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Group entitativity and group perception: associations between physical features and psychological judgment
N Dasgupta1, M R Banaji, R P Abelson
1Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
|November 26, 1999
Summary
Group cohesiveness, or entitativity, affects how we perceive groups. Highly cohesive groups lead to more accurate physical judgments but poorer individual memory, and are seen as psychologically uniform.
Area of Science:
- Social Psychology
- Group Dynamics
- Perception
Background:
- Perceived group cohesiveness (entitativity) influences social judgments.
- Understanding how physical similarity impacts group perception is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how perceived group entitativity affects judgments of physical and psychological group properties.
- To examine the role of manipulated skin color similarity in group entitativity.
Main Methods:
- Two experiments manipulated group entitativity using member similarity in skin color.
- Participants made judgments about group physical properties and psychological traits.
Main Results:
- Higher entitativity led to more accurate judgments of group skin color but reduced memory for individual members.
- Entitative groups were perceived as more physically and psychologically homogeneous.
- Entitative groups elicited stronger negative trait and behavioral judgments.
Conclusions:
- Physical properties like similarity can foster perceptions of psychological groupness.
- Perceived entitativity significantly shapes both physical and psychological group judgments.
- These perceptions have substantial implications for how social groups are understood.