Stereotypes act as hypotheses that bias evidence gathering toward confirmation

Evidence

Allport hypothesized that “the process of perception-cognition is distinguished for three operations that it performs on the ‘light without.’ It selects, accentuates, and interprets the sensory data” (1954/1979, p. 166). This claim is supported by work on hypothesis confirmation (Snyder, 1981). People working under the guidance of a particular hypothesis, and a stereotyped category would certainly qualify here, tend to rely on strategies that uncover evidence that supports rather than questions the validity of this hypothesis. — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 1174

Categorization

• XREF: Pairs with confirmation bias research and the broader motivated reasoning literature. — connects to: Motivated reasoning is the motive while confirmation bias is the mechanism — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 100; Disagreement over evidence can stem from accuracy motives or identity motives — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 140; People deploy selective perception and motivated reasoning routinely when faced with evidence — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 144 (+1 more)