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SummaryThe aim of this paper was to stress the importance of the adaptive cognitive functioning of man in the causation of prejudice. It was felt that this approach has the merits of economy, credibility and testability of explanation which are not always shared by views seeking the psychological causes of intergroup tensions in the evolutionary past of the species or in unconscious motivation. Three cognitive processes were considered from the point of view of their relevance to the genesis of prejudice in an individual: categorization, assimilation, and search for conceptual coherence.Though the paper was not concerned either with discussing ways to reduce prejudice or with outlining in any detail designs for future research, it is my belief that the general approach adopted here has implications, both for social action and for research, which have not been as yet consistently and fully taken into account.

The nature & direction of bias in stereotyping can be accounted for & predicted by considering the relationship between 3 variables: (1) the matrix of classes that an individual uses in his categorization of people; (2) the emotional significance to him of the classification that he uses; & (3) the nature of r between the judgment continuum & the class membership of the various individuals that are being judged. References to exp'al work on the subject are included. Distinctions are made between cultural stereotypes elicited in studies which did not use judgments applying to individual members of stereotyped groups & studies which do use such judgments. These distinctions are esp important in the case of stereotypes which are associated with high emotional involvement. It is suggested that educ'al techniques aimed at changing the latter category of stereotypes should be devised on the basis of concrete & specific dimensions of the stereotype rather than consist of global statements presenting the stereotyped groups in a generally favorable light. Modified AA.

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