Answer:social categories
Step-by-step explanation:
Our identities that we tend to hold on are based on social categories which are social groups that we each identity with such as race , ethnicity and gender
This categories are what we use to associate with others and make inference towards others
Like when you are walking in town and see a man dressed in dirty clothes your mind quickly goes to these categories to assign this individual and to tell you how you should respond to this person.
Social categorising is our way of defining a situation without having to think hard about it for example you see a person who is a stranger in the bus your mind quickly analyse that you don't know this person then you can sit next to where they are sitting so you are categorising them as strangers hence you have no association with them so you tend to stay away cause you also probably feel you can't trust them unless if there are many people around.