In-group favoritism and statistical reasoning in social inference: Implications for formation and maintenance of group stereotypes.

The effects of group categorization on statistical inference processes and the consequent effects on group stereotyping were examined in 3 experiments. In Experiments 1 and 2, male and female Ss made data-based judgments about gender and leadership ability. In Experiment 3, Ss were randomly categorized into groups and then made data-based judgments about the groups'relative intelligence. Results from all 3 studies indicated significant effects of group categorization on Ss' judgments and on their strategies of data integration and logical inference