Social categorization dominates perception by selecting and interpreting sensory data

Evidence

Fifty years ago, he explained how social categorization “dominates our entire mental life… . A new experience must be redacted into old categories” (p. 20), and that “it selects, accentuates, and interprets the sensory data” (p. 166), thereby guiding subsequent perception and evaluation (Fiske). — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 110

Categorization

• DEFINE: Quotes Allport’s original definition of categorization as a mental process that redacts experience into old categories.
• XREF: connects to: Children’s perception is shaped by signifying types, not raw visual data — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 687; Taste manifests only through social activity filtered by status value — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 245; Taste judgments measure personal skill, not just classify social position — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 250