Black sheep

{{other uses|Black sheep (disambiguation)}}
{{short description|Idiom for oddness or disreputability}}
[[File:Black sheep-1.jpg|300px|thumb|A black sheep stands out from the flock.]]
[[File:The Black sheep illustrated by William Wallace Denslow.jpg|thumb|The Black Sheep from a 1901 edition of ''Mother Goose'' by [[William Wallace Denslow]]]]
In the [[English language]], '''black sheep''' is an [[idiom]] that describes a member of a group who is different from the rest, especially a [[family]] member who does not fit in. The term stems from [[sheep]] whose fleece is colored black rather than the more common white; these sheep stand out in the flock and their wool is worth less as it will not dye.

The term has typically been given negative implications, implying waywardness.<ref name="AHD">{{ cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/americanheritage00amme_0 |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/americanheritage00amme_0/page/64 64] | title = American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms |access-date=2007-11-13 | publisher = Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |isbn=978-0-395-72774-4 |author1=Ammer, Christine | year = 1997 }}</ref>

In [[psychology]], "black sheep effect" refers to the tendency of group members to judge likeable ingroup members more positively and deviant [[ingroup]] members more negatively than comparable [[ingroups and outgroups|outgroup]] members.<ref name="Marques et al. (1988)">{{ cite journal | last = Marques | first = J. M. |author2=Yzerbyt, V. Y.|author3=Leyens, J. | title = The 'Black Sheep Effect': Extremity of judgments towards ingroup members as a function of group identification | journal = European Journal of Social Psychology | year = 1988 | volume = 18 | pages = 1–16 | doi = 10.1002/ejsp.2420180102 }}</ref>

==Origin==
{{Unreferenced section|date=September 2019}}
In most [[sheep]], a white fleece is not caused by [[albinism]] but by a common [[dominance (genetics)|dominant]] gene that switches color production off, thus obscuring any other color that may be present.{{citation needed|date=February 2012}} A black fleece is caused by a [[recessive gene|recessive]] gene,<!-- citation needed --> so if a white ram and a white ewe are each [[heterozygous]] for black, about one in four of their lambs will be black. In most white sheep breeds, only a few white sheep are heterozygous for black, so black lambs are usually much rarer than this.<!-- citation needed -->

==Idiomatic usage==
The term originated from the occasional black sheep which are born into a flock of white sheep. Black wool is considered commercially undesirable because it cannot be dyed.<ref name="AHD"/> In 18th and 19th century England, the black color of the sheep was seen as the mark of the devil.<ref>{{ cite book | last = Sykes | first = Christopher Simon | title = Black Sheep | publisher = [[Viking Press]] | location = New York | year = 1983 |page=11 |isbn=978-0-670-17276-4 }}</ref> 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.<ref name="black sheep">{{cite book | title = The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms | publisher = Houghton Mifflin Company | year = 1992 | url = http://www.answers.com/topic/black-sheep | access-date = 2008-03-24 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080415121927/http://www.answers.com/topic/black-sheep | archive-date = 2008-04-15 | url-status = live }}</ref> [[Jessica Mitford]] described herself as "the red sheep of the family", a [[communist]] in a family of aristocratic [[fascist]]s.<ref>[http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/10/16/061016crbo_books1?currentPage=all "Red Sheep: How Jessica Mitford found her voice"] by Thomas Mallon 16 Oct 2007 ''[[The New Yorker|New Yorker]]'' {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606160937/http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/10/16/061016crbo_books1?currentPage=all |date=6 June 2011 }}.</ref>

The idiom is also found in other languages, e.g. [[German language|German]], [[Finnish language|Finnish]], [[French language|French]], [[Italian language|Italian]], [[Serbo-Croatian]], [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]], [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], [[Greek language|Greek]], [[Turkish language|Turkish]], [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], [[Dutch language|Dutch]], [[Afrikaans]], [[Swedish language|Swedish]], [[Danish language|Danish]], [[Spanish language|Spanish]], [[Catalan language|Catalan]], [[Czech language|Czech]], [[Slovak language|Slovak]], [[Romanian language|Romanian]] and [[Polish language|Polish]]. During the [[Second Spanish Republic]] a weekly magazine named ''[[El Be Negre]]'', meaning 'The Black Sheep', was published in [[Barcelona]].<ref>[http://www.ciberniz.com/benegre.htm El be negre (1931-1936) - La Ciberniz] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130211051525/http://www.ciberniz.com/benegre.htm |date=2013-02-11 }}</ref>

The same concept is illustrated in some other languages by the phrase "white crow": for example, ''belaya vorona'' ({{lang|ru|бе́лая воро́на}}) in [[Russian language|Russian]] and ''kalāg-e sefīd'' ({{lang|fa|کلاغ سفید}}) in [[Persian language|Persian]].

