Rethinking Profiling: A Cognitive Model of Bias and Its Legal Implications

Alex Geisinger, Earle Mack School of Law at Drexel University

Abstract

The Article argues that profiling is not the result of conscious and rational action. Rather, profiling is an implicit process that results from the cognitive process of categorization. The process of categorization helps individuals cope with the variety of stimuli that surround them on a day-to-day basis. Without the ability to group stimuli into categories, individuals would be overwhelmed in their efforts to process information and function in the world.