A Source-Monitoring Analysis of Illusory Correlations

Source monitoring refers to the discrimination of the origin of information. The source-monitoring methodology, applied to illusory correlations in the formation of stereotypes, allows one to disentangle memory for behaviors from memory for the behaviors’ group origin and from response bias. In three studies, illusory correlations are found, and they are shown to reflect differential response bias rather than differential item or group memory. In addition, illusory correlations are found only along an evaluative dimension, not for a gender classification of group members. The results challenge so-called cognitive accounts of illusory correlations, such as the account by distinctiveness, whereas they can be reconciled with an account in terms of evaluative differentiation.