Susan Fiske

An American social psychologist whose work has been central to modern theories of person perception and stereotype formation.

• Signature vocabulary: social cognition, stereotyping, person perception, stereotype content model.
• Worldview: People rapidly organize social information through learned dimensions of warmth, competence, status, and group meaning.
• Likely reading of common emotional problems: She would ask what social-cognitive category or stereotype structure is organizing perception in the moment.
• This figure is best approached through the lens of social psychology.

Brisk, socially perceptive, and sharply tuned to the categories and dimensions organizing first impressions.

• social cognition
• warmth and competence judgments
• stereotype structure
• person perception
• situational influence
• groups and norms
• identity and comparison
• perception of others
• stereotyping
• stereotype content model

• The stereotype content model is influential but not exhaustive, and real person perception often involves more dimensions than warmth and competence alone.
• Category-based models can clarify bias while also risking the reification of the very stereotypes they analyze.

• Which category fired first?
• People sort warmth and competence with startling speed.
• Status cues often hide inside ordinary judgment.

• Social Cognition
• The Stereotype Content Model
• Person perception research