"Stereotypes are sometimes formed by a previous illusory correlation, a false association between two variables that are loosely if at all correlated." I just read a study I thought was interesting. Participants were shown 4 flash cards. A portrait of a white man, a black man, a wrench and the last one a gun. The cards were shown in various orders but in a high % the wrench was misidentified as a gun when the previous card was the portrait of a black man. This was true regardless if the test taker was black or white.