Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

A study was designed to examine the mechanism underlying the illusory correlation phenomenon. Previous evidence indicates that the salience of the paired distinctive information leads to greater accessibility of that information when later judgments are required. To test this idea, response latencies were measured as subjects performed the group assignment decision task used to measure illusory correlation. The results supported the paired-distinctiveness account for illusory correlations: Subjects over-attributed the rarer undesirable behaviors to the smaller group; they were quicker in making assignment decisions for small group/rare behavior events; and the assignment decision latencies for the small group/rare behavior events correlated the most strongly with the extent of illusory correlation.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Acorn, D. A. , Hamilton, D. L. , & Sherman, S. J. (1988). Generalization of biased perceptions of groups based on illusory correlations. Social Cognition, 6, 345-372.

Chapman, L. J. (1967). Illusory correlation in observational report. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 6, 151-155.

Fazio, R. M. (1990). A practical guide to the use of response latency in social psychological research. Review of Personality and Social Psychology, 11, 74-97.

Fiedler, K. (1991). The tricky nature of skewed frequency tables: An information loss account of distinctiveness-based illusory correlations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 24-36.

Hamilton, D. L. , Dugan, P. M. , & Trolier, T. K. (1985). The formation of stereotypic beliefs: Further evidence for distinctiveness-based illusory correlation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48, 5-17.

Hamilton, D. L. , & Gifford, R. K. (1976). Illusory correlation in inter-personal perception: A cognitive basis of stereotypic judgments. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 12, 392-407.

Hamilton, D. L. , & Sherman, S. J. (1989). Illusory correlations: Implications for stereotype theory and research. In D. Bar-Tal , C. F. Graumann , A. W. Kruglanski , & W. Stroebe (Eds.), Stereotypes and prejudice: Changing conceptions. New York: Springer-Verlag.

Luce, R. D. (1986). Response times: Their role in inferring elementary mental organization. New York: Oxford University Press.

Markus, H. (1977). Self-schemata and processing information about the self. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35, 63-78.

10.

Mullen, B. (1991). Group composition, salience, and cognitive representations: The phenomenology of being in a group. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 27, 297-323.

11.

Mullen, B. , & Johnson, C. (1990). Distinctiveness-based illusory correlations and stereotyping: A meta-analytic integration. British Journal of Social Psychology, 29, 11-28.

12.

Mullen, B. , Johnson, C. , & Anthony, T. (1991). Prototype vs. exemplar representation of ingroup and outgroup as a functton of relative size: The phenomenology of being in a group. Unpublished manuscript, Syracuse University.

13.

Posner, M. I. , & Snyder, C. R. R. (1975). Attention and cognitive control. In K. L. Solso (Ed.), Information processing and cognition: The Loyola Symposiums Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

14.

Shaklee, H. (1983). Human covariation judgment: Accuracy and strategy. Learning and Motivation, 14, 433-448.

15.

Smith, E. R. (1991). Illusory correlation in a simulated exemplar-based memory. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 27, 107-123.

16.

Stroessner, S. J. , Hamilton, D. L. , & Mackie, D. M. (1990). Affect and stereotyping: The effect of induced mood on distinctiveness-based illusory correlations. Unpublished manuscript, University of California, Santa Barbara.

17.

Tversky, A. , & Kahneman, D. (1974). Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases. Science, 185, 1124-1131.

Evidence for the Accessibility of Paired Distinctiveness in Distinctiveness-Based Illusory Correlation in Stereotyping

Abstract

Get full access to this article

References