Exemplar-Based Processing in Social Judgement

目前的理论强调，感知者在对特定的人做出判断时，严重依赖于他们的一般知识。例如，刻板印象被认为涉及到对社会群体特征的一般知识的应用，因为感知者对作为该群体成员的个人做出判断或形成期望。然而，这种观点需要额外的假设来解释观察结果，并且不能解释感知者对存在刻板印象的两个或更多不同群体成员的个体的判断（例如，女性海军陆战队员）。本提案概述了四个实验室实验和计算机模拟，以发展和测试一种新的社会判断理论。这一理论认为，感知者除了一般知识外，还能灵活地获取和应用他们对特定人物的知识，从而对他人做出判断。这些范例信息的使用取决于感知者的目标、过去的经验、群体成员以及当前的社会状况等方面。这一理论有望为刻板印象过程中先前存在问题的方面提供新的线索，并为一般的个人感知和社会判断的研究提供一套新的方向。

Current theories emphasize that perceivers rely heavily on their general knowledge in making judgments about specific people. For example, stereotyping is thought to involve the application of general knowledge about characteristics of a social group as the perceiver makes judgments or forms expectations about an individual who is a member of that group. However, this perspective requires additional assumptions to account for observations, and does not account for perceivers' judgments about an individual who is a member of two or more distinct groups about whom stereotypes exist (e.g., a female Marine). This proposal outlines four laboratory experiments and computer simulations to develop and test a new theory of social judgment. This theory holds that perceivers flexibly access and apply their knowledge about specific persons--in addition to their general knowledge--to make judgments about other people. The use of such exemplar information depends on aspects of the perceiver's goals, past experiences, and group memberships as well as the current social situation. This theory promises to shed new light on previously problematic aspects of the stereotyping processes, and suggests a new set of directions for research on person perception and social judgment in general.