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Social Categorization During The Zimmerman Trial

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Person perception is a term adopted from social psychology that refers to the cognitive procedures humans employ to arrive at inferences about who other people are (Cherry). Humans use cognitive shortcuts to quickly assess their surroundings, make attributions, and form impressions of people. One of the cognitive techniques used to make this assessment is social categorization. Categorization is an essential cognitive function as it assists in shaping perception by allowing individuals to bring organization and structure to our knowledge of the world around us (Bodenhausen, Kang, and Peery 318). The use of social categorization by the media and trial lawyers during a trial have a major impact on the societal perceptions and characterization of the victim(s) and the defendant(s). …show more content…

This paper will first explore the dynamics of social categorization - "the process by which individuals are sorted into various categories”) and how activating social categories can shape perception and judgement of an individual (Bodenhausen, Kang, and Peery 318. It will then examine how social categorization influences the characterization, representation, and social perception of an individual by reviewing the 2013 trial of George Zimmerman for the murder of Trayvon Martin and the media accounts surrounding the

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