The social amplification of illusory correlations

Abstract Illusory correlations are thought to underlie many undesirable judgements and behaviours, such as those that result in out‐group discrimination. In this research, illusory correlations are investigated in a dynamic fashion using the serial reproduction paradigm. Specifically, participants learned about members of certain groups and behaviours that they performed or attributes that they possessed. Afterwards, they were asked to recall that information and pass it on to other participants, such that whatever memory bias they produced was built into the information that was presented to others. Results revealed a weak tendency for the first participants to perceive an illusory correlation between certain groups and certain behaviours or attributes. More importantly, this pattern grew stronger as information was communicated across participants in a communication chain. That is, the illusory correlation became larger as the information passed from one participant to the next. These results show how biases can grow in society, such that what starts out as a very small misperception can acquire large proportions when incorrect information travels through different people.