Illusory-Correlation Effects on Implicit and Explicit Evaluation

Research suggests that people sometimes perceive a relationship between stimuli when no such relationship exists (i.e., illusory correlation). Illusory-correlation effects are thought to play a central role in the formation of stereotypes and evaluations of minority versus majority groups, often lea...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Personality & social psychology bulletin 2021-10, Vol.47 (10), p.1480-1494
Main Authors: Van Dessel, Pieter, Ratliff, Kate, Brannon, Skylar M., Gawronski, Bertram, De Houwer, Jan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attributes
Evaluation research
Implicit beliefs
Impressions
Majority groups
Measurement
Minority groups
Priming
Stereotypes
Tests
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Summary:Research suggests that people sometimes perceive a relationship between stimuli when no such relationship exists (i.e., illusory correlation). Illusory-correlation effects are thought to play a central role in the formation of stereotypes and evaluations of minority versus majority groups, often leading to less favorable impressions of minorities. Extant theories differ in terms of whether they attribute illusory-correlation effects to processes operating during learning (belief formation) or measurement (belief expression), and whether different evaluation measures should be differentially sensitive to illusory-correlation effects. Past research found mixed evidence for dissociative effects of illusory-correlation manipulations on measures of implicit (i.e., automatic) and explicit (i.e., controlled) evaluation. Four high-powered studies obtained illusory-correlation effects on explicit evaluations, but not implicit evaluations probed with an Implicit Association Test, Evaluative Priming Task, and Affect Misattribution Procedure. The results are consistent with theories that attribute illusory-correlation effects to processes during belief expression.
ISSN:0146-1672
1552-7433
DOI:10.1177/0146167220977706