Social categorization and perceptual judgment of size

When perception is social

Bibliographic Data

ID6197876
AuthorsDiederik A Stapel (University of Amsterdam), Willem Koomen
Year1997
Volume73
Issue6
Pages1177-1190
Publication date1997-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Personality and Social Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-3514 • E-ISSN: 1939-1315
PublisherAmerican Psychological Association (APA) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1037//0022-3514.73.6.1177
PMID9418275
OpenAlexW2010732940
LanguageEN
Citations received25
References cited9

Social knowledge may affect not only people's thoughts and judgments but also their actual perceptions of physical magnitude. The physical magnitude of a stimulus is perceived in a relative way, comparing the magnitude of the target with surrounding context stimuli. Because similar objects invite comparison processes more easily than dissimilar objects ("similarity breeds comparability"), social knowledge can affect judgments of physical magnitude by determining what is perceived as (dis) similar. In Experiment 1, the authors show that social categorizations that are based on physical cues (e.g., gender) may affect the magnitude of perceptual contrast effects (the Ebbinghaus illusion). More important, in Experiment 2, the influence of social categorizations that have no physical bases is shown to affect the magnitude of perceptual contrast effects. Implications of these findings for theories of social knowledge effects are discussed.

Affect (linguistics · Categorization · Cognition · Cognitive psychology · Comparability · Contrast (vision · Epistemology · Illusion · Perception · Social cognition · Social perception · Aesthetic Perception and Analysis · Communication · Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification · Cultural Differences and Values · Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior · Psychology · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment · Social and Intergroup Psychology · Social Psychology

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