==In psychology==
In 1988, Marques, Yzerbyt and Leyens 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 indicated that favorability is considered highest for likeable ingroup members and lowest for unlikeable ingroup members, with the favorability of unlikeable and likeable outgroup members lying between the two ingroup members.<ref name="Marques et al. (1988)" /> 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.<ref name="Branscombe et al. (1993)">{{ cite journal | last = Branscombe | first = N. |author2=Wann, D.|author3=Noel, J.|author4=Coleman, J. | title = In-group or out-group extremity: Importance of the threatened social identity | journal = Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin | year = 1993 | volume = 19 | issue = 4 | pages = 381–388 | doi = 10.1177/0146167293194003 | s2cid = 144403591 }}</ref><ref name="Coull et al. ()">{{ cite journal | last = Coull | first = A. |author2=Yzerbyt, V. Y. |author3=Castano, E. |author4=Paladino, M.-P. |author5=Leemans, V. | title = Protecting the ingroup: Motivated allocation of cognitive resources in the presence of threatening ingroup members | journal = Group Processes & Intergroup Relations | year = 2001 | volume = 4 | issue = 4 | pages = 327–339 | doi = 10.1177/1368430201004004003 | citeseerx = 10.1.1.379.3383 | s2cid = 16867772 }}</ref><ref name="Khan & Lambert (1998)">{{ cite journal | last = Khan | first = S. |author2=Lambert, A. J. | title = Ingroup favoritism versus black sheep effects in observations of informal conversations | journal = Basic and Applied Social Psychology | year = 1998 | volume = 20 | issue = 4 | pages = 263–269 | doi = 10.1207/s15324834basp2004_3 }}</ref><ref name="Pinto et al. (2010)">{{ cite journal | last = Pinto | first = I. R. |author2=Marques, J. M.|author3=Levine, J. M.|author4=Abrams, D. | title = Membership status and subjective group dynamics: Who triggers the black sheep effect? | journal = Journal of Personality and Social Psychology | year = 2010 | volume = 99 | issue = 1 | pages = 107–119 | doi = 10.1037/a0018187 | pmid = 20565188 }}</ref>

===Explanations===
[[File:Mirosław Bałka - Czarny papież i czarna owca (1987)01.jpg|thumb|''Black Pope and Black Sheep'', a sculpture by [[Mirosław Bałka]], 1987]]
A prominent explanation of the black sheep effect derives from the social identity approach ([[social identity theory]]<ref name="Tajfel & Turner (1979)">{{ cite book |author1=Worchel, S. |author2=Austin, W. G. | title = The Social psychology of intergroup relations. | year = 1979 | publisher = Brooks-Cole | location = Monterey, CA }}</ref> and [[self-categorization theory]]<ref name="Turner et al. (1987)">{{ cite book |author1=Turner, J. C. |author2=Hogg, M. A. |author3=Oakes, P. J. |author4=Reicher, S. D. |author5= Wetherell, M. S. | title = Rediscovering the Social group: A self-categorization theory. | year = 1987 | publisher = Blackwell | location = Oxford }}</ref>). Group members are motivated to sustain a positive and distinctive [[social identity]] and, as a consequence, group members emphasize likeable members and evaluate them more positive than outgroup members, bolstering the positive image of their ingroup ([[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).<ref name="Marques et al. (2001)">{{ cite book |author1=Hogg, M. A. |author2= Tindale, S. | title = Blackwell handbook of social psychology: group processes. | year = 2001 | publisher = Blackwell | location = Malden, Mass }}</ref>

