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 o f that information when later judgments are required. To test this ide a, response latencies were measured as subjects performed the group as signment decision task used to measure illusory correlation. The resul ts supported the paired-distinctiveness account for illusory correlati ons: Subjects over--attributed the rarer, undesirable behaviors to the smaller group; they were quicker in making assignment decisions for s mall 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.