Two experiments tested the notion that considering multiple criteria for social categorization can reduce intergroup bias. In both experiments, participants were required to consider alternative ways in which people could be classified, other than an initially salient intergroup dichotomy. In Experiment 1, the authors found that generating alternative social classifications that were unrelated to an initial target dichotomy reduced intergroup bias compared to a control condition. In Experiment 2, this effect was replicated and the authors found that unrelated, but not related, categorizations were necessary to reduce bias. This article adds support to the view that increasing categorical complexity is a useful tool in bias reduction. These findings are discussed in the context of a developing model of multiple categorization effects.
Bodenhausen, G. V. (1992). Information processing functions of generic knowledge structures and their role in context effects in social judgment. In N. Schwartz & S. Sudman (Eds.), Context effects in social and psychological research (pp. 267-278). New York: Springer-Verlag.
2.
Bourhis, R. Y., Sachdev, I., & Gagnon, A. (1994). Intergroup research with the Tajfel matrices: Methodological notes. In M. P. Zanna & J. P. Olson (Eds.), The psychology of prejudice: The Ontario symposium (pp. 209-232). New York: Random House.
3.
Brewer, M. B. (1979). Ingroup bias in the minimal intergroup situation: A cognitive-motivational analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 86, 307-324.
4.
Brewer, M. B. (1988). A dual process model of impression formation. In T. K. Srull& R. S. Wyer, Jr.(Eds.), Advances in social cognition (pp. 1-36). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
5.
Brewer, M. B., & Harasty Feinstein, A. S. (1999). Dual processes in the cognitive representation of persons and social categories. In S. Chaiken & Y. Trope (Eds.), Dual process theories in social psychology (pp. 255-270). New York: Guilford.
6.
Brewer, M. B., & Miller, N. (1984). Beyond the contact hypothesis: Theoretical perspectives on desegregation. In N. Miller & M. B. Brewer (Eds.), Groups in contact: The psychology of desegregation (pp. 281-302). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
7.
Brown, R. J., & Turner, J. C. (1979). The criss-cross categorization effect in intergroup discrimination. British Journal of Social & Clinical Psychology, 18, 371-383.
8.
Crisp, R. J., & Hewstone, M. (1999). Differential evaluation of crossed category groups: Patterns, processes, and reducing intergroup bias. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 2, 307-333.
9.
Crisp, R. J., Hewstone, M., & Rubin, M. (2001). Does multiple categorization reduce intergroup bias?Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27, 76-89.
10.
Deschamps, J. C., & Doise, W. (1978). Crossed category memberships in intergroup relations. In H. Tajfel (Ed.), Differentiation between social groups (pp. 141-158). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
11.
Diehl, M. (1990). The minimal group paradigm: Theoretical explanations and empirical findings. In W. Stroebe & M. Hewstone (Eds.), European review of social psychology (Vol. 1, pp. 263-292). Chichester, UK: Wiley.
12.
Doise, W. (1978). Groups and individuals: Explanations in social psychology. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
13.
Ensari, N., & Miller, N. (1998). Effect of affective reactions by the out-group on preferences for crossed categorization discussion partners. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 75, 1503-1527.
14.
Ensari, N., & Miller, N. (2001). Decategorization and the reduction of bias in the crossed categorization paradigm. European Journal of Social psychology, 31, 193-216.
15.
Fiske, S. T., Lin, M., & Neuberg, S. L. (1999). The continuum model: Ten years later. In S. Chaiken & Y. Trope (Eds.), Dual process theories in social psychology (pp. 231-254). New York: Guilford.
16.
Fiske, S. T., & Neuberg, S. L. (1989). Category-based and individuating processes as a function of information and motivation: Evidence from our laboratory. In D. Bar-Tal, C. F. Graumann, A. W. Kruglanski, & W. Stroebe (Eds.), Stereotyping and prejudice: Changing conceptions (pp. 83-104). New York: Springer-Verlag.
17.
