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Is Limited Information Processing Capacity the Cause of Social Stereotyping?

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... Categorization theory has its roots in social identity theory (e.g., Tajfel et al., 1971) and self-categorization theory (e.g., Turner, 1982), which provide the psychological basis of group membership (Oakes and Turner, 1990). Categorization refers to a process in which individuals group others into social categories. ...
... This situation should be different when decision-makers have entrepreneurial experience (e.g., when the executive is also the company owner). Here, former entrepreneurs are likely to be seen as in-group members by decision-makers, making it easier for them to avoid negative prejudice, activate positive associations, or even transfer characteristics that the decision-makers like about themselves toward the former entrepreneur (Brewer, 1999;Hilton and von Hippel, 1996;Oakes and Turner, 1990). Accordingly, decision-makers with similar characteristics, such as being entrepreneurial, will interpret the entrepreneurship category differently-and generally more positively-than non-entrepreneurial decision-makers. ...
Article
Do employers perceive former entrepreneurs as suitable candidates for paid employment? We argue that (positive and negative) stereotypes and uncertainty drive employability perceptions regarding former entrepreneurs; these perceptions are contingent upon job type and the background of both the applicant and the person evaluating them. Two empirical studies yield broad support for our predictions. In Study 1 (a vignette study), we find lower employability perceptions regarding former entrepreneurs compared to other applicants, which are significantly mediated by positive and negative stereotypes as well as uncertainty perceptions. In Study 2 (conjoint experiments with two separate samples: recruiters and executives), we substantiate the results of Study 1, revealing that when former entrepreneurs apply for a job involving personnel responsibility or when there is evidence of a failure in their vita, they are less likely to face devaluations. Further, we find evidence for similarity effects; more specifically, entrepreneurs do not suffer from employability devaluation when the recruiter is a part-time entrepreneur or the executive is the business owner. We discuss the implications as part of the employability debate about former entrepreneurs.
... Researchers often use this theory to explain employee behavior, perceptions, and work attitudes in organizational settings, especially in relationships between supervisors and subordinates. In the workplace, employees face a complex information environment and limited capacity to process it, so they tend to adopt more efficient and effortless ways of thinking (Oakes & Turner, 1990). Information that aligns with personal goals or comes from credible sources is more likely to be noticed and processed (Zalesny & Ford, 1991). ...
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In an era dominated by big data and artificial intelligence, algorithms serve as facilitators across various application scenarios, creating complex layers of interaction. This research develops a theoretical framework based on social exchange theory, social information processing theory, and the stereotype content model to explore user responses to the accuracy and interpretability of algorithmic recommendations and to identify the mediating factors influencing their willingness to engage in value co-creation. The study’s findings reveal that: (1) In high-accuracy scenarios (vs. low-accuracy), users perceive algorithmic recommendations as more competent and warmer, which enhances their willingness to engage in value co-creation, with perceived competence and warmth serving as mediators. (2) In scenarios with strong interpretability (vs. low interpretability), users similarly perceive recommendations as more competent and warmer, increasing their willingness to participate in value co-creation, with perceived competence and warmth acting as mediators. This research provides a practical framework for enterprises offering algorithmic recommendation services, guiding them in fostering greater user participation in value co-creation.
... Stereotypes are typically shaped by mass media messaging and other social interactions, as well by individual exposures to members of the stereotyped group [46]. Although stereotypes can sometimes embody negative or demeaning characterizations, our analyses here focus on the decision-making processes related to stereotyping in general, not to the content of any prejudiced thoughts and negative attitudes toward any subset of clinicians [46,47]. ...
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In this paper, we examine whether patient narratives alter the impact of stereotyping on choice of primary care clinicians: in this case, the common presumption that female doctors will be more attentive to empathic relationships with patients. 1052 individuals were selected from a nationally representative Internet panel to participate in a survey experiment. Participants were given performance data about 12 fictitious primary care physicians, including a randomized set of narrative feedback from patients. We compared the choice of clinician made by participants who value bedside manner and were exposed to narratives in the experiment, compared to those valuing bedside manner who had not had this exposure. We estimated multivariate logistic regressions to assess whether exposure to patient comments that “disrupt” stereotypes influenced choice of physicians. Participants who saw patient comments and had previously reported caring about bedside manner had a 67% higher odds of choosing a female physician than those participants that did not see a patient comments, controlling for the content of the narratives themselves. When participants were exposed to patient comments that disrupt gendered stereotypes, they had a 40% lower odds of choosing a female physician. Simple exposure to patient narratives that do not clearly disrupt gendered stereotypes increased the likelihood of choosing a female clinician by priming attention to relational aspects of care. However, when the content of a sufficient proportion of patient comments runs counter stereotypes, even a minority of narratives is sufficient to disrupt gendered-expectations and alter choices.
... Not only features but also entire exemplars can appear in more than one category (Cantor & Mischel, 1979;Lingle, Altom, & Medin, 1984;Oakes & Turner, 1990;Smith, 1991). Some porpoises are domesticated pets or performers; some politicians have also been actors or convicted felons. ...
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Inductive reasoning involves generalization from sample observations to categories. This research examined the conditions under which generalizations go beyond the boundaries of the sampled categories. In Experiment 1, participants sampled colored chips from urns. When categorization was not salient, participants revised their estimates of the probability of a particular color even in urns they had not sampled. As categorization became more salient, generalization became limited to the sampled urn. In Experiment 2 the salience of categorization in social induction was varied. When social categorization was not salient, participants projected their own responses to test items to members of a laboratory group even when they themselves did not belong to this group. When salience increased, projection decreased among nonmembers but not among members. In Experiment 3 these results were replicated in a field setting.
... In other words, we behave like a cognitive miser (e.g. Fiske & Taylor, 1991;Oakes & Turner, 1990). This can be observed in the case of using stereotypes during social perception and assessment. ...
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Contemporary social psychology must take into account the rapid increase in the availability of virtual environments for social interaction. In two experiments, we aimed to advance the knowledge of how the colour of clothing influences the assessment of aggressiveness and guilt of a suspect. In addition to replicating the classic effect, we have attempted to verify it in a virtual environment. Study 1 has been conducted on a sample of 144 people. Firstly, the participants were informed that they would be exposed to a mug shot of a woman taken into police custody. Later, they received information that the female is suspected of committing an unspecified crime; however, her guilt still needs to be proven. The colour of the suspect’s clothes (white or black) was manipulated. Finally, the participants were asked to fill out the Aggressive and Guilty Impression Scale. The study confirmed the hypothesis that a woman dressed in black was perceived as more aggressive. This effect did not occur in the case of assessing her guilt. Study 2 was conducted to verify the black clothing effect in a virtual environment along with the female’s 3D avatar. A total of 189 subjects participated. Participants were informed of the alleged crime and shown a video that depicted a self-presentation of the woman represented by an avatar. The video was made in the vTime application. Finally, the participants answered the manipulation check and filled out the questionnaire. The results of the second study did not confirm the black colour effect. Gender identification did not moderate the effect of clothing colour on creating the impression of aggressiveness and guilt.
... Hilton and Von Hippel (1996) perceive stereotypes as cognitive schemas used by social perceivers to process information about others. Oakes and Turner (1990) observe stereotypes as not only reflecting beliefs about the traits characterizing typical group members but also containing information about other qualities, such as social roles, the degree to which members of the group share specific qualities (i.e., within-group homogeneity or variability), and influencing emotional reactions to group members. Stereotypes imply a substantial amount of information about people beyond their immediately apparent surface qualities and generate expectations about group members' anticipated behavior in new situations. ...
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Nigeria is richly endowed with vast natural resources and an estimated population of about 140 million people who need food for their daily survival. The favorable climatic and topographical conditions of the North central states of Benue, Nassarawa and Plateau place them in a good position to provide food for the entire country. Perceived poverty and food insecurity in Nigeria is not only as the result of cumulative consequences of the general failure of agricultural policies and implementation over time, but also incessant communal conflicts and clashes mostly between the Fulani herdsmen and the host communities. This paper focuses on the challenges that these conflicts pose while considering downward trends in agricultural production in Nigeria and how the Chinese example may act as a panacea. Keywords: Food, Food insecurity, Conflicts, Communal clashes
... Even if there are no universal assumptions about what constitutes a social entity and social interaction within CSCL research, we assume processes regarding GA to be similar for para-social and some other social scenarios as long as the para-social processes trigger social schemata or processes of social interaction (see also Schneider et al., 2022). Within social psychology, impression formation is concerned with using social schemata to enrich the current understanding of a social situation by category-based processes (e.g., activating stereotypes; Oakes & Turner, 1990). These immediate and automatic processes allow fast judgments of a situation, and it is widely assumed that individualizing initial impressions is effortful and depends on goals and situational needs (Fiske, 1993;Fiske et al., 1999). ...
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Group awareness is of critical relevance for collaborative learning and interaction and is thus often referred to in CSCL research. However, the concept is only vaguely defined as some kind of understanding or perception of characteristics of learning partners or the collaborating group. Most CSCL research activities concerned with group awareness aim at modifying learners' awareness using so-called group awareness tools. However, there are much less attempts to measure group awareness and to conceptualize its formation. Thus, building on existing group awareness research, this article derives a conceptualization with six defining aspects of group awareness: (1) group awareness is cognitive, (2) group awareness is conscious, (3) group awareness is current, (4) group awareness is individual, (5) group awareness is social, and (6) group awareness is perceived as valid. Additionally, while it is often assumed that group awareness builds on self-regulatory skills, its role in regulating behavior and cognition within a social context is seldom explored. Thus, this article aims at defining and analyzing the concept of group awareness, specifying its relation to regulatory processes, and sketching possible research paths whilst building on, complementing, and informing tool-driven research.
... On the negative side, many researchers subsequently jumped on the minimal group findings and the "simple categorization" to explain seemingly irrational intergroup conflicts. This interpretation fitted in very well with the perspective that intergroup conflicts are irrational that involve limited cognitive capacity (Oakes & Turner, 1990). However, some also argued that Tajfel did not intend to reduce social identity to "simple categorization", but he rather aimed at explaining prejudice, discrimination, and intergroup hostility without resorting to personality or individual differences or by shrinking a largegroup occurrence to a collection of individual or interpersonal processes (Hogg, 2004). ...
Article
Full-text available
The Social Identity Theory (SIT) is a very influential theory in social psychology that has been utilized in various areas, including examining individual differences in task performance, leadership styles, and refining intergroup relations. This paper is a critical examination of SIT, discussing its achievements (strengths), limitations (weaknesses) along with responses to its critics (SIT defences). To provide the readers with a focused perspective, the discussion will be limited to intergroup relations, excluding other applicable research areas. In this framework, the original assumptions of SIT as postulated by Tajfel and the subsequent interpretations and contemporary applications is discussed. While acknowledging the significant contributions of SIT, I argue that it can still be further advanced in several ways. First, incorporating enhancement and positive distinctiveness motives at the group level and addressing personal motivational and affective processes at the individual level can further refine SIT. Second, there have been many studies on SIT conducted in experiments with artificially created social groups whereas only few studies investigated the theory in real life settings with existing social groups. This type of research can particularly be significant in applied fields (e.g., political psychology). Third, SIT could also benefit by considering of cross-cultural differences, (e.g., individualistic versus collectivist cultures), in relation to social identity formation and maintenance. Keywords: social identity theory, inter-group relationships, social identity formation, political psychology, and social identity maintenance. SOSYAL KİMLİK TEORİSİNİN ELEŞTİREL İNCELENMESİ Öz: Sosyal Kimlik Teorisi (SIT), sosyal psikolojide, görev performansındaki bireysel farklılıkları, liderlik tarzlarını incelemek ve gruplararası ilişkileri geliştirmek de dahil olmak üzere çeşitli alanlarda kullanılan çok etkili bir teoridir. Bu makale, SIT'in başarılarını (güçlü yönlerini), sınırlamalarını (zayıf yönlerini) 40 ve eleştirmenlerine verilen yanıtları (SIT savunmalarını) tartışan eleştirel bir incelemedir. Okuyuculara odaklanmış bir bakış açısı sağlamak için tartışma, uygulanabilir diğer araştırma alanları dışında, gruplararası ilişkilerle sınırlandırılacaktır. Bu çerçevede, Tajfel tarafından öne sürülen SIT'nin orijinal varsayımları ve sonraki yorumları ve çağdaş uygulamaları tartışılmaktadır. SIT'in önemli katkılarını kabul etmekle birlikte, çeşitli şekillerde daha da geliştirilebileceğini savunuyorum. İlk olarak, grup düzeyinde geliştirme ve olumlu ayırt edicilik güdülerini birleştirmek ve bireysel düzeyde kişisel motivasyonel ve duygusal süreçleri ele almak SIT'i daha iddialı yapmaktadır. İkincisi, yapay olarak oluşturulmuş sosyal gruplarla deneylerde yürütülen SIT hakkında birçok çalışma varken, teoriyi mevcut sosyal gruplarla gerçek yaşam ortamlarında inceleyen sadece birkaç çalışma bulunmaktadır. Bu tür araştırmalar, uygulamalı alanlarda (örneğin, politik psikoloji) özellikle önemli olabilir. Üçüncüsü, SIT, sosyal kimlik oluşumu ve sürdürülmesi ile ilgili olarak kültürler arası farklılıkları (örneğin, bireyci ve kolektivist kültürler) dikkate alarak fayda sağlayabilir.
... On the negative side, many researchers subsequently jumped on the minimal group findings and the "simple categorization" to explain seemingly irrational intergroup conflicts. This interpretation fitted in very well with the perspective that intergroup conflicts are irrational that involve limited cognitive capacity (Oakes & Turner, 1990). However, some also argued that Tajfel did not intend to reduce social identity to "simple categorization", but he rather aimed at explaining prejudice, discrimination, and intergroup hostility without resorting to personality or individual differences or by shrinking a largegroup occurrence to a collection of individual or interpersonal processes (Hogg, 2004). ...
... Typicality is defined as the degree to which an item is perceived to represent a category (Loken and Ward, 1990). Typicality influences the activation and use of a category such that individuals adapt the use of stereotypes to targets that fit the representation of the category (Oakes and Turner, 1990). ...
Article
Purpose – Drawing on the stereotype content model (SCM), the authors investigate the stereotype content transfer (in terms of warmth and competence) from country to brand and the simultaneous impact of these two stereotypes on consumer responses toward brands. Design/methodology/approach – The authors test a structural equation model conceptualizing brand stereotypes as full mediators between country stereotypes and consumer outcomes. In addition, in a moderated mediation analysis, the authors investigate the role of brand typicality and utilitarianism/hedonism in potentially moderating the country to brand stereotype content transfer. Findings – Country warmth and competence, respectively, impact brand warmth and competence, thus confirming the hypothesized stereotype content transfer. This transfer is found to be robust and not contingent on brands’ perceived typicality of their country of origin. However, brands’ utilitarian nature amplifies the positive impact of country competence on brand competence. Finally, brand stereotypes fully mediate the impact of country stereotypes on consumers’ brand attitudes and behavioral intentions. Originality/value – The authors provide the first empirical attempt that (1) explicitly differentiates between consumers’ stereotypical perceptions of countries and stereotypical perceptions of brands from these countries, (2) empirically examines the transfer of stereotypical dimensions of different targets (i.e. country to brand), (3) explores boundary conditions for such transfer and (4) simultaneously considers the impact of both kinds of stereotypes on managerially relevant consumer outcomes. Keywords Country stereotypes, Brand stereotypes, Stereotype content transfer Paper type Research paper
... Stereotypes are influenced by cognitive, affective, socio-motivational and cultural mechanisms operating in social settings (Hilton and von Hippel, 1996;Wells, 2017) and they generate expectations about the anticipated behavior of groups members in front of new situations (Oakes and Turner, 1990). Stereotypes are formed through the act of categorizing people into groups, through exposure to out-group members, through the motivation to maintain a positive social identity based on the group to which one belongs and through the social transmission of the stereotype (Wells, 2017). ...
Article
Full-text available
Purpose This study aims to explore undergraduate students’ stereotypes of auditing and the influence of knowledge of the profession and its sources on the stereotype. Design/methodology/approach This study is based on a questionnaire distributed among 360 undergraduate business students at 21 higher education institutions in Spain. Findings The study reveals that undergraduate business students consider auditors competent and ethical. Auditing is viewed as an interesting and rigorous activity, which requires high responsibility and contributes significantly to society. Students perceive that the auditing career is difficult but contributes to professional development. The knowledge acquired through business studies influences the creation of a positive image of the profession and of auditors. Practical implications The profession could benefit from the fact that having more information about the profession improves students’ perceptions of it. The provision of auditing courses through the degree and related activities to increase the visibility of the profession during the first years of the degree could improve the auditor stereotype and enhance students’ intentions to enter this profession. Originality/value Previous studies have analyzed the image of the accounting professional as a homogeneous professional status. This study specifically addresses the image of auditors, who are at the core of the traditional accounting domain. It analyzes the influence of sources of knowledge (academic training, having familiars and media) on auditors’ stereotypes. Moreover, it provides evidence concerning the perceptions of the new generations (Gen Z).