Eidelman and Biernat wrote in 2003 that personal identities are also threatened through deviant ingroup members. They argue that devaluation of deviant members is an individual response of interpersonal differentiation.<ref name="Eidelman & Biernat (2003)">{{ cite journal | last = Eidelman | first = S. |author2=Biernat, M. | title = Derogating black sheep: Individual or group protection? | journal = Journal of Experimental Social Psychology | year = 2003 | volume = 39 | issue = 6 | pages = 602–609 | doi = 10.1016/S0022-1031(03)00042-8 }}</ref> Khan and Lambert suggested in 1998 that [[cognitive process]]es such as assimilation and contrast, which may underline the effect, should be examined.<ref name="Khan & Lambert (1998)" />

===Limitations===
Even though there is wide support for the black sheep effect, the opposite pattern has been found, for example, that White participants judge unqualified Black targets more negatively than comparable White targets (e.g. Feldman, 1972;<ref name="Feldman (1972)">{{ cite journal | last = Feldman | first = J. M. | title = Stimulus characteristics and subject prejudice as determinants of stereotype attribution | journal = Journal of Personality and Social Psychology | year = 1972 | volume = 21 | issue = 3 | pages = 333–340 | doi = 10.1037/h0032313 }}</ref> Linville & Jones, 1980).<ref name="Linville & Jones (1980)">{{ cite journal | last = Linville | first = P. W. |author2=Jones, E. E. | title = Polarized appraisals of out-group members | journal = Journal of Personality and Social Psychology | year = 1980 | volume = 38 | issue = 5 | pages = 689–703 | doi = 10.1037/0022-3514.38.5.689 }}</ref> Consequently, there are several factors which influence the black sheep effect. For instance, the higher the [[Identification (psychology)|identification]] with the ingroup, and the higher the [[entitativity]] of the ingroup, the more the black sheep effect emerges.<ref name="Castano et al. (2002)">{{ cite journal | last = Castano | first = E. |author2=Paladino, M.|author3=Coull, A.|author4=Yzerbyt, V. Y. | s2cid = 2003883 | title = Protecting the ingroup stereotype: Ingroup identification and the management of deviant ingroup members | journal = British Journal of Social Psychology | year = 2002 | volume = 41 | issue = 3 | pages = 365–385 | doi = 10.1348/014466602760344269 | pmid = 12419008 }}</ref><ref name="Lewis & Sherman (2010)">{{ cite journal | last = Lewis | first = A. C. |author2=Sherman, S. J. | title = Perceived entitativity and the black-sheep effect: When will we denigrate negative ingroup members? | journal = The Journal of Social Psychology | year = 2010 | volume = 150 | issue = 2 | pages = 211–225 | doi = 10.1080/00224540903366388 | pmid = 20397595 | s2cid = 31260933 }}</ref> Even situational factors explaining the deviance have an influence whether the black sheep effect occurs.<ref name="De Cremer, & Vanbeselaere (1999)">{{ cite journal | last = De Cremer | first = D. |author2=Vanbeselaere, N. | title = I am deviant, because...: The impact of situational factors upon the black sheep effect. | journal = Psychologica Belgica | year = 1999 | volume = 39 | pages = 71–79 | doi = 10.5334/pb.942 | doi-access = free }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Black swan theory]]
* [[Dark horse]]
* [[Glossary of sheep husbandry]]
* [[Scapegoat]]
* [[Baa Baa Black Sheep (nursery rhyme)|Baa Baa Black Sheep]]
* [[The Ugly Duckling]]
* [[Low-life]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Black sheep}}
{{wiktionary}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130810175529/http://phrases.org.uk/meanings/66250.html Exploration of the etymology of the phrase "black sheep of the family"]
* {{ cite journal |author2=José M. Marques|author3=Vincent Y. Yzerbyt | title=The black sheep effect: Judgmental extremity towards ingroup members in inter-and intra-group situations | journal=European Journal of Social Psychology | volume=18 | issue=3 | pages=287–292 | url=http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00221031 | doi=10.1002/ejsp.2420180308 | access-date=2008-01-04 | author=Marques, José M.| year= 1988}}

[[Category:English-language idioms]]
[[Category:Pejorative terms for people]]
[[Category:Deviance (sociology)]]
[[Category:Sheep]]
[[Category:Metaphors referring to sheep or goats]]
[[Category:Majority–minority relations]]