Effortless but Error-prone Thinking (Effects of Social Categorization)
In our last video, we discussed several causes of social categorization broadly and of stereotypes specifically. Now let’s take a look at a few of their effects, both positive and negative.
Cognitive Misers: A term used to describe how we, as humans, typically prefer to use as little effort as possible to complete a required cognitive task.
Need For Cognition: A psychological scale used to describe individual differences in people’s preferences for and enjoyment in engaging in effortful thinking.
Out-Group Homogeneity Effect: We tend to think of out-group members as highly similar to one another, but in-group members as unique.
Ultimate Attribution Error: Assuming out-group behavior is caused by inner causes whereas in-group behavior is caused by circumstances; a specific case of the fundamental attribution error.
Fundamental Attribution Error: Assuming that others’ behavior is caused by inner causes and underestimating the power of situational forces on others’ behavior; also known as correspondence bias.