the exaggeration of the difference between ones own groups (the in-group) and the 'other' groups (the out-group). This can be traced back to the work of Tajfel during the 1950's - 'the accentuation principle' (Tajfel, 1981). Tajfel's work was specifically on physical stimuli, and concluded that judgments on such stimuli are not made in isolation, but in the context of other factors. Applied socially - a judgment about an out-group relies upon other factors surrounding the judgment in question, as well as making a statement about the in-group and the relationship between the two groups. Through stereotyping and categorization we exaggerate the differences between the groups. From this comes the effect that in believing an out-group is homogenous, through exaggerated differences, their in-group is not - with very much less over-generalization taking place (Linville, et al., 1986).Then finally and third characteristic of stereotyping is that of the expression of values. Most stereotypical judgments of group characteristics are in fact moral evaluations (Howitt, et al., 1989). For example, Katz and Braly (1933) studied a group of students' attitudes to towards minority groups. They found that Jews were attributed to being 'mean' (in terms of money), rather than they themselves being 'spendthrifts'. Also, they found that there was a strong view that French people were 'excitable'. This actually implies that they are over-excitable - above the norm, as everybody is excitable, per se, and thus there would be no necessity to mention it. Concluding from this, it is valid to say that a value has been put on a characteristic - in this case, a stereotypical one.The cognitive approach to stereotyping is that we all stereotype, at varying levels - because of the essential cognitive process of categorization (Brown, 1995). Howitt, et al. (1989) take this view also, and add that it is an ordinary process of thought to over-generalize, and then protect...
