A black sheep stands out from the flock
The Black Sheep, from a 1901 edition of Mother Goose by William Wallace Denslow.
A black sheep (Hebridean)

In the English language, black sheep is an idiom used to describe an odd or disreputable member of a group, especially within a family. The term has typically been given negative implications, implying waywardness.[1] It derived from the atypical and unwanted presence of other black individuals in flocks of white sheep.

In psychology, the black sheep effect refers to the tendency of group members to judge likeable ingroup members more positively and deviant ingroup member more negatively than comparable outgroup members.[2]

Contents

Idiomatic usage [link]

The term originated from the occasional black sheep which are born into a flock of white sheep due to a genetic process of recessive traits. Black wool was considered commercially undesirable because it could not be dyed.[1] In 18th and 19th century England, the black color of the sheep was seen as the mark of the devil.[3] In modern usage, the expression has lost some of its negative connotations, though the term is usually given to the member of a group who has certain characteristics or lack thereof deemed undesirable by that group.[4]

The idiom is also found in other languages, e.g., French, Serbian, Bulgarian, Hebrew, Portuguese, Bosnian, Greek, Turkish, Dutch, Afrikaans, Swedish, Danish, Spanish, Czech, Slovak, Romanian and Polish. The same concept is illustrated in some other languages by the phrase "white crow": for example belaya vorona (белая ворона) in Russian and kalag-e sefid (کلاغ سفید) in Persian. A variant form of black sheep, "the red sheep of the family", was used by Jessica Mitford to describe herself, a communist in a family of aristocratic fascists.[5]

Biological origin [link]

In sheep, a white fleece is not albinism but a dominant gene that actively switches color production off, thus obscuring any other color that may be present.[citation needed] As a result, a black fleece in most sheep is recessive, so if a white ram and a white ewe are each heterozygous for black, in about 25% of cases they will produce a black lamb. In fact in most white sheep breeds only a few white sheep are heterozygous for black, so black lambs are usually much rarer than this. Some breeds of sheep (such as the Hebridean, Ouessant, Black Welsh Mountain and Karakul) are normally black.

Black sheep effect (Psychology) [link]

Overview [link]

In 1988, Marques, Yzerbyt and Leyens[2] conducted an experiment where Belgian students rated the following groups according to trait-descriptors (e.g., sociable, polite, violent, cold): unlikeable Belgian students, unlikeable North African students, likeable Belgian students, and likeable North African students. The results provided support that the favourability is the highest for likeable ingroup members and the lowest for unlikeable ingroup members, whereas the favourability of unlikeable and likeable outgroup members is between the both former ones. These extreme judgements of likeable and unlikeable (i.e., deviant) ingroup members, relatively to comparable outgroup members is called “black sheep effect”. This effect has been shown in various intergroup contexts and under a variety of conditions, and in many experiments manipulating likeability and norm deviance (e.g., Branscombe, Wann, Noel, & Coleman, 1993;[6] Coull, Yzerbyt, Castano, Paladino, & Leemans, 2001;[7] Khan & Lambert, 1998;[8] Pinto, Marques, Levine, & Abrams, 2010).[9]

Explanations [link]

A prominent explanation of the black sheep effect derives from the social identity approach (see social identity theory, Tajfel & Turner, 1979;[10] and self-categorization theory, Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Reicher, & Wetherell, 1987).[11] Group members are motivated to sustain a positive and distinctice social identity and, as a consequence, group members emphasize likeable members and evaluate them more positve than outgroup members, bolstering the positive image of their ingroup (see ingroup bias). Furthermore, the positive social identity may be threatened by group members who deviate from a relevant group norm. To protect the positive group image, ingroup members derogate ingroup deviants more harshly than deviants of an outgroup (Marques, Abrams, Páez, & Hogg, 2001).[12] In addition, Eidelman and Biernat (2003)[13] have shown that personal identities are also threatened through deviant ingroup members. They argue that devaluation of deviant members is an individual response of interpersonal differentiation. Khan and Lambert (1998)[8] suggest that cognitive processes like assimilation and contrast, which may underline the effect, should be examined.

Limitations [link]

Even though there is widely support for the black sheep effect, the opposite pattern has been found, for example, that White participants judge unqualified Black targets more negative than comparable White targets (e.g., Feldman, 1972;[14] Linville & Jones, 1980).[15] Consequentely, there are several factors which influence the black sheep effect. For instance, the higher the identification with the ingroup, and the higher the entitativity of the ingroup, the more the black sheep effect emerges (e.g., Castano, Paladino, Coull, & Yzerbyt, 2002;[16] Lewis & Sherman, 2010).[17] Even situational factors explaining the deviance have an influence whether the black sheep effect occurs (De Cremer & Vanbeselaere, 1999).[18]

See also [link]

References [link]

