PSYC12H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Kurt Lewin, In-Group Favoritism, Ingroups And Outgroups
Document Summary
Categorization: stereotypes were no longer regarded as the product of lazy thinking by the uneducated or those (cid:449)ith (cid:373)oral defi(cid:272)ie(cid:374)(cid:272)ies. I(cid:374)stead, (cid:373)ost resear(cid:272)hers ha(cid:448)e take(cid:374) allport"s lead and now regard stereotypes as a natural consequence of cognition. Why we categorize: the reason is that humans have a limited-capacity cognitive system that cannot simultaneously process all the available information in our social environment. Because we have a need to understand and even anticipate the behaviour of others, humans have developed ways around our limited cognitive system. Type of categorization: when we perceive an individual, we tend to classify that person along a few broad categories: race, gender, and age. These are the major ways we first categorize someone because these are the most immediate and obvious features of an individual, and because these categories yield much information about useful distinctions in social behaviour between those in different groups.
