Social categorization in connectionist models: A conceptual integration

Abstract

We present a conceptual integration of two major types of social perception models. First, according to social categorization models, perceivers can employ two processes: they either treat other people as individuals (individuation) or as members of social groups (social categorization). Second, according to connectionist models, person perception is driven by a single process of spreading activation between mental representations in a learned associative network. We suggest that social categorization and individuation can be conceptualized as different types of inputs to a single (connectionist) process. Furthermore, we implement this idea in computer simulations and show that it can account for an empirical dissociation between social categorization and individuation despite being a single process model. Overall, this work aims to contribute to the coherence and integration of the theoretical and empirical literature on social cognition.