Wowbagger
The Infinitely Prolonged
I didn't mean to imply that those were the only two groups. I acknowledge the spectrum and variety of configurations of people between the two extremes.Why do you feel the need to categorize people into tidy little groups?
But, basically, shortcuts to building a "theory of mind" model for a person can be found (in approximation) by referring to "categories" that person may or may not refer to. As your model gains more data and gets more accurate, you refer to stereotypes less and less. But, due to the way the mind works, in the first place, you have to have a starting-point from somewhere, to work off of.
For my purposes: It could be important to determine if someone seriously believes a crazy idea, or is merely parodying one, because it would help form my decision in how to respond to it. Sometimes, it is hard to tell, especially when the person is "in-character" as someone else.