Intergroup discrimination and illusory correlation induced by social category: minority, majority, and outsider

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted to examine intergroup discrimination and illusory correlation in majority and minority members and outsiders of a group. In Experiment 1, allegedly based on social attitudes, 64 participants were divided into the three groups, and then completed a point distribution task in a minimal group paradigm. It was found that although both minority and majority members showed ingroup favoritism, outsiders favored neither majority nor minority. In Experiment 2, a continuation of Experiment 1, 45 statements were shown that described majority and minority members in favorable and unfavorable terms. The majority members perceive illusory correlations between the minority group and infrequent, unfavorable characteristics, whereas the minority members did not. The results suggest that for the majority, both distinctiveness-based cognitive bias and ingroup bias had the same effects on perception of illusory correlation, whereas for the minority, the two had opposite effects. The outsiders did not perceive any illusory correlation.