Psychology Commons^™

Illusory Correlation And Perceived Criminality., Rachel A. Carter

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Honors Theses

Illusory correlation is the false perception that a relationship exists between two variables. Previous studies have shown that people sometimes perceive a relationship between minority-group members and negative characteristics, when in fact, there is no informational basis for this perception. The current study investigates whether people readily perceive a relationship between criminality and minority groups, as is sometimes seen in society. Participants learned about the behaviors of members of two groups, arbitrarily labeled S and T. The ratio of positive:negative behaviors was the same for both groups (2:1). However, participants were shown fewer statements about Group T, making it a …