Final answer:
Illusory correlations contribute to stereotypes by causing people to falsely associate certain traits with a group based on limited observations, enhanced by confirmation bias. This is linked to the social cognition approach, which suggests we process information about others based on simplified social categories, often influenced by the environment such as media portrayals.
Step-by-step explanation:
Illusory correlations can explain stereotypes by causing people to incorrectly associate characteristics with members of a group. This occurs when individuals observe a limited set of interactions or behaviors and erroneously believe there is a relationship between group membership and certain behaviors or traits. An example might be believing that all elderly people are bad drivers. Such a stereotype could arise from remembering notable occasions when an elderly person drove poorly, while overlooking the numerous times elderly drivers performed well. This is amplified by confirmation bias, where individuals seek evidence to support their stereotypes and ignore evidence to the contrary.
This phenomenon is closely related to the social cognition approach, which examines how people make sense of other individuals and themselves in the context of their social world. It includes the concept that we process information about people based on social categories and our stored knowledge of them, which can lead to stereotyping when the categorizations are oversimplified or inaccurate. Stereotypes often emerge from our environment; for instance, if certain types of people are consistently portrayed negatively in media, we may adopt these portrayals as factual representations and subsequently treat individuals from these groups accordingly.