... The problem with the AoB approach is that arguably individuals tend to simplify beliefs in order to both remember and process thoughts more economically. This simplification of beliefs has attributed humans the metaphor of being cognitive misers in cognitive psychology [23,27]. Therefore, a model with more economic belief memory requirements, such as our PaWBar algorithm, is arguably more adequate. ...
Preprint
Consider a multi-agent system whereby each agent has an initial probability measure. In this paper, we propose a distributed algorithm based upon stochastic, asynchronous and pairwise exchange of information and displacement interpolation in the Wasserstein space. We characterize the evolution of this algorithm and prove it computes the Wasserstein barycenter of the initial measures under various conditions. One version of the algorithm computes a standard Wasserstein barycenter, i.e., a barycenter based upon equal weights; and the other version computes a randomized Wasserstein barycenter, i.e., a barycenter based upon random weights for the initial measures. Finally, we specialize our results to Gaussian distributions and draw a connection with the modeling of opinion dynamics in mathematical sociology.
... Cette Théorie de l'Auto-Catégorisation distingue tout d'abord trois niveaux de catégorisation, un niveau superordonné où l'Homme est en face de la Nature, un niveau médian d'identité sociale où la différenciation entre membres de l'endogroupe et membres de l'exogroupe (« Nous » vs « Eux ») est primordiale, et un niveau bas d'identité personnelle, où l'individu est considéré comme unique par rapport aux autres membres de l'endogroupe (« Je » vs « Tu »). Même si ce dernier niveau de catégorisation représente la dimension du Soi la plus souvent étudiée, ces différents niveaux d'abstraction sont équivalents pour la compréhension des mécanismes identitaires (Oakes & Turner, 1990). Plus récemment, la définition du soi personnel s'est enrichie de la notion de comparaisons intrapersonnelles pour un niveau d'auto-catégorisation moins inclusif (Reynolds & Turner, 2006 pour laquelle seul l'aspect social, (Barsalou, 1987 ;voir aussi Bruner, 1957 Le passage d'une identité personnelle vers une identité sociale ou collective a comme résultante un processus d'auto-stéréotypie, ou de dépersonnalisation de soi Turner, 1982). ...
Thesis
Fondée sur les Théories de la Comparaison sociale (Festinger, 1954), de l'Identité Sociale (Tajfel, 1970) et de l'Auto-Catégorisation (Turner, 1987), cette Thèse défend l'idée de l'influence du contexte de comparaison dans la construction des perceptions et des conduites scolaires. Particulièrement, et selon le genre, le niveau d'auto-catégorisation (intergroupe vs intragroupe) modifie le concept de soi scolaire, scientifique et littéraire, le rappel de notes mais aussi les choix d'orientation (Article 1). Les filles s'évaluent comme plus douées en lettres que les garçons et les garçons comme plus doués en sciences que les filles dans un contexte intergroupe par rapport à un contexte intragroupe. Avec des mesures plus « objectives », ce pattern de résultats est identique pour les notes et s'inverse pour les choix d'orientation. Ces différences de genre se retrouvent également pour les sois agentique et relationnel dans un contexte collectif et s'estompent là aussi dans un contexte plus individuel (Article 2). Ainsi, pour des élèves en France, les différences de genre ne sont pas amoindries (Eagly & Wood, 1999), mais perdurent lorsqu'une identité collective est induite. L'auto-stéréotypie ou l'adhésion au stéréotype de l'endogroupe explique alors ces différences de genre sur les concepts de soi agentique et relationnel. De plus, dans cette étude réalisée en école d'ingénieur, la position sociale modifie les auto-perceptions des filles sur un soi scientifique dans un contexte collectif, illustrant des effets de contraste par rapport au groupe d'appartenance. Le soi collectif et non le soi individuel est guide des attitudes d'inégalités envers les groupes sociaux, mesurées par la dominance sociale et le sexisme moderne (Article 2). Les liens entre comparaison sociale et buts d'accomplissement sont alors étudiés et précisent qu'une comparaison intergroupe implique plus l'adoption de buts de performance-approche qu'une comparaison intragroupe alors que l'inverse se produit pour des buts de maîtrise (Article 3). Ces résultats seront enfin discutés au regard des questions entourant l'existence de réelles différences de genre liées au contexte, et d'identités multiples influençant différemment les cognitions et attitudes.
... In particular, consensus has been emphasized in work that has sought to develop an intergroup approach to stereotyping within the framework of self-categorization theory (Turner, 1985;Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Reicher, & Wetherell, 1987). Central to this work is the argument that the psychological aspects of the stereotyping process are contextualized within, and structured by, group life and the realities of intergroup relations as apprehended from a particular, group-based, point of view (Oakes et al., 1994;Oakes & Turner, 1990;Spears, Oakes, Ellemers, & Haslam, 1997). In these Stereotype consensualization 757 terms, social groups are the basis of stereotypes not only because these are their target (what stereotypes are about) but also because they structure the stereotyper's own cognitive activity. ...
Article
Although it has long been recognized that stereotypes achieve much of their force from being shared by members of social groups, relatively little empirical work has examined the process by which such consensus is reached. This paper tests predictions derived from self-categorization theory that stereotype consensus will be enhanced (a) by factors which make the shared social identity of perceivers salient and (b) by group interaction that is premised upon that shared identity. In Experiment 1 (N=40) the consensus of ingroup stereotypes is enhanced where an ingroup is judged after (rather than before) an outgroup. In Experiment 2 (N=80) when only one group is judged, group interaction is shown to enhance the consensus of outgroup stereotypes more than those of the ingroup—an apparent ‘outgroup consensus effect’. In Experiment 3 (N=135) this asymmetry is extinguished and group interaction found to produce equally high consensus in both ingroup and outgroup stereotypes when the ingroup is explicitly contrasted from an outgroup. Implications for alternative models of consensus development are discussed. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
... This overemphasis can be further explained by cognitive perspectives of social judgment and decision making (e.g., Bargh & Chartrand, 1999;Macrae, Milne, & Bodenhausen, 1994). From an information processing and sensemaking perspective it is far easier (i.e., more cognitively efficient) to group individuals by generational cohort and to ascribe differences to groups of individuals on the basis of cohort membership than to consider continuous age as a factor influencing others' work attitudes, motivations, and behaviors (e.g., Oakes & Turner, 1990). That is to say, from a cognitive perspective, ecological fallacies in thinking about generations are to be expected, as this mode of thinking about and constructing our understanding of age is simplified and thus far more resource-efficient. ...
... It is fair to say that the main function of stereotyping is delivering simple and clear sort of information (e.g. Allport, 1954;Oakes & Turner, 1990). It strengthens the link to the own group membership which allows a wider space of action towards the groups (e.g. ...
Thesis
Sympathy towards fellow citizens and foreigners are mainly different. People tend to favour similar ones while isolating themselves from different ones. However, after a mortality salience (MS) or control prime, Turkish participants took part in a charity game in which they had to throw dices seventy-five times. Each appearing four indicated an increasing amount of 10 Turkish Lira to (a) Turkish or (b) European schools. When ingroup feeling is activated, mortality salience should lead to an effort to gain monetary advantage for the own fellows by reporting a higher amount of fours. No such effect was found. The results suggest that mortality salience in cross-cultural context activate different beliefs and values.
... However, behavioral research suggests that not all the available information is used for decision making. This can occur mainly because human beings have limited information-processing capacity and that necessitates the use of various shortcuts to select and process information (Oakes and Turner, 1990). This has led to research which seeks to understand what and how information is used for decision making (Birnberg et al., 2007;Luft and Shields, 2001). ...
Chapter
The concept of prejudice has profoundly influenced how we have investigated, explained and tried to change intergroup relations of discrimination and inequality. But what has this concept contributed to our knowledge of relations between groups and what has it obscured or misrepresented? How has it expanded or narrowed the horizons of psychological inquiry? How effective or ineffective has it been in guiding our attempts to transform social relations and institutions? In this book, a team of internationally renowned psychologists re-evaluate the concept of prejudice, in an attempt to move beyond conventional approaches to the subject and to help the reader gain a clearer understanding of relations within and between groups. This fresh look at prejudice will appeal to scholars and students of social psychology, sociology, political science and peace studies.
