Illusory correlations in perceptions of obese and hypertensive patients' noncooperative behaviors

This research investigated perceived medical noncompliance between obese an d hypertensive patients. An illusory correlation formed between obese patie nts and their noncooperative behaviors. Participants overestimated the freq uency with which obese patients did not cooperate with their physician's ad vice when these patients appeared infrequently When hypertensive patients a ppeared infrequently, however, participants were accurate in their estimate s of noncooperation for these patients. These findings suggest that stigmat ized patients suffer more from an illusory correlation bias than do nonstig matized patients, and this effect is exacerbated when people have infrequen t contact with stigmatized patients.