This project develops a psychological model that helps to explain how people spontaneously categorize other people. In contrast to current assumptions, the model suggests that social targets are not always categorized as members of race or sex groups. Rather, categorizations depend on whether targets match a perceived `cultural norm` and on whether the perceiver has the motivation and capacity to engage in thorough processing of available category information. If no unusual information is available or if motivation and capacity to process the available information is low, judgments are likely to be based on perceivers' beliefs about people in general. If unusual information is available and motivation and capacity are high, however, judgments will be influenced by the ways in which the target is unusual or distinctive. Several different aspects of this model will be tested. A procedure based on measuring the speed with which different judgments are made will be used to assess whether there exists a perceived norm or default in terms of race and sex within our culture. The effects of the perceivers' own race and sex also will be examined. Manipulations of available cognitive capacity will be used to determine the types of judgments that can be made easily and those that require effortful processing. It is expected that individuals will easily recognize targets' features, regardless of how much cognitive capacity is available. However, categorization judgments based on that feature information may require greater deliberative processing and therefore should be affected by the availability of cognitive resources. Support for the model would demonstrate that race and sex categorizations are most likely to occur when the encountered individual is a member of a non-normative group and when the perceiver has the capacity available to make category judgments. It is expected that these studies will extend our understanding of the basic cognitive processes that underlie social perception and will provide a framework for predicting the types of beliefs that may influence interpersonal and intergroup interactions.
