Accentuation Effect

The accentuation effect occurs when something is first categorized (for example: person, place, thing) and then aspects of it are matched to the stereotypes of that category. These similarities are then emphasized and perceived to be greater in magnitude than they really are. For example you are given a category (carnivorous animals) and asked to name the first one that comes to mind. You say a lion. In this example, the use of an apex predator is used to illustrate the category is an accentuation effect of the category. In truth, there are a lot of smaller and less threatening examples of carnivorous animals that could have been used.