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Illusory Correlation

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Hamilton and Giford(1976)

 Stereotype is a generalised belie about acertain group o people Sometimes t!is set obelies is o"ergeneralised or applied to allpeople o a certain group and t!e result is

pre#udice and discrimination

Hamilton and Giford (1976) created t!e originale$periment to illustrate t!e role o illusory

correlation in stereotype ormation %ay %ac&son (') de"eloped an inclass acti"ity

based on t!e Hamilton and Giford e$periment

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*et+s start ,it! an e$ample-In %ay %ac&son+s .rst Impressions study/ students

are as&ed to read a series o statements about'6 people identi.ed as 0lp!as (t!e ma#oritygroup) and 1 people identi.ed as 2etas (t!e

minority group) 3!e statements report eit!ersomet!ing t!at is positi"e about t!e person orsomet!ing t!at is negati"e about t!e person

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 %o!n "isited ariend in t!e

!ospital

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0llen dented t!eender o a

par&ed car and

didn’t lea"e !isname

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2ill is rarely lateor ,or&

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2ob !elped ac!ild

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 3om s!ared !islunc! ,it! a co

,or&er

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Scott c!eated onan e$am

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0lan plantedseedlings in a

par&

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Henry ,ent out o!is ,ay to return

a lost ,allet to

t!e o,ner

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4at!an too&neig!bor!ood

&ids s,imming

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 %o!n is considereda "ery

dependable co

,or&er

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C!ad al,ays tal&sabout !imsel and

!is problems

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 %os! .nis!ed !is!ome,or& on

time

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*ane is ,ellli&eby !is colleagues

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5a"is read astory to !is

daug!ter

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on made pran&p!one calls to !is

teac!er

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2ruce ne"erreturns libraryboo&s on time

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en !elped a lostc!ild in a

supermar&et

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5a"id con"erseseasily ,it! people

!e doesn’t &no,

,ell

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8red ga"e bloodto t!e ed Cross

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0le$ &ic&ed adog

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5e"in donated !isclot!es to c!arity

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ar& learned !o,to :y an airplane

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Gary earned an“0” on !is

researc! paper

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 3ed ran a redlig!t

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 %ef "olunteeredto tutor needy

students

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ic!ard yelled ata boy ,!o

bumped into !im

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;ric dro"e !iselderly neig!bor

to t!e grocery

store

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<incent orgotabout !is #ob

inter"ie,

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eit! organi=ed abirt!day party or

a riend

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Colin ,or&s out to&eep !imsel in

good s!ape

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obert tal&s ,it!ood in !is mout!

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Scott recei"ed apromotion at

,or&

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4orman otentailgates ,!en !e

is dri"ing

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;liot sings in t!ec!urc! c!oir

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>illiam rarely,as!es !is car

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?ete is recogni=edas an e$cellent

musician

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5on too& a !urtstray dog to t!e

"et

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oger repaired!is neig!bor’s

la,nmo,er

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Craig !elped ariend mo"e

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@uestion

0re t!e members o 0lp!a or 2eta more li&ely to engage in negati"e be!a"iourA

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esults o e$periment

easonably large datasets !a"e s!o,n t!at 2etas are alsely percei"ed as more li&ely to be!a"enegati"ely t!an 0lp!as

Ho,e"er/ t!e proportion o positi"e (69B) and negati"e (1B) statements about 0lp!as and 2etas

is t!e same

Hence/ ob#ecti"ely t!ere is no reason to belie"e t!at 2etas is more li&ely to engage in negati"e

be!a"iour t!an 0lp!as

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>!y mig!t 2etas be percei"ed to

be more negati"eA

 3!e alse perception occurs because t!ere are t,ice as many 0lp!as t!an 2etas

emorability is particularly strong or e"ents t!at are rare and ,!en relati"ely rare e"ents cooccur/t!ey tend to be remembered as cooccurring

Hence i people .nd rare e"ents t!at cooccur to be more memorable t!an notsorare e"ents/ anillusory correlation t!at 2etas are more negati"e t!an 0lp!as ,ould be establis!ed

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 3!is tendency !as been dubbed t!e illusory correlation because it in"ol"es percei"ing arelation t!at does not e$ist or is ,ea&er in reality t!an percei"ed

It partly e$plains t!e o"erestimation o t!e rate at ,!ic! 0rican 0mericans engage in criminalacti"ity (bot! are distinct or rare e"ents)

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0 ormal de.nition Illusory

correlation

Illusory correlation is t!e p!enomenon o percei"ing a relations!ip bet,een "ariables ,!en nosuc! relations!ip e$ists

 3!is is one ,ay stereotypes orm and endure

?eople orm alse associations bet,een members!ip in a statistical minority group and rare(typically negati"e) be!a"iours as "ariables t!at are salient tend to capture attention

;g 0 man !as a mista&en belie t!at all people rom 3o,n C are "ery &ind >!en !e meets a "ery&ind person/ !e immediately assumes t!is person is rom 3o,n C e"en t!oug! &indness is not

related to city population