TY  - JOUR
AU  - Fryer,Roland G., Jr.
AU  - Jackson,Matthew O.
TI  - Categorical Cognition: A Psychological Model of Categories and Identification in Decision Making
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 9579
PY  - 2003
Y2  - March 2003
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w9579
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w9579.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Roland G. Fryer, Jr
Department of Economics
Harvard University
Littauer Center 208
Cambridge, MA  02138
Tel: 617/495-9592
Fax: 617/495-8570
E-Mail: rfryer@fas.harvard.edu
AB  - 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.
ER  -