And Farhad and Sarah may even change their opinions about each other, forgetting that they really like each other as individuals, because they are now responding more as group members with opposing views. You can see that these social categorizations may create some potential for misperception, and perhaps even hostility. Sarah feels that her positions are correct, and she believes they are true not only for her but for women in general. In short, Sarah is now arguing her points not so much for herself as she is as a representative of one of her ingroups-namely, women-and Farhad is acting as a representative of one of his ingroups-namely, men. You can see that an interaction that began at individual level, as two individuals conversing, has now turned to the group level, in which Farhad has begun to consider himself as a man, and Sarah has begun to consider herself as a woman. Sarah feels quite the contrary-arguing that women have been the targets of sexism for many, many years and even now do not have the same access to high-paying jobs that men do. Furthermore, he argues that women are getting too many breaks in job hiring and that qualified men are the targets of discrimination.

He argues that if there is a women’s studies program, then there should be a men’s studies program too. It turns out that Farhad does not think there should be a women’s studies program at the college, and he tells Sarah so. Imagine, however, that as the conversation continues, Sarah brings up an assignment that she is completing for her women’s studies class. Farhad is expressing his opinions, and Sarah is expressing hers. At this point, we would probably not consider them to be acting as group members, but rather as two individuals. Imagine for a moment that two college students, Farhad and Sarah, are talking at a table in the student union at your college or university. Once we do so, we begin to respond to those people more as members of a social group than as individuals. Just as we categorize objects into different types, so do we categorize people according to their social group memberships.

Social categorization occurs when we think of someone as a man (versus a woman), an old person (versus a young person), a Black person (versus an Asian or White person), and so on (Allport, 1954/1979). Thinking about others in terms of their group memberships is known as social categorization- the natural cognitive process by which we place individuals into social groups.

Review the ways that stereotypes influence our behavior.

Define stereotypes and describe the ways that stereotypes are measured.

Describe the fundamental process of social categorization and its influence on thoughts, feelings, and behavior.

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