  1. ^ a b Ammer, Christine (1997). American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 978-0-395-72774-4. https://books.google.com/?id=9re1vfFh04sC&pg=PA64&lpg=PA64&dq=american+heritage+dictionary+%22black+sheep%22. Retrieved 2007-11-13. 
  2. ^ a b Marques, J. M.; Yzerbyt, V. Y., & Leyens, J. (1988). "The 'Black Sheep Effect': Extremity of judgments towards ingroup members as a function of group identification". European Journal of Social Psychology 18: 1-16. DOI:10.1002/ejsp.2420180102. 
  3. ^ Sykes, Christopher Simon (1983). Black Sheep. New York: Viking Press. p. 11. ISBN 0-670-17276-6. 
  4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Houghton Mifflin Company. 1992. https://www.answers.com/topic/black-sheep. Retrieved 2008-03-24. 
  5. ^ "Red Sheep: How Jessica Mitford found her voice" by Thomas Mallon 16 Oct 2007 New Yorker.
  6. ^ Branscombe, N.; Wann, D., Noel, J., & Coleman, J. (1993). "In-group or out-group extremity: Importance of the threatened social identity.". Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 19: 381–388. DOI:10.1177/0146167293194003. 
  7. ^ Coull, A.; Yzerbyt, V. Y., Castano, E., Paladino, M.-P., & Leemans, V. (2001). "Protecting the ingroup: Motivated allocation of cognitive resources in the presence of threatening ingroup members". Group Processes & Intergroup Relations 4: 327–339. DOI:10.1177/1368430201004004003. 
  8. ^ a b Khan, S.; Lambert, A. J. (1998). "Ingroup favoritism versus black sheep effects in observations of informal conversations.". Basic and Applied Social Psychology 20: 263–269. DOI:10.1207/s15324834basp2004_3. 
  9. ^ Pinto, I. R.; Marques, J. M., Levine, J. M., & Abrams, D. (2010). "Membership status and subjective group dynamics: Who triggers the black sheep effect?". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 99: 107-119. DOI:10.1037/a0018187. 
  10. ^ Worchel, S., & Austin, W. G. (1979). The Social psychology of intergroup relations.. Monterey, CA: Brooks-Cole. 
  11. ^ Turner, J. C., Hogg, M. A., Oakes, P. J., Reicher, S. D., & Wetherell, M. S. (1987). Rediscovering the Social group: A self-categorization theory.. Oxford: Blackwell. 
  12. ^ Hogg, M. A., & Tindale, S. (2001). Blackwell handbook of social psychology: group processes.. Malden, Mass: Blackwell. 
  13. ^ Eidelman, S.; Biernat, M. (2003). "Derogating black sheep: Individual or group protection?". Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 39: 602-609. DOI:10.1016/S0022-1031(03)00042-8. 
  14. ^ Feldman, J. M. (1972). "Stimulus characteristics and subject prejudice as determinants of stereotype attribution.". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 21: 333–340. DOI:10.1037/h0032313. 
  15. ^ Linville, P. W.; Jones, E. E. (1980). "Polarized appraisals of out-group members". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 38: 689–703. DOI:10.1037//0022-3514.38.5.689. 
  16. ^ Castano, E.; Paladino, M., Coull, A., & Yzerbyt, V. Y. (2002). "Protecting the ingroup stereotype: Ingroup identification and the management of deviant ingroup members.". British Journal of Social Psychology 41: 365-385. DOI:10.1348/014466602760344269. 
  17. ^ Lewis, A. C.; Sherman, S. J. (2010). "Perceived entitativity and the black-sheep effect: When will we denigrate negative ingroup members?". The Journal of Social Psychology 150: 211-225. DOI:10.1080/00224540903366388. 
  18. ^ De Cremer, D.; Vanbeselaere, N. (1999). "I am deviant, because...: The impact of situational factors upon the black sheep effect.". Psychologica Belgica 39: 71-79. 

External links [link]


https://wn.com/Black_sheep

Black sheep (disambiguation)

Black sheep is an idiom used to describe an odd or disreputable member of a group, especially within a family.

Black sheep may also refer to:

Film

  • Black Sheep (1915 film), an American comedy film directed by Thomas N. Heffron
  • Black Sheep (1920 film), a British silent film directed by Sidney Morgan
  • Black Sheep (1921 film), an American silent film directed by Paul Hurst
  • Black Sheep (1935 film), an American romantic drama film directed by Allan Dwan
  • Black Sheep (1996 film), an American comedy film starring Chris Farley and David Spade
  • Black Sheep (2006 film), a New Zealand horror comedy film by Jonathan King
  • The Black Sheep (1968 film), an Italian comedy film starring Vittorio Gassman
  • Das schwarze Schaf (The Black Sheep), a 1960 German film
  • Literature

  • Die schwarzen Schafe, (translated as Black Sheep), a prize-winning story by Heinrich Böll 1951
  • Black Sheep (novel), a 1966 novel by Georgette Heyer
  • Black Sheep (play), a 2001 play by Lee Blessing
  • La Rabouilleuse (The Black Sheep), an 1842 novel by Honoré de Balzac
  • Black Sheep (2006 film)

    Black Sheep is a 2006 New Zealand made black comedy horror film written and directed by Jonathan King. It was produced by Philippa Campbell and stars Nathan Meister, Peter Feeney, Danielle Mason, Tammy Davis, Oliver Driver, Tandi Wright, Glenis Levestam, Nick Blake, Matthew Chamberlain, Nick Fenton, Eli Kent, and Sam Clarke. The special effects were done by Weta Workshop. The film premiered at the TIFF on 10 September 2006 as part of their Midnight Madness series and was theatrically released on 29 March 2007 by The Weinstein Company in New Zealand. Black Sheep received positive reviews from critics and grossed $4.9 million. It also received a Narcisse Award nomination for Best Feature Film. Black Sheep was released on DVD and Blu-ray on October 9, 2007 by Icon Home Entertainment.

    Plot

    A young Henry Oldfield (Nick Fenton) lives on a sheep farm in New Zealand, with his father and older brother, Angus. After witnessing his father's pride on Henry's natural ability at farming, Angus plays a cruel prank on him involving the bloody corpse of his pet sheep, just moments before Mrs. Mac, the farm's housekeeper, comes to tell the boys that their father has been killed in an accident. The combined shock of these two incidents leads Henry to develop a crippling phobia of sheep.

    Black Sheep (1935 film)

    Black Sheep is a 1935 American drama film directed by Allan Dwan and starring Edmund Lowe, Claire Trevor and Tom Brown.

    The film's sets were designed by the art director Duncan Cramer.

    Plot

    Aboard a luxury liner, gambler John Francis Dugan makes the acquaintance of socialite Jeanette Foster, who has a reputation for using men to get her way. Jeanette cajoles him into sneaking her into First Class, where they see young Fred Curtis lose $12,000 at poker to a couple of oilmen, Belcher and Schmelling.

    Fred's troubles grow worse when the haughty Millicent Bath has his markers and threatens to tell the police unless he helps her at Customs, sneaking some valuable pearls into the country so she won't be required to pay a duty on them. Fred is so forlorn that he considers jumping overboard, until Jeanette stops him.

    Dugan decides to help. He wins back Fred's debts at cards. When they return to Fred's stateroom, Dugan spots a photo of Fred's deceased mother and is shocked to discover that she was his ex-wife. Fred is his long-lost son.

    Black Sheep (1996 film)

    Black Sheep is a 1996 comedy film directed by Penelope Spheeris, written by Fred Wolf and starring Chris Farley and David Spade. The film portrays a political contest in which a candidate for Governor of Washington deals with unwanted, incompetent, and publicly embarrassing help from his brother. The film also stars Tim Matheson, Christine Ebersole, and Gary Busey. Chris Owen and Wolf have cameo appearances, and Farley's real-life brothers Kevin and John appear as two security guards at an MTV Rock the Vote concert. It was the second collaboration between Farley and Spade, as well as the duo's second film with Paramount Pictures, following the 1995 film Tommy Boy. The film grossed $32.3 million during its U.S. theatrical run.

    Plot

    Mike Donnelly (Chris Farley) is driving an advertisement truck to support his brother Al Donnelly's (Tim Matheson) campaign for Governor of Washington. His competition is incumbent Evelyn Tracy (Christine Ebersole). Mike is chased by dogs while driving the truck and crashes into a local movie theatre. Al's campaign manager, Roger Kovary (Timothy Carhart), advises Al to get rid of Mike, but Al decides to have Mike campaign for him in town with the assistance of campaign aide Steve Dodds (David Spade), who accepts the job in return for a spot on Al's staff following the election. As Steve goes to pick up Mike, he hits crazed Vietnam veteran Sgt. Drake Sabitch (Gary Busey), who ends up stealing his rental car.

    Black Sheep (anarcho-folk band)

    Black Sheep are an English anarcho-folk band formed by singer/songwriter and counter-cultural activist Julian Cope. They are the most recent of Cope's ongoing side projects, which include Brain Donor and Queen Elizabeth.

    Background and work

    The origins of Black Sheep lie in Julian Cope’s 2008 solo album Black Sheep, for which he assembled a varied group of contributing musicians both from his longstanding talent pool and from more recent associates. Black Sheep was a predominantly acoustic project, dominated by Cope’s vocals and Mellotron playing and by varied contributions mainly played on acoustic guitars and large bass drums. Besides Cope (who also played guitars, bass guitar, synthesizer and bass drum), the album featured long-term Cope sidemen Patrick "Holy" McGrail (synthesizer) and Doggen (guitar, bass guitar, harmonica, drums and backing vocals - also of Spiritualized), plus acoustic guitarists/singers/drum beaters Michael O'Sullivan and Ady "Acoustika" Fletcher. The album also credited a "blasphemous movie division" run by "Big Nige", and a "law council" featuring McGrail, Big Nige, and "Vybik Jon".

    Podcasts:

    Black Sheep

    ALBUMS

    Black Sheep

    ALBUMS

    Black Sheep

    ALBUMS

    Black Sheep

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    Black Sheep

    ALBUMS

    PLAYLIST TIME:

    Get A Life

    by: Vice Squad

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    Get out,Get a life
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    Paying for the privilege
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