Chapter
The concept of prejudice has profoundly influenced how we have investigated, explained and tried to change intergroup relations of discrimination and inequality. But what has this concept contributed to our knowledge of relations between groups and what has it obscured or misrepresented? How has it expanded or narrowed the horizons of psychological inquiry? How effective or ineffective has it been in guiding our attempts to transform social relations and institutions? In this book, a team of internationally renowned psychologists re-evaluate the concept of prejudice, in an attempt to move beyond conventional approaches to the subject and to help the reader gain a clearer understanding of relations within and between groups. This fresh look at prejudice will appeal to scholars and students of social psychology, sociology, political science and peace studies.
Chapter
The concept of prejudice has profoundly influenced how we have investigated, explained and tried to change intergroup relations of discrimination and inequality. But what has this concept contributed to our knowledge of relations between groups and what has it obscured or misrepresented? How has it expanded or narrowed the horizons of psychological inquiry? How effective or ineffective has it been in guiding our attempts to transform social relations and institutions? In this book, a team of internationally renowned psychologists re-evaluate the concept of prejudice, in an attempt to move beyond conventional approaches to the subject and to help the reader gain a clearer understanding of relations within and between groups. This fresh look at prejudice will appeal to scholars and students of social psychology, sociology, political science and peace studies.
Chapter
The concept of prejudice has profoundly influenced how we have investigated, explained and tried to change intergroup relations of discrimination and inequality. But what has this concept contributed to our knowledge of relations between groups and what has it obscured or misrepresented? How has it expanded or narrowed the horizons of psychological inquiry? How effective or ineffective has it been in guiding our attempts to transform social relations and institutions? In this book, a team of internationally renowned psychologists re-evaluate the concept of prejudice, in an attempt to move beyond conventional approaches to the subject and to help the reader gain a clearer understanding of relations within and between groups. This fresh look at prejudice will appeal to scholars and students of social psychology, sociology, political science and peace studies.
Chapter
Full-text available
The concept of prejudice has profoundly influenced how we have investigated, explained and tried to change intergroup relations of discrimination and inequality. But what has this concept contributed to our knowledge of relations between groups and what has it obscured or misrepresented? How has it expanded or narrowed the horizons of psychological inquiry? How effective or ineffective has it been in guiding our attempts to transform social relations and institutions? In this book, a team of internationally renowned psychologists re-evaluate the concept of prejudice, in an attempt to move beyond conventional approaches to the subject and to help the reader gain a clearer understanding of relations within and between groups. This fresh look at prejudice will appeal to scholars and students of social psychology, sociology, political science and peace studies.
Chapter
The concept of prejudice has profoundly influenced how we have investigated, explained and tried to change intergroup relations of discrimination and inequality. But what has this concept contributed to our knowledge of relations between groups and what has it obscured or misrepresented? How has it expanded or narrowed the horizons of psychological inquiry? How effective or ineffective has it been in guiding our attempts to transform social relations and institutions? In this book, a team of internationally renowned psychologists re-evaluate the concept of prejudice, in an attempt to move beyond conventional approaches to the subject and to help the reader gain a clearer understanding of relations within and between groups. This fresh look at prejudice will appeal to scholars and students of social psychology, sociology, political science and peace studies.
Chapter
The concept of prejudice has profoundly influenced how we have investigated, explained and tried to change intergroup relations of discrimination and inequality. But what has this concept contributed to our knowledge of relations between groups and what has it obscured or misrepresented? How has it expanded or narrowed the horizons of psychological inquiry? How effective or ineffective has it been in guiding our attempts to transform social relations and institutions? In this book, a team of internationally renowned psychologists re-evaluate the concept of prejudice, in an attempt to move beyond conventional approaches to the subject and to help the reader gain a clearer understanding of relations within and between groups. This fresh look at prejudice will appeal to scholars and students of social psychology, sociology, political science and peace studies.
Chapter
The concept of prejudice has profoundly influenced how we have investigated, explained and tried to change intergroup relations of discrimination and inequality. But what has this concept contributed to our knowledge of relations between groups and what has it obscured or misrepresented? How has it expanded or narrowed the horizons of psychological inquiry? How effective or ineffective has it been in guiding our attempts to transform social relations and institutions? In this book, a team of internationally renowned psychologists re-evaluate the concept of prejudice, in an attempt to move beyond conventional approaches to the subject and to help the reader gain a clearer understanding of relations within and between groups. This fresh look at prejudice will appeal to scholars and students of social psychology, sociology, political science and peace studies.
Chapter
The concept of prejudice has profoundly influenced how we have investigated, explained and tried to change intergroup relations of discrimination and inequality. But what has this concept contributed to our knowledge of relations between groups and what has it obscured or misrepresented? How has it expanded or narrowed the horizons of psychological inquiry? How effective or ineffective has it been in guiding our attempts to transform social relations and institutions? In this book, a team of internationally renowned psychologists re-evaluate the concept of prejudice, in an attempt to move beyond conventional approaches to the subject and to help the reader gain a clearer understanding of relations within and between groups. This fresh look at prejudice will appeal to scholars and students of social psychology, sociology, political science and peace studies.
Chapter
The concept of prejudice has profoundly influenced how we have investigated, explained and tried to change intergroup relations of discrimination and inequality. But what has this concept contributed to our knowledge of relations between groups and what has it obscured or misrepresented? How has it expanded or narrowed the horizons of psychological inquiry? How effective or ineffective has it been in guiding our attempts to transform social relations and institutions? In this book, a team of internationally renowned psychologists re-evaluate the concept of prejudice, in an attempt to move beyond conventional approaches to the subject and to help the reader gain a clearer understanding of relations within and between groups. This fresh look at prejudice will appeal to scholars and students of social psychology, sociology, political science and peace studies.
Article
Pressure from stakeholders has resulted in increased board gender diversity. Such diversity, however, goes against the well-accepted concept of demographic homophily. In addition, other studies find that increased board gender diversity may not unequivocally lead to better firm decisions, which does not sit well with the assumption that demographic minorities bring diverse information/ideas to the board. This study advances an explanation for these inconsistencies in the literature by integrating symbolic management and recategorization theories to assert that boards outwardly conform to greater gender diversity, whilst choosing to reinforce value homophily by recategorizing female new directors based on shared political ideology. We test our hypotheses on a sample of 13,483 new director appointments in 2,473 US firms using fractional regression analysis. The findings show that the appointment of a new female director strengthens the association between the board's and the new director's political ideology. In addition, this relationship is strengthened when there is a female CEO, or when the new female director has a less similar demographic background. Moreover, supplemental analysis considering ethnic minority new director appointments shows similar results. The study makes important contributions toward the literatures on female new director selection, recategorization and political ideology. We shed light on why research is ambivalent regarding the benefits of gender diversity since findings show that boards compensate for gender diversity by becoming more homogeneous on political ideology, a value dimension that influences board decisions.
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Diversity ist als Begriff und Konzept allgegenwärtig. Während es zunächst darum ging, die Interessen sozial benachteiligter Gruppen zu berücksichtigen, sollte Diversity Management auch dazu beitragen, die vielfältigen Leistungen und Erfahrungen unterschiedlicher Menschen als Potenzial zu begreifen und zu nutzen. Doch kann die alltägliche Praxis des Diversity Managements diese originären Ziele noch halten – und konnte sie es je? Johanna Degen analysiert aus kritisch-sozialpsychologischer Perspektive die gelebte Praxis in der deutschen Wirtschaft anhand von Expert:inneninterviews. Durch die Auswertung subjektiver Erfahrungen von Vorständ:innen, CEOs, Manager:innen, Arbeitnehmer:innen und Arbeitssuchenden wird deutlich, dass das ausgeübte Diversity Management nurmehr – wenig überraschend – organisationale und kapitalistische Interessen schützt. Die Autorin zeigt darüber hinaus auf, wie Gruppendynamiken entstehen, in denen letzten Endes die Subjekte auf sich selbst zurückgeworfen werden und gezwungen sind, sich von den eigenen Werten und vom Problemgegenstand der sozialen Ungleichheit zu entfremden. Durch die Fokussierung auf die Frage, warum Diversity Management so nicht funktionieren kann, werden zugleich auch Lösungsrichtungen verdeutlicht.
