Illusory Correlation in Communication Research

The results of this investigation suggests that one memory-based measure of communication style (and perhaps other similar measures) tap conceptually related memory items that are not synonymous with actual communication behavior. In this study, a small number of respondents were able to replicate to a considerable extent, without regard to anyone's communication behavior in particular, the pattern of associations from a previously published investigation. Implications of this and related findings are also discussed.