Glossary / Lexicon

Deutsch: Subtypisierung / Español: Subtipificación / Português: Subtipificação / Français: Subtypisation / Italiano: Sottotipizzazione

Subtyping refers to the psychological process by which individuals maintain their existing stereotypes or beliefs about a group by creating a new category (or "subtype") for individuals who do not fit the typical characteristics of that group. This allows people to preserve their overarching stereotype while acknowledging exceptions to the rule.

Description

In psychology, subtyping is a cognitive strategy that allows people to reconcile conflicting information without changing their core beliefs or stereotypes. Stereotypes are generalised beliefs about a group of people, and when someone encounters an individual who doesn’t conform to these expectations, the mind can create a new category within the stereotype, instead of revising the broader belief.

For example, if someone holds a stereotype that women are not good at leadership, but meets a woman who is an excellent leader, instead of changing the stereotype, they might mentally create a subtype like "women leaders" and consider this individual an exception. This cognitive process allows for the continuation of the original stereotype without significant alteration, as the contradictory information is compartmentalised into a subtype.

This concept is closely related to schema theory, which suggests that individuals use mental frameworks (schemas) to process and organise information. When new information conflicts with an existing schema—such as a stereotype—subtyping helps to modify the schema in a limited way, maintaining its core structure.

Subtyping can have positive and negative implications in social and interpersonal interactions. On the one hand, it allows for cognitive flexibility by acknowledging that not all members of a group fit a rigid stereotype. On the other hand, it can reinforce stereotypes by preventing broader generalisations from being challenged or revised.

Application Areas

Subtyping plays a key role in various fields of psychology, particularly in understanding how people maintain biases or stereotypes:

• Social psychology: Investigating how subtyping helps individuals maintain stereotypes while dealing with conflicting evidence.
• Cognitive psychology: Exploring how the brain processes conflicting information and maintains mental schemas.
• Prejudice and discrimination research: Studying how subtyping contributes to the persistence of societal biases and prejudice.
• Organisational psychology: Understanding how subtyping affects workplace diversity, inclusion, and perceptions of individuals who don’t fit conventional stereotypes within their roles.

Well-Known Examples

1. Gender stereotypes: Someone who believes that men are more rational than women may create a subtype for women who are scientists or engineers, considering them as "exceptions" rather than changing the overall stereotype about women.
2. Racial stereotypes: A person might hold a belief that a certain ethnic group is not academically successful, but when meeting an individual from that group who excels academically, they form a subtype, categorising them as "high-achieving" within the broader stereotype.
3. Age stereotypes: People who believe older adults are not technologically savvy may form a subtype for "tech-savvy seniors" when they encounter older individuals proficient in technology, instead of abandoning the stereotype altogether.

Risks and Challenges

While subtyping can help individuals make sense of exceptions to stereotypes, it can also have negative consequences by reinforcing the core stereotype rather than dismantling it. Some of the key risks include:

• Maintaining bias: Subtyping allows stereotypes to persist by isolating individuals who don’t fit the stereotype as exceptions, thus avoiding necessary revisions of the generalised belief.
• Reduced social change: By failing to update broader societal views and stereotypes, subtyping can slow progress in reducing prejudice and discrimination.
• Cognitive rigidity: Instead of fostering open-mindedness, subtyping can contribute to cognitive inflexibility, as people create more subtypes rather than abandoning outdated or harmful stereotypes.

Similar Terms

• Stereotype maintenance: The process by which people continue to uphold existing stereotypes despite encountering information that contradicts them.
• Confirmation bias: The tendency to seek, interpret, and remember information in ways that confirm one’s preexisting beliefs or stereotypes.
• Schema theory: The idea that people use mental frameworks (schemas) to organise and interpret information, and that these schemas can be resistant to change.

Articles with 'Subtyping' in the title

• Subtyping model: Subtyping model refers to the information inconsistent with a stereotype that leads to the creation of a new substereotype to accommodate the information without changing the initial stereotype

Summary

Subtyping in psychology describes the process of creating a new category for individuals who don’t fit a stereotype, allowing the core stereotype to remain intact. While it acknowledges exceptions, subtyping can also reinforce biases and hinder the broader re-evaluation of stereotypical beliefs. It plays a significant role in how people maintain their worldviews and deal with conflicting information, especially in social, cognitive, and organisational contexts.

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