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The Athens Pride has been officially organized annually since 2005, demonstrating the most evident representation of the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) Community to the society. Via this festival, various philanthropic and voluntary organizations defending the rights of the LGBT, in collaboration with the Municipality of Athens, attempt to present issues concerning the LGBT community and the opportunity of its members to express their sexual identity freely. However, despite the conduction of significant research regarding how the LGBT community members experience the specific condition, very few researches have they been addressed to the wider society. This research aims at investigating the attitude of the heterosexual community towards the festival, whether each message is being sufficiently understood as well as whether the attitude of the LGBT members participating at the festival aids or hinders the wider society to acknowledge the importance of the demands and needs of the LGBT community. For the elaboration of this research, posters from 2011 to 2016 were selected from the archive of Athens Pride as well as the official press releases and a few special photographs. Afterwards, six focus groups formed consisting of thirty individuals in total, more specifically of ten men and twenty women who identified themselves as cis heterosexuals. The groups’ members were of different age, educational background and financial level. Although many participants were in accordance with the festival, its messages and the attitude of the LGBT community, it was found that due to the strong stereotypes prevailing in Greece, the majority of the participants dissented, regarding the posters as a not helpful means of communication and the social representation of the LGBT community as provocative and self-humiliating. As a counterbalance, they suggested alternative ways of claiming and promoting the rights of its members.
Article
Purpose This paper aims to describe an integration of the media naturalness theory, the continuum model of impression formation and the social identity model of deindividuation effects. The goal is to determine the compatibility of the central tenets and propositions of the two theories and reconcile their effects under a unified model that can be used to explain and predict changes in perceptions, attitudes and behaviors arising in computer-mediated interaction. Design/methodology/approach A review of the literature was used to determine whether the two theories were compatible. The reconciliation comes by way of a third theory, the motivated tactician theory, which focuses on the effects of cognitive effort on schema use, particularly on those schemas used in social categorization processes. Findings It was determined that the two models of focus could be combined via the tenets of the third. The combined model is expected to provide explanatory and predictive capabilities that exceed those of the individual theories and should prove to be relevant in the study of computed-supported collaboration, in the design of collaborative environments and in the analysis of individual and group behaviors in computer-mediated communication. Research limitations/implications The current effort describes the main effects derived from the integration and offers four propositions that describe moderating factors that are derived from each of the three theories. The main effects must be tested and validated and, given support, must be extended to determine the validity of the moderating effects predicted by the propositions. Additionally, media naturalness theory is a relatively recent addition to theories of technology and so needs further empirical support for its propositions. As to the behavioral implications, the social identity model of deindividuation effects has yet to be tested with the specific intention of discovering how media characteristics affect self-concept. Practical implications The model can be used to inform information system designs that favor desirable behavioral outcomes or to prevent undesirable effects from occurring. For example, emphasis can place on media attributes and system features that individuate decision-makers within group decision support environments when consensus is a primary goal as a means to avoid group thinks and polarization. Conversely, attributes and features that are supportive of social categorization processes and deindividuation effects might be used to emphasize group membership, shared effort and to minimize social loafing or the frequency and intensity of inappropriate disparagement of ideas and contributions. Social implications The combined model is principally useful in explaining and predicting human behavior in relation to computer-supported collaborative work such as distributed workgroups and online learning environments. For example, the explanatory elements of the combined theory can be used by managers as a diagnostic tool in problem situations within virtual teams. A specific instance would be to determine why a change to existing systems created a change in work habits. In a more proactive move, managers might use the predicted social categorization effects and subsequent depersonalization, to instill a group identity in an otherwise diverse workgroup. Originality/value The combined model is expected to provide explanatory and predictive capabilities that exceed those of the individual theories and should prove to be relevant in the study of computed-supported collaboration, in the design of collaborative environments and in the analysis of individual and group behaviors in computer-mediated communication.
Article
We conduct an experiment to examine the effects of multi-level group identification on intergroup helping behavior. We predict and find that stronger identification with a sub-group and a superordinate group – separately and interactively – increase helping behavior. We provide evidence that the relationships between stronger identification and helping behavior operate in part through increased salience of superordinate group boundaries, perceived potential benefits to one’s own group of intergroup helping, and positive affect. Collectively, our findings illustrate the importance of understanding how individuals identify with the different groups naturally present in organizations, and highlight how identification can be used as an informal control to motivate important organizational behaviors. Such an understanding can help firms determine the best organizational hierarchy, develop communication and control strategies to build identification at appropriate levels, and establish evaluation and compensation systems that measure and reward outcomes in a manner that accounts for these group effects.
Preprint
Stereotypes often guide our perceptions of members of social groups. However, research has yet to document what stereotypes may exist for the fastest growing youth demographic in the U.S.—biracial individuals. Across seven studies (N = 1,104) we investigate what stereotypes are attributed to various biracial groups, whether biracial individuals are stereotyped as more similar to their lower status monoracial parent group (trait hypodescent), and whether contact moderates these stereotypes. Results provide evidence of some universal biracial stereotypes that are applied to all biracial groups: attractive and not fitting in or belonging. We also find that all biracial groups are attributed a number of unique stereotypes (i.e., which are not associated with their monoracial parent groups). However, across all studies, we find little evidence of trait hypodescent and no evidence that the tendency to engage in trait hypodescent varies as a function of contact.
Article
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The hypothesis presented in this paper is that adherence to exercise programs can be understood, and fostered through intervention, by considering how social identities form within group settings. This paper explains these processes from a self-categorization theory perspective.
Article
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This article explores the issue of how cultural backgrounds influence the way readers construct mental images of fictional characters. In an experiment conducted in 2008 in Germany, we found evidence suggesting that readers of fictional narratives draw on their stereotypes when evaluating the personality of a fictional character. Moreover, results of this experiment also suggest that this tendency to focus on (stereo-)typical attributes in the evaluation of characters increases rather than decreases with knowledge about the respective culture. Here, we discuss what cognitive processes presumably underlie these findings and what conclusions can be drawn for the reading process from these theoretical considerations on the influence of readers' cultural beliefs, values, norms, and so on. We further report the results of a second experiment conducted in Japan, which corroborates our previous findings. Finally, we outline suggestions for future endeavors that could make use of our research to address further questions.
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To investigate the role of competence and morality in stereotypes, a cross-national research was set up in six eastern-European countries. Study 1 measured the perceived desirability of stereotype attributes in ingroup versus outgroup members. Across countries, biopolar Competence and Morality components emerged. It was found that the perceived desirability of ingroup attributes was primarily competence-based, while desirability perceptions of outgroup attributes were mostly morality-based. In Study 2, participants in the six countries rated the occurrence of competence- and morality-related stereotype attributes among 10 national and ethnic target groups. Study 2 also assessed general evaluative attitudes and perceptions of power and conflict in inter-nation relations. Competence and morality dimensions fully explained the evaluative structure of national and ethnic stereotypes, generating a four-fold typology of sinful–loser, sinful–winner, virtuous–loser and virtuous–winner stereotypes. This typology was strongly related to perceptions of power and conflict between national groups. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Article
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In this paper, I analyse five approaches to identity work – discursive, dramaturgical, symbolic, socio-cognitive, and psychodynamic – and show how these are helpful in exploring the ways people draw on their membership of organizations in their constructions of self, processes generally referred to as organizational identification. Collectively, these approaches constitute a distinctive perspective on identities and identifications which suggests that they are ‘worked on’ by embedded social actors who are both constrained and enabled by context. In so doing, I draw attention to issues of agency and process, the always dynamic and complex, often fractured, and sometimes contradictory nature of identities and identifications, and raise a series of issues and questions for further research.
Book
Social Groups in Action and Interaction reviews and analyzes the human group as it operates to create both social good and, potentially, social harm. It summarizes current knowledge and contemporary research, with real-world examples in succinct yet engaging chapters, to help students understand and predict group behavior. Unlike other texts, the book considers a wide range of topics—such as conformity, leadership, task performance, social identity, prejudice, and discrimination—from both an intragroup and an intergroup perspective. By looking at behavior both within and between groups, it bridges the gap between these interconnected approaches. The second edition is thoroughly updated to include new discussion of the biology and neuroscience of group formation, recent developments in social identity theory, and recent advances in the study of social networks. It also includes questions for review and discussion in the classroom. It provides the most comprehensive and essential resource for courses on group dynamics and behavior.
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In recent years, there has been a renewal of interest in the processes through which groups coordinate social perceptions and judgement. This topic is particularly important for the study of stereotyping, as most of the impact of stereotypes derives from the fact that they are widely shared within social groups. The present experiment (N = 132) tests the assertion that perceiv-ers are more likely to generate a shared in-group stereotype to the extent that they define themselves and interact in terms of a common social category membership. Results supported predictions, indicating that manipulations intended to heighten social identity salience affected the content of self-categorizations leading to enhanced stereotype consensus and favorableness. As predicted, effects apparent when individuals completed stereotype checklists were also enhanced when checklists were completed in groups. These results are consistent with predictions derived from self-categorization theory and point to the capacity for inter-nalized group memberships to structure and regulate cognition.
