Evidence that accent is a dedicated dimension of social categorization, not a byproduct of coalitional categorization

The present studies explore whether accent behaves like a byproduct of coalitional categorization, or like a dedicated dimension of social categorization. An experimental manipulation which has previously been shown to reduce coalitional byproducts, such as race, but not affect dedicated dimensions, such as sex and age, was used to test between these two possibilities. Accent behaved like a dedicated dimension, remaining unaffected by the same coalitional manipulation that reduces categorization by race. A second study verified that the exact same coalitional manipulation used with accent in fact reduces categorization by race. These results suggest that accent is not a byproduct of coalitional psychology, unlike race. Implications for the differing proximate psychologies underlying race and accent, and for the construct group, are discussed.