Social Categorization
Humans are very efficient creatures and we use many tools to compress, utilize, and retain information. One of the tools that we use is termed social categorization. Social categorization describes a kind organization used by people to remember social interactions. By thinking of people as members of a group rather than as individuals one can simplify and recall information quickly. As social creatures, humans come in contact with many people of different colors, shapes, sizes, and genders so this categorization, to some degree, is useful. However, it also creates several social problems including, but not limited to: discrimination, prejudice, racism, and stereotyping. Social Categories, regardless of their negative aspects, serve a purpose. They are efficient. Imagine having to sift through a pile of papers, with no kind of order, to find one specific page of notes. How hard would that be? It is much better to have the papers organized so one can find what one is looking for easily (Blaine 15). In s
Social categories are culturally important to humans because it organizes our perceptions. Our culture is what tells us how to perceive the world and the people in it. Every culture has certain distinctions or categories that are important to them. Hasidic Jews, for example, are likely to categorize others according to their religion as well as gender (two important values in this culture). Many societies (including ours) are against interracial marriages due to this cultural importance (Blaine 19). In closing, we select social categories for several reasons. Those reasons: noticeable physical characteristics, frequent use, and cultural importance. Categories are meant to utilize our cognitive ability and keep social information organized and readily available. We use perceptual salience to create categories. Perceptual salience is a term that describes one's tendency to be drawn to the noticeable, or salient, characteristics in a situation or a person. These atypical qualities cause us to categorize because we associ
Some common words found in the essay are:
Social Categories, Bodenhausen Milne, Categorization Humans, Hasidic Jews, social categories, perceptual salience, social categorization, cultural importance, woman category, subjects primed, blaine 18, chinese-typical traits, primed category,
Approximate Word count = 695
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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