Chapter
As Fineman (1993) already posed, organizations can be considered as emotional arenas where work life takes place. Nonetheless, since emotions have been considered as the antithesis of rationality and difficult to measure, they have been relatively muted in organizational research. Recently, emotions have been hailed as the missing ingredient for understanding organizational life. Also, although identity research in organizations has increased in recent years, none of the current perspectives has examined the role of emotions for understanding how individuals construct and enact professional identity. Therefore, this study tries to respond to the existing gaps in identity and emotions' literatures by trying to understand how emotions affect the construction and enactment of professional identities in a sample of 20 doctor managers from two Spanish hospitals. Grounded Theory methodology (Strauss and Corbin, 1998) was used to collect and analyse data from interviews, participant observation and hospital documentation. While not excluding other approaches, we found that a Social Identity Approach (SIA) was especially useful to analyse our data. The contribution of this chapter is threefold. First, our results provide new insights about how, in a work setting, emotions prioritise awareness of identity issues that need attention. Second, we discuss the role of emotions for understanding complex role identities by reference to the enactment of different sides of doctor managers' identities. Third and finally, we show how our analysis of the findings may be used to embellish the SIA by incorporating the consideration of emotions into this approach. This chapter is structured as follows. The first section addresses the emotional side of the organizational life, as a neglected aspect of the existing organizational studies. Then, we go on to trace the failure of the literature on work identity to address emotional issues. Drawing on emotion and identity literatures, we then show how the SIA may be embellished from the social constructionist knowledge on emotion. The value in adopting this approach lies in the opportunity to incorporate emotions into our understanding of how social identity is perceived and constructed in novel situations. Thereafter, we present the research procedure and method before examining our findings on how DMs defined themselves; the role that emotions played in these definitions; and how emotion affected identity enactment. In the conclusion, we discuss our findings and their implications for enhancing the SIA and for better understanding organizational life by incorporating emotions into the analysis.
Article
The concept of prejudice has profoundly influenced how we have investigated, explained and tried to change intergroup relations of discrimination and inequality. But what has this concept contributed to our knowledge of relations between groups and what has it obscured or misrepresented? How has it expanded or narrowed the horizons of psychological inquiry? How effective or ineffective has it been in guiding our attempts to transform social relations and institutions? In this book, a team of internationally renowned psychologists re-evaluate the concept of prejudice, in an attempt to move beyond conventional approaches to the subject and to help the reader gain a clearer understanding of relations within and between groups. This fresh look at prejudice will appeal to scholars and students of social psychology, sociology, political science and peace studies.
Article
Social identity theory Social identity theory is a “grand” theory. Its core premise is that in many social situations people think of themselves and others as group members , rather than as unique individuals. The theory argues that social identity underpins intergroup behavior and sees this as qualitatively distinct from interpersonal behavior. It delineates the circumstances under which social identities are likely to become important, so that they become the primary determinant of social perceptions and social behaviors. The theory also specifies different strategies people employ to cope with a devalued social identity. Social identity theory is a truly social psychological theory, in that it focuses on social context as the key determinant of self-definition and behavior. People's responses are thus understood in terms of subjective beliefs about different groups and the relations between them, rather than material interdependencies and instrumental concerns, objective individual and group characteristics, or individual Since ...
Article
Purpose – There is a widely held stereotypical view that accounting is structured, precise, compliance-driven and repetitive. Drawing on social psychology theory, this paper aims to examine how accountants may contribute to these stereotypical perceptions. Design/methodology/approach – Individual perception data were collected through questionnaires and interviews with accountants from the corporate, public practice and not-for-profit sectors, along with “Chartered Accountants” who no longer work as accountants. Findings – These findings suggest that, contrary to results from an earlier study, the targets of the accounting stereotype contribute to the stereotype formation and maintenance and that increased exposure to accountants may serve only to confirm and reinforce the accounting stereotype. Research limitations/implications – There are a small number of participants in this study, and this limits the ability to generalise the findings. Practical implications – These findings have important implications for the profession in how it communicates and promotes the role of the accountant in society. Failure to address the issues identified may lead the stereotype to become self-fulfilling. This may result in the recruitment of future accountants who lack the required skills and capabilities. This could lead to the loss of non-compliance-related accounting work to other business professionals. Originality/value – This study responds to criticism that little is known about how and why the accounting stereotype is formed and how contact with an accountant may increase stereotypicality. Additionally, this paper proposes a strategy to reduce stereotypicality through contact with accountants.
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Outlines present conceptualizations of stereotypes in psychology, and discusses theoretical approaches linking ethnic stereotypes to negative attitudes and discriminatory behavior. Research results concerning the content of ethnic stereotypes, their development and resistance to change, and the reciprocal nature of intergroup stereotypes are reviewed. Several critical issues, E.g., methodological problems and the "kernel of truth" controversy, are also discussed. It is suggested that none of the current definitions of stereotype are completely adequate. It is proposed that much of the ambiguity, both conceptual and empirical, in this area may be reduced if stereotypes are regarded as generalizations that are considered as unjustified by the person who affixes the label. There are several types of criteria under which a generalization may be considered unjustified. (3 P. Ref.)
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In 3 studies, a total of 207 White university summer school students observed slide and type portrayals of interacting small groups that were of mixed sex or mixed race. Hypotheses were that (a) social perceivers encode person information by race and sex; (b) this fact leads to minimizing within-group and exaggerating between-group differences; (c) perceivers stereotype accordingly; (d) within-group attributes, both stereotyped and nonstereotyped, are exaggerated in inverse proportion to the size of the minority subgroup; (e) better discriminations are made within smaller subgroups; (f) imputations of attributes to groups as a whole are also sensitive to the makeup of the group; and (g) all these behaviors are attenuated when the perceiver is a member of the subgroup evaluated. All but the last hypothesis received at least partial support. Results are discussed in terms of categorization processes and suggest that normal cognitive processes explain the process of stereotyping quite well. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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Experimental research on intergroup discrimination in favor of one's own group is reviewed in terms of the basis of differentiation between in-group and out-group and in terms of the response measure on which in-group bias is assessed. Results of the research reviewed suggest that (a) factors such as intergroup competition, similarity, and status differentials affect in-group bias indirectly by influencing the salience of distinctions between in-group and out-group, (b) the degree of intergroup differentiation on a particular response dimension is a joint function of the relevance of intergroup distinctions and the favorableness of the in-group's position on that dimension, and (c) the enhancement of in-group bias is more related to increased favoritism toward in-group members than to increased hostility toward out-group members. Implications of these results for positive applications of group identification (e.g., a shift of in-group bias research from inter- to intragroup contexts) are discussed. (67 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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The aim of the studies was to assess the effefcs of social categorization on intergroup behaviour when, in the intergroup situation, neither calculations of individual interest nor previously existing attitudes of hostility could have been said to have determined discriminative behaviour against an outgroup. These conditions were satisfied in the experimental design. In the first series of experiments, it was found that the subjects favoured their own group in the distribution of real rewards and penalities in a situation in which nothing but the variable of fairly irrelevant classification distinguished between the ingroup and the outgroup. In the second series of experiments it was found that: 1) maximum joint profit independent of group membership did not affect significantly the manner in which the subjects divided real pecuniary rewards; 2) maximum profit for own group did affect the distribution of rewards; 3) the clearest effect on the distribution of rewards was due to the subjects' attempt to achieve a maximum difference between the ingroup and the outgroup even at the price of sacrificing other ‘objective’ advantages. The design and the results of the study are theoretically discussed within the framework of social norms and expectations and particularly in relation to a ‘generic’ norm of outgroup behaviour prevalent in some societies.
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Questions the metric and dimensional assumptions that underlie the geometric representation of similarity on both theoretical and empirical grounds. A new set-theoretical approach to similarity is developed in which objects are represented as collections of features and similarity is described as a feature-matching process. Specifically, a set of qualitative assumptions is shown to imply the contrast model, which expresses the similarity between objects as a linear combination of the measures of their common and distinctive features. Several predictions of the contrast model are tested in studies of similarity with both semantic and perceptual stimuli. The model is used to uncover, analyze, and explain a variety of empirical phenomena such as the role of common and distinctive features, the relations between judgments of similarity and difference, the presence of asymmetric similarities, and the effects of context on judgments of similarity. The contrast model generalizes standard representations of similarity data in terms of clusters and trees. It is also used to analyze the relations of prototypicality and family resemblance. (39 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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How likely people are to think of themselves in terms of a given personal characteristic is predicted from the distinctiveness postulate that the person, when confronted by a complex stimulus (such as the self), selectively notices and encodes the stimulus in terms of what is most peculiar about it, since these peculiar characteristics are the most informative in distinguishing it from other stimuli. This partial view of the person as an information-encoding machine (one is conscious of oneself insofar as, and in the ways that, one is different) is used to derive four predictions implying that ethnic identity is salient in children's spontaneous self-concepts to the extent that their ethnic group is in the minority in their social milieu at school. Our measure of salience of ethnicity was its being spontaneously mentioned by the children in response to a nondirective "Tell us about yourself" question. All four predictions were confirmed, though for several of the findings there are plausible alternative explanations.
