Social Catergorization

Sometimes we do not realize the tricks our brains play on us. We are constantly bombarded by information. The advent of social media has made that bombardment even more so than what we had in the past.

Sorting through the information is filled with potential errors. One of those errors is what is called Social Categorization.

This refers to the way our brain lumps people into social categories. The most obvious example of this is sports teams. If you root for one team and someone else roots for another, there is clearly something wrong with them. A similar thing occurs if someone supports a different political party than you do.

In the workplace, it might mean a difference between those we classify as managers and those we classify as entry level workers.

That is a more obvious example. Other examples are less obvious. Sometime they involve a judgment related to the race of the person. Sometimes they involve a judgment related to the age of the person. Sometimes they involve a judgment related to the gender of a person. Sometimes they involve a judgment related to the profession of a person.

We all tend to build up perceptions of what we think different groups of people are like. Many times those perceptions are not accurate. The result is that we often choose how we act toward a person based upon the Social Categorization that we have constructed for them.

The result includes stereotyping individuals. It includes being prejudiced against individuals. It can involve discrimination against individuals.

On the other hand, if you have a positive view of that group of individuals, it can improve your self esteem. You would have a sense of belonging.

I can often result in something known as implicit bias. We can develop a bias for or against people without even realizing it.

Another trick our brain can play on us is something called Hasty Generalization. In this situation we see an example of a certain behavior. That then results in a generalization that all people in that category have that behavior.

An example is that some people have met individuals from another part of the country that they did not like for some reason. They then come to the conclusion that everyone from that part of the country behaves the same way. They are basing their information on a very limited sample. That makes it very likely to be wrong.

Media news often uses this technique. They will give an example of someone from a certain group doing something wrong. They then imply that it indicates that this is a trend based upon the one example. Another news outlet might report just the opposite occurring. They also imply the same thing.

Both of them are trying to get the reader or listener to reach a certain point of view. Both of them are doing it with incomplete information.

When I go teach leadership to the Junior ROTC students at the local high school, I have one major take home lesson. That lesson is that leaders cannot make judgments based on partial information. They must hear all sides of the story in order to make the correct judgment.

We need to avoid Social Categorization and Hasty Generalization from driving our thinking. If we do, we are going to find many instances in which we are thinking incorrectly.