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Meaning‐seeking in the illusory correlation paradigm: The active role of participants in the categorization process
Author(s) -
Berndsen Mariëtte,
McGarty Craig,
Pligt Joop,
Spears Russell
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
british journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.855
H-Index - 98
eISSN - 2044-8309
pISSN - 0144-6665
DOI - 10.1348/014466601164821
Subject(s) - psychology , correlation , perception , categorization , social psychology , stimulus (psychology) , cognitive psychology , developmental psychology , epistemology , philosophy , geometry , mathematics , neuroscience
The present research examines the role of categorical perception (McGarty, Haslam, Turner, & Oakes, 1993) in the illusory correlation paradigm. This approach assumes that the search for meaningful differences between two stimulus groups can lead to the illusory correlation effect. This explanation is investigated in Study 1 by presenting participants with constrained stimulus information and examining whether accentuating evaluative differences between stimuli could provide a basis for illusory correlation. Results of this study ( N = 64) revealed illusory correlation effects that were related to evaluative reinterpretations of the stimuli. Study 2 ( N = 19) focused on the causal relation between illusory correlation and accentuation effects, using the thinking‐aloud technique. Detailed analyses of each participants' behaviour indicated that illusory correlation can arise from actively seeking intergroup differences and that reinterpretations of stimuli and the perception of illusory correlation were mutually reinforcing. Implications of these results for stereotyping processes are discussed.