Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of contributors
- Preface
- 1 Social, cultural and cognitive factors in stereotype formation
- 2 Stereotype formation as category formation
- 3 Subjective essentialism and the emergence of stereotypes
- 4 The role of theories in the formation of stereotype content
- 5 Illusory correlation and stereotype formation: making sense of group differences and cognitive biases
- 6 Dependence and the formation of stereotyped beliefs about groups: from interpersonal to intergroup perception
- 7 Four degrees of stereotype formation: differentiation by any means necessary
- 8 From personal pictures in the head to collective tools in the world: how shared stereotypes allow groups to represent and change social reality
- 9 Conclusion: stereotypes are selective, variable and contested explanations
- References
- Author index
- Subject index
3 - Subjective essentialism and the emergence of stereotypes
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of contributors
- Preface
- 1 Social, cultural and cognitive factors in stereotype formation
- 2 Stereotype formation as category formation
- 3 Subjective essentialism and the emergence of stereotypes
- 4 The role of theories in the formation of stereotype content
- 5 Illusory correlation and stereotype formation: making sense of group differences and cognitive biases
- 6 Dependence and the formation of stereotyped beliefs about groups: from interpersonal to intergroup perception
- 7 Four degrees of stereotype formation: differentiation by any means necessary
- 8 From personal pictures in the head to collective tools in the world: how shared stereotypes allow groups to represent and change social reality
- 9 Conclusion: stereotypes are selective, variable and contested explanations
- References
- Author index
- Subject index
Summary
Being able to make sense of the surrounding social environment is no doubt one of the major wonders of our cognitive apparatus. In most instances, perceivers encounter no difficulty in assigning people to social categories (Bodenhausen & Macrae, 1998; Fiske, 1998, 2000; Leyens, Yzerbyt & Schadron, 1994; Oakes, Haslam & Turner, 1994). According to one strand of research, such an achievement stems from people's ability to recognize regularities and patterns that are available in the social setting. From this perspective, social categories impose themselves upon observers. An alternative perspective holds that perceivers play quite an active role in the representation of the social world. Specifically, observers are thought to rely on abstract knowledge in order to organize the incoming information.
The distinction between these two approaches is a key issue whenever we ask ourselves the question of the origin of stereotypes. After all, are those beliefs that social psychologists and lay people alike call stereotypes the mere reflection of the environment in what could be seen as rather passive perceivers? In contrast, should they be seen as the product of a more active, yet partly unconscious, process that builds upon perceivers' naïve theories? In line with an impressive body of evidence, the present contribution takes it that the second viewpoint provides a more faithful description of the processes involved in the acquisition of social knowledge. That is, beliefs about a social group tend to emerge because perceivers construe the group in terms of some a priori theoretical knowledge.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Stereotypes as ExplanationsThe Formation of Meaningful Beliefs about Social Groups, pp. 38 - 66Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2002
- 21
- Cited by