categories

What is top-down processing?

categorization based on prior knowledge and stereotypes stored in memory

What is bottom-up processing?

categorization based on observable characteristics of the person

What is prototypicality?

the extent to which a persons features match the defining characteristics of a category

How does prototypicality affect categorization speed?

Prototypical group members are categorized faster

What exaggerates prototypicality effects?

racial phenotypical bias

How are baby-faced individuals perceived?

as weaker, more submissive, and less dominant

How are people with wider face width-to-height ratios perceived?

as less friendly, less trustworthy, and more aggressive

How do body cues influence categorization?

body size and motion provide information about group membership

What cue is most important when determining biological sex?

body shape

What is minority bias?

the tendency to categorize ambiguous individuals as members of minority or subordinate groups

What is the most basic cognitive social distinction?

Ingroup vs. Ougroup

Ingroup: groups we belong to (us)

Outgroup: groups we do not belong to (them)

What does the minimal group paradigm demonstrate?

ingroup bias can occur with minimal and meaningless group distinctions

What is ingroup bias?

favoring one’s own group based solely on group membership

What is the outgroup homogeneity effect and why does it occur?

• the tendency to see output members as more similar to each other than ingroup members

• less interaction with outgroups and less information about individual differences

What is cross-racial identification bias and why does this bias occur?

• the tendency to think members of other races “all look alike”

• it reduces attention and limited cognitive resources devoted to outgroup members

What is ingroup overexclusion?

defining ingroup boundaries narrowly to avoid giving benefits to outgroup members

What is the ultimate attribution error?

a bias in explaining ingroup vs. outgroup behaviour

What is dehumanization?

denying outgroup members full human qualities

How does the brain process dehumanized groups?

differently, with reduced empathetic processing

What are the consequences of dehumanization?

indifference, cruelty, and support for harmful treatment

Why is dehumanization powerful?

it simplifies complex realities into labels

What is the man-first principle?

men are mentioned before women in language