out-group homogeneity

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

the perceptual tendency to see members of out-groups as more similar to one another than they actually are — to perceive less variability within groups to which one does not belong — while simultaneously perceiving greater diversity within one's own in-group; the effect was first documented by Quattrone and Jones in 1980 and has been replicated across many group types including racial and ethnic groups, political parties, occupational groups, and laboratory-created minimal groups; out-group homogeneity contributes to stereotyping because perceiving out-group members as interchangeable makes it easier to apply generalised characteristics to all members of the group rather than attending to individual variation; the effect is asymmetric — we see them as all alike while seeing ourselves as individuals — and has implications for how minority groups are perceived by majorities, how rival factions view one another, and why cross-group contact that reveals individual variation within out-groups can reduce prejudice