Social and non-social categorisation in investment decisions and learning

Funding: This research was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports, with pre-doctoral FPU fellowship FPU14/07106 to MT, and the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, with research projects PSI2014-52764-P and PSI2017-84926-P to JL. Participation of JAA was funded by the Action 7 of the Research Support Plan of the University of Jaén.Categorical processes allow us to make sense of the environment effortlessly by grouping stimuli sharing relevant features. Although these processes occur in both social and non-social contexts, motivational, affective and epistemic factors specific to the social world may motivate individuation over categorisation of social compared to non-social stimuli. In one experiment, we tested this hypothesis by analysing the reliance on categorical versus individuating information when making investment decisions about social and non-social targets. In an adaptation of the iterative trust game, participants from three experimental groups had to predict the economic outcomes associated with either humans (i.e., social stimuli), artificial races (i.e., social-like stimuli), or artworks (i.e., non-social stimuli) to earn economic rewards. We observed that investment decisions with humans were initially biased by categorical information in the form of gender stereotypes, but later improved through an individuating learning approach. In contrast, decisions made with non-social stimuli were initially unbiased by categorical information, but the category-outcomes associations learned through repeated interactions were quickly used to categorise new targets. These results are discussed along with motivational and perceptual mechanisms involved in investment decisions and learning about social and non-social agents.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Category-based learning about deviant outgroup members hinders performance in trust decision making

This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports, with pre-doctoral FPU fellowship FPU14/07106 to MT, and the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, with research projects PSI2014-52764-P and PSI2017-84926-P to JL, PSI2016-78839 to RR-B and PSI2016-79971-P to SdL.The present research examines whether individuation and categorization processes influence trust decisions about strangers at first and across repeated interactions. In a partial replication of the study reported by Cañadas et al. (2015), participants played an adaptation of the multi-round trust game paradigm and had to decide whether or not to cooperate with unknown partners. Gender (Study 1a) and ethnicity (Studies 1b, 2, and 3) served to create distinct social categories among the game partners, whose reciprocation rates were manipulated at group and individual levels. At the group level, two social groups (i.e., ingroup vs. outgroup) were associated with opposite reciprocation rates (i.e., high vs. low reciprocation rate). At the individual level, consistency was manipulated by altering the reciprocation rate of one out of four members of each social group. That is, there was one inconsistent individual in each group showing a pattern of reciprocation opposite to the group reciprocation rate. Our data, contrary to Cañadas et al.'s (2015) findings, suggested that ingroup partners were individuated given that participants made their decisions to cooperate with the trustees according to their individual reciprocation rate and independently of the group reciprocation rate. In contrast, decisions about outgroup partners (i.e., men in Study 1a and Blacks in Studies 1b, 2, and 3) were affected by category-based thinking. At the same time, in comparison with ingroup, greater cooperation was observed with ethnic outgroups but not with gender outgroups. The consistency of our results with the previous literature on social categorization and across the three experiments seems to indicate they are reliable, supporting the hypothesis that categorization and individuation processes guide trust decision-making, promoting individuation mainly for ingroup and categorization among outgroup members.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Older and Younger Adults Perform Similarly in an Iterated Trust Game

This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports, with pre-doctoral FPU fellowship FPU14/07106 to MT, and the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, with research projects PSI2014-52764-P and PSI2017-84926-P to JL. This research is part of MT’s thesis dissertation under the supervision of JL.In social contexts, aging is typically associated with a greater reliance on heuristics, such as categorical information and stereotypes. The present research examines younger and older adults’ use of individuating and age-based categorical information when gauging whether or not to trust unfamiliar targets. In an adaptation of the iterated Trust Game, participants had to predict the cooperative tendencies of their partners to earn economic rewards in first encounters – in a context in which they knew nothing about their partners, and across repeated interactions – in a context in which they could learn the individual cooperative tendency of each partner. In line with previous research, we expected all participants to rely on stereotypes in first encounters, and progressively learn to disregard stereotypes to focus on individuating behavioral cues across repeated interactions. Moreover, we expected older participants to rely more on social categories than younger participants. Our results indicate that overall, both the elderly and the young adopted an individuating approach to predict the cooperative behaviors of their partners across trials. However, older adults more consistently relied on gender (but not age) stereotypes to make cooperation decisions at zero acquaintance. The impact of context, motivation, and relevance of categorical information in impression formation is discussed.Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports FPU14/07106Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness PSI2014-52764-P and PSI2017-84926-