Fiske, S. T., & Neuberg, S. L. (1990). A continuum of impression formation, from category-based to individuating processes: Influences of information and motivation on attention and interpretation. In M. P. Zanna(Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 23, pp. 1-74). New York: Academic Press.
18.
Fiske, S. T., & Taylor, S. E. (1991). Social cognition. New York: McGraw-Hill.
19.
Gaertner, S. L., & Dovidio, J. F. (2000). Reducing intergroup bias: The Common Ingroup Identity Model. Philadelphia: Psychology Press/Taylor & Francis.
20.
Hamilton, D. L. (1979). A cognitive attributional analysis of stereo-typing. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 12, pp. 53-84). New York: Academic Press.
21.
Hastie, R. (1981). Schematic principles in human memory. In E. T. Higgins, C. P. Herman, & M. P. Zanna(Eds.), Social cognition: The Ontario Symposium (Vol. 1, pp. 39-88). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
22.
Heilman, C. M. (1995). Sex stereotypes and their effects in the work-place: What we know and what we don’t know. Journal of Social Behaviour and Personality, 10, 3-26.
23.
Hewstone, M., Islam, M. R., & Judd, C. M. (1993). Models of crossed categorizations and intergroup relations. Journal of Personality & Social psychology, 64, 779-793.
24.
Hogg, M. A., & Abrams, D. (1990). Social motivation, self-esteem and social identity. In D. Abrams & M. A. Hogg (Eds.), Social identity theory: Constructive and critical advances (pp. 28-47). New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
25.
Hornsey, M. J., & Hogg, M. A. (2000). Intergroup similarity and subgroup relations: Some implications for assimilation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 26, 948-958.
26.
Hutter, R. R. H., & Crisp, R. J. (in press). The composition of category conjunctions. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.
27.
Jetten, J., Spears, R., & Manstead, A. S. R. (1996). Intergroup norms and intergroup discrimination: Distinctive self-categorization and social identity effects. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 71, 1222-1233.
28.
Jetten, J., Spears, R., & Manstead, A. S. R. (2001). Similarity as a source of differentiation: The role of group identification. European Journal of Social Psychology, 31, 621-640.
29.
Kenworthy, J. B., Canales, C. J., Weaver, K. D., & Miller, N. (2003). Negative incidental affect and mood congruency in crossed categorization. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 39, 195-219.
30.
Krueger, J., & Rothbart, M. (1988). Use of categorical and individuating information in making inferences about personality. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 55, 187-195.
31.
Levine, R. A., & Campbell, D. T. (1972). Ethnocentrism: Theories of conflict, ethnic attitudes and group behaviour. New York: John Wiley.
32.
Maass, A., & Schaller, M. (1989). Illusory correlation and social categorization toward an integration of motivational and cognitive factors in stereotype. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 56, 709-721.
33.
Macrae, C. N., & Bodenhausen, G. V. (2001). Social cognition: Categorical person perception. British Journal of Psychology, 92, 239-255.
34.
Macrae, C. N., Stangor, C., & Milne, A. B. (1994). Activating social stereotypes: A functional analysis. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 30, 370-389.
35.
Marcus-Newhall, A., Miller, N., Holtz, R., & Brewer, M. B. (1993). Cross-cutting category memberships with role-assignment: A means of reducing intergroup bias. British Journal of Social Psychology, 32, 125-146.
36.
McGarty, C., & Penny, R. E. C. (1988). Categorization, accentuation and social judgment. British Journal of Social Psychology, 27, 147-157.
37.
Miller, N., & Harrington, H. J. (1992). Social categorization and intergroup acceptance: Principles for the design and development of cooperative learning teams. In R. Hertz-Lazarowitz & N. Miller (Eds.), Interaction in cooperative groups: The theoretical anatomy of group learning (pp. 203-227). New York: Cambridge University Press.
38.
Mullen, B., Brown, R. J., & Smith, C. (1992). Ingroup bias as a function of salience, relevance and status: An integration. European Journal of Social Psychology, 22, 103-122.
