Chapter 3 Social Categorizations and Stereotypes

Chapter 3

Social Categorizations and Stereotypes

Prepared by S. Saterfield from Whitley & Kite, “The Psychology of Prejudice and Discrimination”, 2006

• Effective Information Processing– Must process information for survival making

quick decisions about people and objects allows perceivers to move ahead

– Challenge is to strike a balance between efficiency and accuracy

• Social Judgment Process– Categories used must often– How do people develop these categories

Social Categorization and Stereotypes

• Seeing the world in two categories

We and them

• Tendency perpetuates stereotypic judgment and prejudice


• Categorization—is term psychologist use for the process of simplifying the environment by creating categories on basis of characteristics (such as hair color or athletic ability) that a particular set of people appear to have in common


• Social Group—thought this process of categorization people places others and themselves into categories

– People develop beliefs – Use beliefs to guide their future interactions

with individual social groups– People use categories to make judgments

about other people on a daily basis


• Understanding the categorization process is fundamental to understanding stereotypoing and prejudice


• Stereotypes—belongs to a categories called SCHEMAS– Cognitive structures that contain a

person’s knowledge and belief’s about a particular object or social group

– Influence the perceiver's acquisition and interpretation of information about members of social groups

– Sets up expectations for how members of social groups will act


• Two aspects of categorizations to understand Prejudice– Contents Schema of people’s stereotypic beliefs

• Association across time or group members• Factors that make content vary

– Process Schema by which people form and use social categories

• How are they represented in memory?• How & when are these representations retrieved and

utilized?• What motivations and biases influence the process?


• People remember information in terms of general principles rather than specific individual facts

• People fill in the blanks or memory with what their experiences and beliefs tell them should be there


• Types of Categorization– Basic social category—which a wealth of

information is available in memory• Race, age, gender• Use information to draw conclusions about

person’s traits, social role, and physical characteristics

• All basic categories have “privilege” status: information about them is readily available to perceivers.

– Other social categories


• Other social categories– Physically attractive people are treated

differently– People are categorized based on

• Sexual orientation• Religion• Weight• Disability status• Skin tone or hair color• Nationality• Common stereotypes


• People attend to demeanor, making snap judgments about people based on nonverbal cues such as facial expressions, posture, and gait

• Judgments can be based on color, black and white moral virtues, ascribed to good and bad guys or athletics.


• People’s use of commonplace expressions that convey stereotypic information about ethnic groups or nationalities.

• From a paper represented at the meeting of the American Psychological Association (APA), 15 common expressions were presented to report positive or negative these expressions were believed to be.

• Let’s see you beliefs


• Welsh on a bet:

To cheat by failing to pay a gambling debt (you aren’t going to welsh on me, are your?) To go back on one’s word (he welshed on his promise )

• Positive or Negative?


• Dutch Treat:

A meal or entertainment for which each person pays his or her own expenses



• Indian giver:

A person who gives a gift and the takes it back.



• Jew down a price:

To bargain sharply with, beat down a price.



• Get your Irish up:

To become angry or outraged (don’t get your Irish up over a little matter like that).



• Ugly American:

Of or pertaining to the United states or its inhabitants. Ugly: Disagreeable; unpleasan; objectionable



• Excuse my French:

Links the French Language with negative language



• Got Gypped:

To defraud or rob by some sharp practice

• Positive or swindle; cheat. From relationship to Gypsy



• Chinese Fire Drill:

A state of chaotic, often clamorous disorder



• Get off Scot Free:

No consequences or payment. Related to use of Scotch as frugal and thrifty, sometimes in an offensive way.



• Barbarian:

A person living outside; a person not living in a Christian country or within a Christian civilization



• Jewish American Princess:

A pampered young Jewish women, especially one who takes material advantages for granted



• Mexican Stand Off:

A stalemate, a confrontation that neither side can win. Originally an American cowboy expression describing a gun battle wit no clear winner



• My Nigga:

A shortening of the word Nigger to show endearment to others. Usually used by members of a social group, however has garnered acceptance for anyone who embraces the rap culture.



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Chapter 3 Social Categorizations and Stereotypes