The affective and memorial components of distinctiveness-based illusory correlations

Two studies were conducted to test a model of the distinctiveness-based illusory correlation (IC) phenomenon that suggests there are two components operating with ICs: cognitive memorial, and affective. In Expt 1 (N = 118), two stimulus arrays were developed that were equivalent in regards to valence (good or bad extremity) but differed in regards to the affect dimension (high or low emotional intensity). Consistent with predictions drawn from the proposed model, the magnitude of the IC effect was higher in the high emotional intensity than in the low emotional intensity condition, but only significantly so on the measures (estimation and general evaluation) that have been hypothesized to be most sensitive to the affective component. In Expt 2 (N = 52), the affective qualities were matched and the valence properties varied in two stimulus arrays. As predicted, the IC effect differed significantly between conditions only on the measure (assignment) thought to be most sensitive to the memorial component. The results are discussed in terms of the implications of the findings for the proposed mechanisms of illusory correlation.