PSYC12H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Subcategorization, Cognitive Dissonance, Stereotype Threat
Document Summary
Psyc12- chapter 2- original and maintenance of stereotypes and prejudice. Stereotypes changes dramatically over the decades: stereotyping was once regarded as a sign of the moral deficiency of the stereotype, or even as an indicator of repressed unconscious hostility. 1960s, advance in cognitive psychology, let to changes in understanding how mind perceives and processes information: found that human brain seems to automatically classify or categorize similar objects in the environment. Stereotypes were not longer regarded as product of lazy thinking by uneducated/those with moral deficiencies: people take allport"s lead and regard sterotypes as nature consequence of cognition. Humans have a limited-capacity cognitive system that cannot simultaneously process all the available information in our social environment. This happens to quickly that with repeated use of categorization of an individual can become virtually automatic and non-conscious. Suggested that the way the person categorizes a picture of an individual depends on the perceiver"s motivates, cognitions and affect.
