PROCESSING GOAL AS MODERATOR OF IN-GROUP-SERVING ILLUSORY CORRELATIONS

This study tested the hypothesis that the effect of in-group-serving e xpectancy biases on memory and judgment is moderated by processing goa l. In-group-serving biases in both recall and judgments (estimated fre quencies of desirable and undesirable in-group and our-group behaviour , evaluative ratings) were hypothesized to be stronger when processing goal interfered with online impression formation compared with when a ttention is focused on the formation of group impressions. This hypoth esis was tested in an illusory correlation experiment in which in-grou p-serving expectancy bias and infrequency bias (Hamilton & Gifford, 19 76) could be studied simultaneously. Participants read statements desc ribing desirable and undesirable behaviour of members of the in-group and out-group, while the in-group held either minority or majority sta tus, while participants were instructed either to form group impressio ns or to memorize the information. As predicted, memorizing compared w ith impression formation resulted in in-group-serving illusory correla tions in recall and frequency estimates and in in-group bias in group evaluations. Infrequency of occurrence affected recall and judgments i rrespective of processing goal. The implications of these results for social stereotyping are discussed.