Asymmetric Mixtures: Common Conceptual Priorities for Social and Chemical Kinds.

Hypodescent is the phenomenon of categorizing biracial individuals asymmetrically (e.g., viewing Black-White biracial individuals as Black instead of White). We propose that hypodescent is explained by domain-general attentional biases toward dangerous and distinctive components in conceptual representation. This cognitive mechanism derives its empirical support from several research traditions, especially from research on how people evaluate generic statements. Here, we demonstrate how liquid mixtures are categorized in ways characteristic of hypodescent. Mixtures that contain equal amounts of two liquids are categorized as whichever liquid is more dangerous or distinctive (Study 1). Dangerous and distinctive components are prioritized even when they are less than 50% of the mixture (Study 2). The relative dangerousness or distinctiveness of liquids (Study 3) or racial groups (Study 4) predicts the strength and direction of this asymmetry. We discuss how conceptual prominence relates to previous theories of hypodescent.