Building upon our past research investigating the cognitive processes underlying the perception of individuals and groups, this proposal develops a conceptual framework for analyzing perceptions of groups in a variety of contexts and that has implications for stereotyping, self- stereotyping, and ingroup-outgroup differentiation, and outlines a series of investigations testing the viability of that conceptualization. The model gives central importance to the perception of entitativity- the perception that a number of individuals are, in some way, joined together in a social unit. Entitativity is conceived as varying considerably in groups, as well as in perceptions of groups, and those differences in perceived entitativity are postulated to underlie important differences in the way information about group targets in processed. The proposed research program (1) will investigate the information processing effects that derive from differences in perceived entitativity, (2) will distinguish among several types of groups and will investigate hypothesized differences between them in both the antecedents and the consequences of their perceived entitativity, (3) will investigate the role of perceived entitativity in stereotyping and ingroup-outgroup differentiations, (4) will extend our knowledge of entitativity through longitudinal studies examining the development of perceived entitativity over time, and (5) will provide clarification of the causal relations among important constructs through direct tests of the model. The results of the proposed research will considerably extend our knowledge of the processes underlying group perception and will integrate findings from disparate topic areas related to group perception.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
2R01MH040058-13A1
Application #
2850144
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZMH1-BRB-N (11))
Program Officer
Morf, Carolyn
Project Start
1985-07-15
Project End
2004-01-31
Budget Start
1999-05-01
Budget End
2000-01-31
Support Year
13
Fiscal Year
1999
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of California Santa Barbara
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
City
Santa Barbara
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
93106
Lewis, Amy C; Sherman, Steven J (2010) Perceived entitativity and the black-sheep effect: when will we denigrate negative ingroup members? J Soc Psychol 150:211-25
Spencer-Rodgers, Julie; Hamilton, David L; Sherman, Steven J (2007) The central role of entitativity in stereotypes of social categories and task groups. J Pers Soc Psychol 92:369-88
Lickel, Brian; Schmader, Toni; Hamilton, David L (2003) A case of collective responsibility: who else was to blame for the Columbine high school shootings? Pers Soc Psychol Bull 29:194-204
Sherman, Steven J; Castelli, Luigi; Hamilton, David L (2002) The spontaneous use of a group typology as an organizing principle in memory. J Pers Soc Psychol 82:328-42
Crawford, Matthew T; Sherman, Steven J; Hamilton, David L (2002) Perceived entitativity, stereotype formation, and the interchangeability of group members. J Pers Soc Psychol 83:1076-94
Lickel, B; Hamilton, D L; Wieczorkowska, G et al. (2000) Varieties of groups and the perception of group entitativity. J Pers Soc Psychol 78:223-46
Susskind, J; Maurer, K; Thakkar, V et al. (1999) Perceiving individuals and groups: expectancies, dispositional inferences, and causal attributions. J Pers Soc Psychol 76:181-91
McConnell, A R; Sherman, S J; Hamilton, D L (1997) Target entitativity: implications for information processing about individual and group targets. J Pers Soc Psychol 72:750-62
Hamilton, D L; Sherman, S J (1996) Perceiving persons and groups. Psychol Rev 103:336-55
Garcia-Marques, L; Hamilton, D L (1996) Resolving the apparent discrepancy between the incongruency effect and the expectancy-based illusory correlation effect: the TRAP model. J Pers Soc Psychol 71:845-60

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