People invoke category-based causal explanations mainly when category salience combines with stereotype fit

Evidence

Consistent with our prediction, we found that a stereotypic role assignment was attributed to the target’s gender, especially when the target was in the salient solo status (Figure 2.1a). As for the scenario of a drama club, the stereotypicality × gender ratio × target’s gender interaction was statistically significant (p < .05). When the role assignment was gender stereotypical (i.e., a male director and a female costume designer), the causal explanation referring to gender was most likely in the solo status condition. However, the likelihood of such categorical attribution was constantly low when the assignments were counterstereotypic. … Likewise, Figure 2.1b shows that the categorical attribution score was particularly high for the stereotypic male chairperson in the solo male condition, whereas a symmetric pattern was found for the female target serving tea. Furthermore, these patterns were replicated in another study that used videotaped discussions instead of written scenarios as the experimental stimuli (Karasawa & Sano, 1996, Experiment 2). Together, these results demonstrate that category-based attributions are determined by the salience of category identity and its fit with stereotypical role expectations. — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 118

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the Allport reassessment thread on when category salience becomes cognitively load-bearing for prejudice rather than being always-on. — connects to: Children activate causal reasoning mainly when observing people use cultural artifacts — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success: How Culture…, 378
• CANDY: A clean empirical rule: a lone woman given a masculine-typed role, and people explain it by her gender; give her the feminine role and gender becomes invisible as an explanation.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 118