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Accurate perceptions do not need complete information to reflect reality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 March 2017

Shabnam Mousavi  and
David C. Funder
Shabnam Mousavi
Affiliation:
The Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, Washington, D.C. 20036 shabnam@jhu.edu http://carey.jhu.edu/faculty-research/directory/shabnam-mousavi-phd/ Center for Adaptive Behavior and Cognition, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, 14195 Berlin, Germany mousavi@mpib-berlin.mpg.de https://www.mpib-berlin.mpg.de/en/staff/shabnam-mousavi
David C. Funder
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521. david.funder@ucr.edu http://www.psych.ucr.edu/faculty/funder/
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Abstract

Social reality of a group emerges from interpersonal perceptions and beliefs put to action under a host of environmental conditions. By extending the study of fast-and-frugal heuristics, we view social perceptions as judgment tools and assert that perceptions are ecologically rational to the degree that they adapt to the social reality. We maintain that the veracity of both stereotypes and base rates, as judgment tools, can be determined solely by accuracy research.

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Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 40 , 2017 , e12
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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