39.
Mummendey, A., & Wenzel, M. (1999). Social discrimination and tolerance in intergroup relations: Reactions to intergroup difference. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 3, 158-174.
40.
Oakes, P. J., & Turner, J. C. (1990). Is limited information processing capacity the cause of social stereotyping? In W. Stroebe & M. Hewstone (Eds.), European review of social psychology (Vol. 1, pp. 111-135). Chichester, UK: Wiley.
41.
Rabbie, J. M., & Horowitz, M. (1969). Arousal of ingroup-outgroup bias by chance win or loss. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 13, 269-277.
42.
Roccas, S., & Brewer, M. B. (2002). Social identity complexity. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 6, 88-106.
43.
Sherman, J. W., Macrae, C. N., & Bodenhausen, G. V. (2000). Attention and stereotyping: Cognitive constraints on the construction of meaningful social impressions. In W. Stroebe & M. Hewstone (Eds.), European review of social psychology (Vol. 11, pp. 145-175). Chichester, UK: Wiley.
44.
Stangor, C., & Macmillian, D. (1992). Memory for expectancy-congruent and expectancy-incongruent information: A review of the social and social developmental literatures. Psychological Bulletin, 111, 42-61.
45.
Tajfel, H. (1969). Cognitive aspects of prejudice. Journal of Social Issues, 25, 79-97.
46.
Tajfel, H. (1982). Social psychology of intergroup relations. Annual Review of Psychology, 33, 1-39.
47.
Tajfel, H., Flament, C., Billig, M., & Bundy, R. F. (1971). Social categorization and intergroup behaviour. European Journal of Social Psychology, 1, 149-178.
48.
Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. C. (1979). An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. In W. G. Austin & S. Worchel (Eds.), The social psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 33-47). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.
49.
Tajfel, H., & Wilkes, A. (1963). Classification and quantitative judgment. British Journal of Social Psychology, 54, 101-114.
50.
Turner, J. C. (1981). The experimental social psychology of intergroup behaviour. In J. C. Turner& H. Giles(Eds.), Intergroup behaviour (pp. 66-101). Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell.
51.
Turner, J. C., Hogg, M. A., Oakes, P. J., Reicher, S. D., & Wetherell, M. S. (1987). Rediscovering the social group: A self-categorization theory. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
52.
Urada, D. I., & Miller, N. (2000). The impact of positive mood and category importance on crossed categorization effects. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 417-433.
53.
Urban, L. M., & Miller, N. (1998). A theoretical analysis of crossed categorization effects: A meta-analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 894-908.
54.
Vanbeselaere, N. (1987). The effect of dichotomous and crossed categorizations on intergroup discrimination. European Journal of Social Psychology, 17, 143-456.
55.
Vanbeselaere, N. (1996). The impact of differentially valued and overlapping categorizations upon the differentiation between positively, negatively and neutrally evaluated social groups. European Journal of Social Psychology, 26, 75-96.
56.
van Knippenberg, A. V., & Dijksterhuis, A. (2000). Social categorization and stereotyping: A functional perspective. In W. Stroebe & M. Hewstone (Eds.), European review of social psychology (Vol. 11, pp. 105-144). Chichester, UK: Wiley.
57.
Waldzus, S., Mummendey, A., Wenzel, M., & Weber, U. (2003). Towards tolerance: Representations of superordinate categories and perceived ingroup prototypicality. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 39, 31-47.
58.
Wenzel, M. (2001). A social categorization approach to distributive justice: Social identity as the link between relevance of inputs and need for justice. British Journal of Social Psychology, 40, 315-335.
59.
Wenzel, M., Mummendey, A., Weber, U., & Waldzus, S. (2003). The ingroup as pars pro toto: Projection from the ingroup onto the inclusive category as a precursor to social discrimination. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29, 461-473.
60.
Wilder, D. A. (1986). Social categorization: Implications for creation and reduction of intergroup bias. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 19, pp. 293-355).
