ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we begin to present an empirical research program that reflects the shift from an animistic theory approach to a genuinely cognitive-ecological approach. The purpose is twofold. First, empirical demonstrations within one particular research paradigm-illusory correlations-will render the various assumptions provided in the last chapter much more concrete. Second, by applying the two contrasted approaches-the animistic and the CELA-to the same concrete research questions, it will be shown that the difference is not just a matter of taste, or different wording, but clearly distinct experimental predictions. In particular, in the present chapter:
• we make a point for the importance of stereotype learning as distinguished from the consequences of existing stereotypes;
• we present a learning analog of illusory correlations, one of the most prominent paradigms of current stereotype research;
• contrast the CELA account of illusory correlations with a popular animistic approach;
• we then present a series of studies conducted in our own lab to demonstrate that simple learning rules alone can explain the genesis of illusory correlations in the absence of any processing bias;
• we will locate illusory correlations in the context of a number of seemingly different phenomena that are all covered by the same simple learning rule, thus emphasizing the theoretical potential of the CELA approach.
