Categorization in Social Psychology

Craig McGarty is Professor of Psychology at Western Sydney University. He received his undergraduate training in psychology at the University of Adelaide and his PhD from Macquarie University in 1991 (where he was a tutor from 1985 until 1989). He spent 1990 as a lecturer in social psychology/social interaction at the University of Western Sydney and moved in 1991 to the Australian National University as a research associate. He was Reader and Head of the School of Psychology before moving to Murdoch University in Western Australia as the Director of the Centre for Social and Community Research and then Director of the Social Research Institute. He has worked on a wide range of topics in experimental social psychology, and his current research includes a social audit of the aspirations and solutions of a remote Indigenous community and studies of the reconciliation process in post-genocide Rwanda. His books include Stereotypes as Explanations (with Vincent Yzerbyt and Russell Spears, 2002) and Categorization and Social Psychology (1999).

This is an extremely useful textbook for teaching social psychology. Some of the research is a bit outdated. It is well written, and provides a comprehensive overview of the field.

• PART ONE: COGNITIVE AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO CATEGORIZATIONSome Starting AssumptionsPerceivers′ Perspectives and Social ConsensusCategorization and Cognition IIntroducing Category Function and StructureCategorizationand Cognition IICategory Learning, Formation and UseThe Categorization Process in Social Psychology IBiased Stimulus Processing and Knowledge ActivationCategorization as Meaning Creation ISelf-Categorization Theory and Some Other DevelopmentsCategorization as Meaning Creation IIOther Sense-Making ApproachesContrasting Perspectives on Motivated Relative PerceptionPART TWO: SOME EXPLORATIONS IN SOCIAL CATEGORIZATIONGroup Variability and ConsistencyThe Constraints of the Social Context on CategorizationCategorization, Covariation and Causal ExplanationConclusionCategorization as Explanation