Learning to Individuate versus Categorize People: The Role of Attention in Social Learning

Faces are essential stimuli in social perception, as they comprise a wealth of information regarding a person’s individual identity, social category, emotional state, gaze, and so on (Hugenberg & Wilson, 2013). This information is readily encoded at early stages of face processing, and further integrated to make sense of others. The information extracted from faces substantially influences impression formation processes, especially at zero acquaintance, when nothing is known about the target. However, all faces are not equally attended and the strategies used to form impressions of others lie on a continuum stretching from social categorization to individuation (Fiske & Neuberg, 1990). Social categorization consists of using information diagnostic of a person’s social category to make inferences about him or her. For instance, skin color, lips shape or hair texture are informative of a person’s race. Once these features have been encoded, the target person is classified in a social category and the knowledge associated with this category, based for instance on ethnic stereotypes, is used to make inferences about this particular individual. This strategy allows perceivers to integrate and organize efficiently the diversity of information that may be extracted from social stimuli. Because of its remarkable resources-saving function, social categorization is the default strategy to make sense of others (Macrae & Bodenhausen, 2000).Tesis Univ. Granada

Learning to Individuate versus Categorize People: The Role of Attention in Social Learning

Faces are essential stimuli in social perception, as they comprise a wealth of information regarding a person’s individual identity, social category, emotional state, gaze, and so on (Hugenberg & Wilson, 2013). This information is readily encoded at early stages of face processing, and further integrated to make sense of others. The information extracted from faces substantially influences impression formation processes, especially at zero acquaintance, when nothing is known about the target. However, all faces are not equally attended and the strategies used to form impressions of others lie on a continuum stretching from social categorization to individuation (Fiske & Neuberg, 1990). Social categorization consists of using information diagnostic of a person’s social category to make inferences about him or her. For instance, skin color, lips shape or hair texture are informative of a person’s race. Once these features have been encoded, the target person is classified in a social category and the knowledge associated with this category, based for instance on ethnic stereotypes, is used to make inferences about this particular individual. This strategy allows perceivers to integrate and organize efficiently the diversity of information that may be extracted from social stimuli. Because of its remarkable resources-saving function, social categorization is the default strategy to make sense of others (Macrae & Bodenhausen, 2000).Tesis Univ. Granada

Reactance to (or acceptance of) stereotypes:Implicit and explicit responses to group identity threat

We propose that reactance to threats to individual freedom can be broadened to include threats to group identity and its associated values and norms. In two studies we primed women and men with (counter) stereotypical roles and measured implicit activation of reactance versus acceptance goals, task persistence, and support for system justification beliefs and collective action. Although we found no direct evidence of reactance activation, men activated acceptance when primed with gender stereotypes, whereas women did not. Further, traditional women legitimize the system after counter-stereotypical exposure, whereas progressive women (feminist identifiers) persist more in solving a task stereotypically favoring men under these conditions (Study 1). Finally, nonsexist women show higher support for collective action after stereotypical exposure when threat to their identity is blatant (Study 2). We argue that reactions to identity threats depend on the content of that identity so that the specific form reactance takes may depend on the group norms being threatened

Dataset for Social and non-social categorization in decision making and learning

Dataset for Social and non-social categorization in decision making and learnin

Coping with identity threats to group agency as well as group value:Explicit and implicit routes to resistance

Social resistance is defined as a group's opposition to economic, political, and social circumstances that perpetuate social disadvantage, or status differences within society. Social identity researchers (SIT), amongst others, have theorized about the psychological processes underlying social resistance. Social identity is that part of an individual's identity derived from their membership of groups, be they chosen, such as sports team supporters, or acquired, such as gender or ethnicity. SIT outlines various social resistance strategies, ranging from the indirect to the more direct, in response to threats to social identity. However, SIT typically conceptualizes identity threat in terms of threats to group value. In this chapter we argue that to conceptualize threat primarily in relation to group value or identity content is limiting, especially as the responses to such threats involve a range of different actions. Missing from this analysis is that identity threat also typically implies threats to the agency of the group, and thus its ability to engage in action (hence,"social resistance"), be this direct or indirect, In this chapter, in keeping with the central theme of this volume we therefore conceptualize such threats as threats to agency as well as group value and present preliminary evidence of reactions to identity threats both at the explicit and implicit level. Finally, we describe some effects of identity threat on cognitive control and approach motivation. We discuss the implications of this conceptualization of identity threat as threats to agency and value for social identity theory as well as for the literature related to agency and control