Regarding the materials we read this week, I appreciate your feedback. “Humans have normalized the classifications we use to define ourselves,” captured my attention. The information I obtained indicates that thinking about other people in terms of their memberships in groups is a cognitive process known as social categorization, through which we instinctively classify people into social groups. Social categorization occurs when we label someone as male (against a woman), old (against a young person), Black (against White), and so on (Allport, 1954/1979). Similar to how we classify goods into different types, we categorize people based on their membership in specific social groupings. Then, rather of responding to those people as individuals, we begin to regard them more as fellow social group members. When seen in terms of the normal cognitive process, how does this apply in the present as opposed to the past?
