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Social categorization and the formation of group stereotypes: Further evidence for biased information processing in the perception of group‐behavior correlations
Author(s) -
Schaller Mark
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
european journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1099-0992
pISSN - 0046-2772
DOI - 10.1002/ejsp.2420210103
Subject(s) - categorization , psychology , ingroups and outgroups , stereotype (uml) , social psychology , perception , in group favoritism , cognition , social group , social perception , group (periodic table) , social cognition , cognitive bias , impression formation , cognitive psychology , social identity theory , philosophy , chemistry , organic chemistry , epistemology , neuroscience
An experiment tested the hypothesis that the mere categorization of people into social groups spontaneously instigates a mechanism through which group‐relevant information is perceived and processed in a biased manner. This in turn may result in the erroneous perception of correlation between group and behavior. Subjects were initially assigned to be members of a minority group, a majority group, or were not assigned to a group. They were then presented with a series of statements that described members of the two groups performing either desirable or undesirable behaviors. Results showed that unaffiliated subjects perceived an illusory group‐behavior correlation, indicating the operation of a cognitive bias to associate the minority group with distinctive behaviors. Subjects who were themselves members of the observed groups perceived illusory correlations that favored their own group, indicating a very different sort of bias. The results suggest that a categorization‐based ingroup favoritism guided the manner in which group information was processed. These data lend support to the contention that social categorization spontaneously instigates specific cognitive mechanisms that contribute to group stereotype formation.