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Subjects read information about a defendant in a criminal trial with initial instructions to judge either his guilt (guilt judgment objective) or his aggressiveness (trait judgment objective). The defendant was either Hispanic or ethnically nondescript. After considering the evidence, subjects made both guilt and aggressiveness judgments (regardless of which type of judgment they were instructed to make at the time they read the information) and then recalled as much of the information they read as they could. Results favored the hypothesis that when subjects face a complex judgmental situation, they use stereotypes (when available and relevant) as a way of simplifying the judgment. Specifically, they use the stereotype as a central theme around which they organize presented evidence that is consistent with it, and they neglect inconsistent information. Subjects with a (complex) guilt judgment objective judged the defendant to be relatively more guilty and aggressive and recalled more negative information about him if he was Hispanic than if he was ethnically nondescript. In contrast, subjects with a (simple) trait judgment objective did not perceive either the guilt or aggressiveness of the two defendants to be appreciably different, and did not display any significant bias in their recall of the evidence. These and other results are discussed in terms of the information-processing strategies subjects are likely to use when they expect to make different types of judgments.
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In two experiments we investigated the effects of stereotyping on (a) reactions to a behavioral transgression and (b) the recall of information bearing on it. Subjects read a case file describing a transgression committed by a target (in Experiment 1, a job-related infraction; in Experiment 2, a criminal act). In some cases, the target's transgression was stereotypic of the target's ethnic group (conveyed through his name), and in other cases it was not. After reading the case file, subjects judged the likelihood that the transgression would recur and recommended punishment for the offense. These judgment data supported the hypothesis that stereotypes function as judgmental heuristics. Specifically, subjects used a stereotype of the target to infer the reasons for his transgression, and then based their punishment decisions on the implications of these inferences, considering other relevant information only when a stereotype-based explanation of the behavior was not available. However, recall data suggested that once a stereotype-based impression of the crime and its determinants was formed, subjects reviewed other available information in an attempt to confirm the implications of this impression. This led to differential recall of presented information, depending on whether its implications were consistent with, inconsistent with, or irrelevant to those of the stereotype.
Article
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Compared the social stereotypes of 150 undergraduates with those in 2 earlier studies. In contrast to the "fading effect" observed by G. M. Gilbert (see 25:12), current stereotypes of 10 national and ethnic groups were found to be highly uniform. However, several important differences in this sample were observed: Ss protested the unreasonableness of ethnic generalizations; major changes occurred in stereotype content; uniformity of stereotypes was positively correlated with favorableness of traits assigned; and the autostereotype of Americans fell from 1st to 5th place in favorableness. Distinctions are made among personal, social, contemporary and traditional stereotypes, and the relationship of stereotyping to prejudice and ethnocentrism is discussed. (24 ref.)
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A variety of researches are examined from the standpoint of information theory. It is shown that the unaided observer is severely limited in terms of the amount of information he can receive, process, and remember. However, it is shown that by the use of various techniques, e.g., use of several stimulus dimensions, recoding, and various mnemonic devices, this informational bottleneck can be broken. 20 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).
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Readiness depends on how accessible categories are to the stimulated organism. Accessibility is a function of the likehood of occurrence of previously learned events, and one's need states and habits of daily living. Lack of perceptual readiness can be rectified by relearning the categories, or by constant close inspection of events and objects. Sensory stimuli are "sorted" to appropriate categories by searching for and using cues. 4 mechanisms are proposed: "grouping and integration, access ordering, match-mismatch signal utilization, and gating." Failure of perceptual readiness may occur because of inability to learn appropriate categories or through interference of accessible categories. These ideas may shed light on "perceptual defense." 88 references.
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The extensive research examining relations between group member dissimilarity and outcome measures has yielded inconsistent results. In the present research, the authors used computer simulations to examine the impact that a methodological feature of such research, participant nonresponse, can have on dissimilarity-outcome relations. Results suggest that using only survey responders to calculate dissimilarity typically results in underestimation of true dissimilarity effects and that these effects can occur even when response rates are high.
Book
Despite the central place that the study of attitudes has long held in social psycho­ logical research, the last decade or so has been relatively quiet as far as the de­ velopment of attitude theory has been concerned. If one looks back to the Yale studies on communication and persuasion in the 1950s, followed by the massive literature derived from cognitive dissonance theory and its alternatives, there may be a temptation to think that the well of researchable questions has run almost dry. The purpose of this book is to convince the reader that this is not the case. On the contrary, a new look at the concept of attitude offers the prospect of as rich and varied a range of questions as ever before. The term "new look" is an old one in social psychology. It was used 30 to 40 years ago as the designation for the school of thought which held that "basic" psychological processes such as perception, cognition, learning, and memory could be influenced by attitudes, motives, and values. There are still lessons to be learned from that period, and the new "new look" that is now emerging incorporates some of these same themes, albeit in the context of changing issues and emphases.
Chapter
In this chapter we shall be considering what at first sight may seem a phenomenon of limited importance—the tendency of people to make extreme rather than moderate differentiations between statements that express varying viewpoints on an issue. In attempting to explain this tendency, however, we shall mention a number of principles of far wider interest and applicability. Two such principles are of particular importance. The first—accentuation—concerns the tendency of people to group objects of judgment into separate categories, with the effect that the subjective differences between categories are accentuated relative to the differences within them. The second concerns the distinction between the evaluative and descriptive functions of language. The essential idea is that words often do not have single meanings but may fulfill a number of separate functions simultaneously. The same adjective, for instance, can both describe an attribute and communicate approval of the attribute described. These two principles are combined to form an approach that we have identified by the term accentuation theory.
Chapter
This chapter discusses the social psychologists study “top of the head” phenomena in their experimental investigations. Attention within the social environment is selective. It is drawn to particular features of the environment either as a function of qualities intrinsic to those features (such as light or movement) or as a function of the perceiver's own dispositions and temporary need states. These conditions are outlined in the chapter. As a result of differential attention to particular features, information about those features is more available to the perceiver. Relative to the quantity of information retained about other features, more is retained about the salient features. When the salient person is the self, the same effects occur, and the individual is also found to show more consistency in attitudes and behaviors. These processes may occur primarily in situations which are redundant, unsurprising, uninvolving, and unarousing. They seem to occur automatically and substantially without awareness, and as such, they differ qualitatively from the intentional, conscious, controlled kind of search which characterizes all the behavior.
Chapter
This chapter presents implications for creations and reduction of intergroup bias. It presents the observation that persons organize their social environment by categorizing themselves and others into groups. Categorization serves two functions, enables to simplify the present social environment and to predict future social behavior. Although reliance on categories is efficient, there is a risk error when using a category based on phenotypic similarities to infer genotypic properties. (Thus, members of a group may share similar opinions on matters relevant to the group but that similarity may not reflect an underlying similarity of motives or dispositions.) Categorizing others into ingroups and outgroups produces a set of consistent and quite logical effects, including assumptions of similarity within and dissimilarity between groups, assumed homogeneity of the outgroup, and overreliance on information that supports these assumptions. Further, categorization leads to intergroup comparisons and ingroup favoritism over outgroups even when no obvious justifications are present for bias.
Article
Male and female subjects observed a discussion by a group with one of three sex ratios (9M-IF, SM-SF, 1M-9F) and in which the male contributions were expressed in a more or less stereotype consistent manner. The results indicated that male speakers were stereotyped less than females and that male compared with female speakers were stereotyped increasingly less as the number of like speakers in the group increased.
