Categorical Cognition: A Psychological Model of Categories and Identification in Decision Making / Roland G. Fryer, Jr., Matthew O. Jackson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Fryer, Roland G, Jr.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Jackson, Matthew O.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w9579.

NBER working paper series no. w9579

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Categorical Cognition

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2003.

Summary:

There is a wealth of research in psychology demonstrating that agents process information with the aid of categories. In this paper we study this phenomenon in two parts. First, we build a model of how experiences are sorted into categories and how categorization affects decision making. Second, we analyze the personal biases that result from categorization, in economic contexts. We show that discrimination can result from such cognitive processes even when there is no malevolent taste to do so and workers' qualifications are fully observable. The model also provides a framework that is equipped to investigate the social psychological concept of identity, where identity is viewed as self-categorization.

Notes:

Print version record

March 2003.