Previous research has examined complexity in ethnophaulisms as an indicator of cognitive representations of minority ethnic groups. Smaller groups have been demonstrated to evoke greater prototype representations, as evidenced in less complexity in the ethnophaulisms ascribed to these smaller groups. The present research extends this approach to the study of developing stereotypes for novel ethnic groups in the distinctiveness-based illusory correlation paradigm. Results of three studies confirm that in the absence of any preconceived cognitive representations of, or evaluative responses toward, these novel groups, the more salient group is subject to greater prototype representation. In addition, this greater prototype representation for the more salient group predicts the distinctiveness-based illusory correlation effect and thereby predicts differential evaluations toward the ethnic groups. The implications of these results for the study of the distinctiveness-based illusory correlation paradigm in particular, and for cognitive representations of social groups in general, are discussed.
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