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Stereotypes "are organizations of experience with certain classes of objects (persons) based on perceived relationships. Personality and intellectual traits constitute the most significant components. It is probable that intensional properties play a different (and more confused) role in stereotypes than in other concepts… development of stereotypes is basically similar to that of other concepts, save that the context in which it takes place, and the direction (if any) given to that development, have special features." Vinacke advises that "stereotypes and prejudices… be treated as separate groups of variables" in future research. 30 refs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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Examined self-categorization theory by experimentally varying sex-category salience for 60 male and 60 female university students and monitoring the effects on self-stereotyping (self-description in terms of an individual's situation-specific own-sex stereotype) and other measures of group behavior. It was predicted that under conditions theoretically expected to accentuate the salience of sex (intersex collective encounter as opposed to intrasex dyadic encounter), self-categorization and self-stereotyping in group behavior should occur, and that the specific content of this behavior would be predictable from the nature of the social relations between the sexes. Results reveal that increased salience was associated with self-categorization and self-stereotyping. Under these conditions males were less ethnocentric and experienced higher self-esteem than females. These findings are consistent with the hypotheses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Article
The hypothesis: that judged differences between members of an ethnic group are smaller for traits which are part of the stereotype concerning that group than for traits which are not relevant to such a stereotype. S made judgments in a free and natural setting. The hypothesis was confirmed for Canadian Ss judging 2 Indian Nationals; distinct evidence was obtained for the same phenomenon occurring in the case of Canadian Ss Judging 2 Canadians. The Indians were more closely identified by the Ss with the general stereotype of their group than the Canadians for whom a more specific stereotype seemed to operate. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Article
Assimilation and contrast effects in the placement of opinion items in a series and in the evaluation of the acceptability of such items are explained by principles derived from psychophysical studies of stimulus placement and the development of scales of judgment. The book contains a systematic survey of relevant psychophysical studies plus an analysis of several of the authors' recent experiments on the judgment of weights, opinion topics, and political parties. In addition to the argument that assimilation and contrast effects depend on the location of anchors employed by the judge in evaluating the stimulus items, the authors introduce the concepts of latitude of acceptance and latitude of rejection and discuss the implications of these concepts for attitude change and communication. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Article
Ten ethnic groups were placed in rank order by 60 Princeton students on the basis of preference for association with their members. The ranking was similar to the results reported by other investigators. Minor exceptions occurred in the case of the Jews and Japanese, who were placed somewhat lower and higher, respectively, than in other studies. A change in instructions designed to elicit private or personal responses as against public attitudes had a significant effect only in the case of the negroes, who were placed a rank higher in private than in public preferences. Students showed the greatest agreement in ranking the Americans, English, and Germans for both public and private preferences. The least agreement in public preferences occurred for the Jews, Japanese, and Chinese, and in private preferences for the negroes, Jews, and Chinese. A list of 84 traits given as the typical characteristics of the ten nationalities by a group of students was rated by another group of students on the basis of their desirability as associates. From these ratings scores were assigned to the ten nationalities, the relative weights of which agreed closely with the preferential private and public rank orders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Article
Contrast effects have long been recognized as important for the study of judgement. It has been predicted that the presence of a categorization superimposed on a series of stimuli (and correlated with their magnitude) would serve to accentuate judged differences between and judged similarities within classes. Fifty-five subjects judged political statements, classified in terms of their authors. It was predicted that the contrast effects would be mediated by the salience of the categorization, the political views of the subjects, their affective ratings of authors and evaluations of political terms. Unlike numerous other studies with similar designs the results provided evidence for both the accentuation of inter-class differences and intra-class similarities. The relationships between judges' views and contrast were in accordance with accentuation theory and social identity theory, in that judges whose positions were congruent with the positive evaluations of the scale labels showed more contrast between classes. The results are discussed with reference to social identity theory and the role of category salience.
Article
The distinctive metatheoretical and empirical significance of the social identity concept for social psychology is outlined with special reference to social influence and group polarization. ‘Individualism’ and ‘interactionism’ are summarized and contrasted as alternative metatheories of social psychology and it is argued that the social identity concept embodies the latter. A social identity theory of group behaviour (and the individual-group relationship) is introduced and from it are derived further theories of social influence and group polarization. The latter is explained as a special case of normal intragroup influence. It is shown how the social identity theory (theories) of group behaviour, social influence and group polarization explicitly assumes a functional interaction between psychological and social processes, in contrast to individualism, and at the same time generates distinctive, testable, empirical predictions. It is concluded that the social identity concept represents a mechanism of social-psychological interaction and as such demonstrates that social psychology need not be an individualistic science.
Article
Recent studies have reported that the variable of social categorization per se is sufficient for intergroup discrimination. This paper presents an explanation of these findings in terms of the operation of social comparison processes between groups based on the need for a positive ingroup identity. The relationship between perceived social identity and intergroup comparison is elaborated theoretically, and it is argued that social comparisons give rise to processes of mutual differentiation between groups which can be analyzed as a form of ‘social’ competition. Social competition is distinguished from realistic competition (conflict of group interests). New data is reported which strengthens this interpretation of the ‘minimal’ categorization studies. It is found that minimal intergroup discrimination takes place in the distribution of meaningless ‘points’ as well as monetary rewards and that social categorization per se does not lead to intergroup behaviour where the subjects can act directly in terms of ‘self’. Other studies on intergroup biases are reviewed to argue for the generality of social competition in intergroup situations.
Article
Henri Tajfel's contribution to the experimental study of intergroup relations is highlighted and recent complementary approaches are presented. The distinction between deductive and inductive aspects of social categorization and the links between within group and between group interaction and differentiation are commented. A plea is made for studying self as social representation and for considering ethical issues of intergroup relations.
Article
It was hypothesized that the effects of novelty on social category membership salience may be mediated by perceivers' current tasks, rather than by an automatic perceptual bias (Taylor and Fiske, 1978). Subjects viewed tape-slide portrayals of mixed-sex groups (1 male—5 females, 2M—4F, 3M—3F, 4M—2F, 5M—1F) under ‘individual’ (focus on one target person) or ‘collective’ (focus on entire stimulus group) task conditions. Results on measures of sex stereotyping strongly supported the hypothesis, indicating that ‘individual’ task subjects tended to maximize stereotyping in the 1M—5F and 5M—1F conditions whilst ‘collective’ subjects did so in the 3M-3F condition. It is concluded that novel category memberships are not automatically prepotent in social perception, and the results are discussed in the context of a functional approach to the salience problem.
Article
Two experiments investigated the effects of priming (activation of a category by unobtrusive exposure to exemplars of that category) on subsequent judgments in an unrelated task. Subjects were primed with one of four levels of ferocity (size) in the course of a “color perception” experiment, and were later asked to judge the ferocity (size) of real (unambiguous) and unreal (ambiguous) animals. An interaction between ambiguity of judged stimuli (real vs unreal animals) and extremity of primed exemplars (moderate vs extreme levels of ferocity or size) was revealed. Assimilation effects (judgments consistent with the primed category) occurred only when moderate exemplars were primed and ambiguous stimuli judged. Contrast effects occurred when extreme exemplars were primed and ambiguous stimuli judged and, irrespective of extremity of the primed exemplar, when unambiguous stimuli were judged. The results are interpreted in terms of an integration of social judgment and social cognition perspectives.
Article
The aim of this paper was to stress the importance of the adaptive cognitive functioning of man in the causation of prejudice. It was felt that this approach has the merits of economy, credibility and testability of explanation which are not always shared by views seeking the psychological causes of intergroup tensions in the evolutionary past of the species or in unconscious motivation. Three cognitive processes were considered from the point of view of their relevance to the genesis of prejudice in an individual: categorization, assimilation, and search for conceptual coherence. Though the paper was not concerned either with discussing ways to reduce prejudice or with outlining in any detail designs for future research, it is my belief that the general approach adopted here has implications, both for social action and for research, which have not been as yet consistently and fully taken into account.
Article
Stimuli which form a series may differ from each other in their physical magnitudes and in their value to the subject; they may also be classified according to various attributes. A theoretical schema is presented which is based on some assumptions about the effects of the interaction of these three variables upon absolute judgements pertaining to series of stimuli. These assumptions allow for predictions of shifts of judgement in a number of series in which these variables are found in various combinations. Many of these combinations are representative of conditions under which judgements in social situations are made. An attempt is also made to apply some predictions following from the schema to judgements involving not only physical but also abstract continua.
Article
The investigation is concerned with the effects on judgement of some relations between the manner in which stimuli of a series are classified and the magnitudes of the stimuli. It is shown that when the classification stands in a direct and predictable relation to a physical scale, the stimuli belonging to different classes are judged as farther apart on that scale than in an unclassified series. A classification which is not coherently related to the physical scale does not affect judgement in this manner. There is also evidence in the results that, as a function of past experience with the classification, an increase occurs in the apparent differences between stimuli belonging to different classes, and in the apparent similarity of stimuli belonging to the same class. The relevance of these findings to the general problem of stereotyping is discussed.