Categorization is a crucial process of grouping by class. In the context of consumer behavior analysis, it implies that an individual can link a stimulus to a category based on the characteristics and qualities they identify, thus facilitating their understanding of the information or phenomenon in question. Sophie Changeur and Jean-Louis Chandon highlight the importance of categorization theory for exploring the relationship between a brand, as a structured representation of knowledge, and its associated product range. Indeed, just like a product category, a brand can be seen as a cognitive category encompassing the products in its range, the knowledge related to these products, and the knowledge specific to the brand. Consumers can then leverage this categorical structure, or perceived range.

Social categorization, on the other hand, consists of classifying individuals into groups based on their objective and/or subjective characteristics. This process often leads to the formation of an in-group and the distinction of “others” into various out-groups. According to Philippe Odou, once an individual has formed a first impression based on an almost automatic initial categorization, they will seek to confirm it in order to potentially adjust their initial assessment. Generally, this first impression is deemed insufficient by the evaluator who, when presented with a product and equipped with the necessary cognitive resources, will seek to verify the validity of their spontaneous evaluation. This step of confirming the initial categorization corresponds to the impression formation phase according to the model of Fiske and Pavelchak (1986). These researchers demonstrate that an individual making a judgment about another instinctively activates categorical schemas, then attempts to confirm this initial categorization by evaluating the consistency between the object being evaluated and the category.