EVIDENCE FOR THE ACCESSIBILITY OF PAIRED DISTINCTIVENESS IN DISTINCTIVENESS-BASED ILLUSORY CORRELATION IN STEREOTYPING

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.