The dominance of social setting cues over gender in social categorization and induction

Abstract

Research on social categorization has largely emphasized intrinsic cues such as gender, while the role of structural cues remains underexplored. Drawing on structuralist perspectives, this research directly compared the dominance of social setting cues, a concrete form of structural cues, and gender cues in social categorization and category-based induction. Across three studies with five experiments, participants completed triad tasks using both minimal ‘ID card’ and ecological photo paradigms. Results consistently showed that when both cues co-occurred, participants prioritized social setting cues over gender, and this dominance generalized across categorization and induction. Study 3 further revealed that the advantage of social setting cues was stronger in categorization than in induction. These findings extend structural accounts by grounding them in concrete social settings, offer new insight into how structural cues shape core social cognitive processes and suggest practical strategies for reducing reliance on gender stereotypes in daily interactions.