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intelligence" stigma, irrespective of his or her actual level of cognitive
ability.
Individuals may be marked or stigmatized on the basis of a large number
of characteristics, including race, skin color, height, weight, unattractive
ness, foreign accents, social class, intelligence, and personality (Goffman,
1963; Jones et al., 1984). All of these characteristics are special cases of what
Goffman (1963) viewed as three general bases for stigmatization: (a) abom
inations of the body (e.g., unattractiveness, deformities), (b) blemishes of
character (e.g., mental illness, bizarre sexual proclivities, homosexuality,
criminality, drug and alcohol addictions, and radical political views), and
(c) tribal stigmas (e.g., race, nationality, and religion). Although Goffman
(1963) considered these to be conceptually distinct types of stigmas, infor
mation about one type frequently serves as a basis for inferences about
other types. For example, upon encountering a Black male, a White racist
may view the target as being both unattractive and prone to criminal be
havior.
SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCESSES ASSOCIATED
WITH STIGMATIZATION
Because stigmatization results from a comparison of actual and virtual
social identities, the psychological processes associated with it deserve
consideration. Of particular relevance to the stigmatization process are the
roles that categorization, stereotyping, expectation effects, and illusory cor
relation play in the inferences that observers make about targets (Fiske &
Taylor, 1991; Jones et al., 1984). Research in the field of social cognition is
concerned with the way in which information about a target is acquired,
processed, organized, stored, and retrieved (Hamilton, 1976,1981 a; Hamil
ton & Sherman, 1994; Higgins & Bargh, 1987; Sherman, Judd, & Park, 1989).
Categorization plays a central role in the inferences that observers make
about a target (e.g., his or her traits). More specifically, when an observer
encounters a target, a cursory consideration of his or her salient attributes
(e.g., skin color, foreign accent, behavior) leads the observer to view the
target as a member of a specific social group (e.g., neurotics). Interestingly,
the categorization of the target is often based upon a consideration of only
a few of his or her attributes.
Stereotypes are beliefs and expectancies about members of social groups.
They are often widely shared, overgeneralized, and typically not valid
as concerns any specific member of a group (Ashmore & Del Boca,
1981; Brewer & Kramer, 1985; Hamilton, 1976, 1981 a, 1981b; Hamilton &
Sherman, 1994; Jones et al., 1984; Miller & Turnbull, 1986). Regrettably,