APA Racism and Psychology Brochure

So any difference can be the basis of prejudice?

Optical Illusions of the Mind

The illusory correlation phenomenon is an example of how our mental processing can play tricks on us (Jones, 1997). The illusory correlation refers to our tendency to believe that two things are more highly correlated (or associated) than they actually are. This illusion is based on our tendency to notice things more when they are rare or infrequent. In contrast, we become habituated toÑor take for grantedÑthings that are common.

Consider the situation in which the same small percentage of minority group members and majority group members have some negative characteristic such as mental retardation. The infrequency of the negative characteristic and the infrequency of the minority group members will lead us to the illusory belief that a higher percentage of minority group members have the negative characteristic. So, we interpret our experience as telling us that the minority group actually has a higher percentage of mentally retarded individuals than the majority group. We notice the minority group members because they are infrequent, and we notice the mentally retarded individuals because they are infrequent, and we tend to believe the two are related more strongly than they actually are.

Any difference could be used to make distinctions between groups. But evidence shows that we tend to emphasize those aspects of stereotypes that relate to our most closely held values. For example, if we value intelligence, then we may be quick to see another group as stupid. Or if hard work is valued by a group, then it may label others as lazy. Other values and their corresponding negative stereotypes are: clean/dirty, honest/liar, fair/exploitive, strong/weak, reasonable/emotional, mature/childlike. It seems that one function of stereotypes, or prejudice, is to help us feel good about ourselves and our group by focusing on comparisons with other groups on issues that are most important to our personal and group identity.

There are a variety of mechanisms that we employ to help us feel better about ourselves and our group. For example, we like to believe our group is unique, and we tend to overestimate the uniqueness of our good features. But when it comes to our negative qualities, we like to share these with others and, thus, overestimate how widespread these features are among others.

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