People misreport which attribute influenced their judgments even about observable traits.

Evidence

Nisbett and Wilson (1977b) demonstrated a reversal of the direction of the usual halo effect by presenting to subjects a male teacher who was coached to act in either an interpersonally warm or an interpersonally cold fashion. Subjects in the warm condition later judged the teacher to be more attractive in appearance, accent, and mannerisms than did subjects in the cold condition. Subjects denied that the teacher’s likeableness influenced the other judgments. Quite the opposite, subjects in the cold condition incorrectly believed that the (unvaried) accent, mannerisms, and physical unattractiveness of the teacher had reduced the teacher’s likeableness. The importance of this finding derives from the subject’s inaccurate identification of the effect of one attribute on judgment of another, despite these being “attributes for which we generally assume we are capable of rendering independent assessments” (Nisbett & Wilson, 1977b, p. 250). — Anthony G. Greenwald and Mahzarin R. Banaji, Implicit Social Cognition, 95

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Stereotypes influence judgments even when perceivers are unaware — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2933; Prejudiced individuals misattribute their dislike to group attributes rather than vice versa. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 841

Related

• People misattribute halo-effect influence onto wrong causes while denying it (similarity 0.84)
• Prejudiced individuals misattribute their dislike to group attributes rather than vice versa. (similarity 0.83)
• Being more negatively biased about a group can coexist with higher accuracy toward it (similarity 0.80)
• Stereotypes influence judgments even when perceivers are unaware (similarity 0.80)
• There is no unbiased way to measure a trait’s true value (similarity 0.79)
• Perceivers exaggerate stereotypical group differences beyond what self-reports justify. (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Stereotypes influence judgments even when perceivers are unaware #expands (0.75) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2933
• Prejudiced individuals misattribute their dislike to group attributes rather than vice versa. #expands (0.72) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 841