Think you're the only bearded, flannel-shirted, thick-rimmed-eyeglass wearer that thinks he's so special and unique? Think again. There's a reason why the hipster stereotype exists, and it all has to do with out-group homogeneity bias.

Out-group homogeneity bias exists in almost all societies and subgroups of societies. This is linked with self-protection, since nobody wants to be considered as exactly the same as an "outsider", which causes us to lump them all under one category.

The thing about being in a group is that you know information about each person that distinguishes them from the next person in the group. It's when you're outside a group that they all start to look the same, and that's when ignorance sets in, because you don't know enough about them to separate one from the next. So the less you know about a particular group, the more you push different categories together.

And that's the real irony here, because all this relentless pursuit of so-called "individuality" is exactly what makes these hipsters become almost perfect cardboard cut-outs of each other.

[Psychological Science, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology]