Stereotype bias: a simple formal model (1004.0432v1)

Abstract: Minimizing the relative inertia of a statistical group with respect to the inertia of the overall sample defines an unique point, the in-focus, which constitutes a context-dependent measure of typical group tendency, biased in comparison to the group centroid. Maximizing the relative inertia yields an unique out-focal point, polarized in the reverse direction. This mechanism evokes the relative variability reduction of the outgroup reported in Social Psychology, and the stereotypic-like behavior of the in-focus, whose bias vanishes if the outgroup is constituted of a single individual. In this picture, the out-focus plays the role of an anti-stereotypical position, identical to the in-focus of the complementary group.