Lesson 5:

• Categorization


  Tendency to perceive stimuli as members of groups or classes rather than as isolated, unique entities
• Prototype


  An abstraction that represents the "typical" or quintessential instance of a class or group
• Schemas


  Well-organized structure of cognitions about some social entity such as a person, group, role, or event
• Schemas usually include information about an entity's attributes and about its relations with other entities
• Schemas enable us to organize and remember facts, to make inferences that go beyond the facts immediately available, and to assess new information
• Types of Schemas

  • Person Schemas
  • Self-Schemas
  • Group Schemas
  • Event Schemas
  • Role Schemas
• Person Schemas


  Cognitive structures that describe the personalities of others
• Self-Schemas


  Structures that organize our conception of our own characteristics
• Self-Schemas

  • Future doctor
  • Hate broccoli
  • Smart
• Group Stereotypes


  Schemas regarding the members of a particular social group or social category
• Group Stereotypes


  • "Politicians are liars and cheaters, with no compassion for ordinary people"
  • "Asian women are 'tiger moms,' demanding perfection from their kids"
  • "People on welfare are lazy, wasteful, and unemployed"
  • "Arabs and Muslims are terrorists who hate America"
  • "Jocks might be strong and athletic, but they're stupid and arrogant"
• Stereotypes


  Oversimplified perceptions of people based on their characteristics
• Stereotypes involve overgeneralization and lead to inaccurate inferences
• Some stereotypes are positive but many others disparage or diminish the group stereotyped
• Stereotypes can have many negative effects, especially when they are used to limit access to important social roles
• Role Schemas (Occupational Schemas\Social Schema)


  Indicate which attributes and behaviors are typical of persons occupying a particular role in a group
• Role Schemas


  • Be respectful
  • Pay for movie tickets
  • Don't eat garlic
• Event Schemas (Scripts)


  Schemas regarding important, recurring social events
• Event Schemas

  • Professionalism
  • Handshake
  • Portfolio
  • Business suit
• Types of Schematic Processing

  • Schematic Memory
  • Schematic Inference
  • Schematic Judgement