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White Crow
White Crow
The Black Sheep from a 1901 edition of Mother Goose by William Wallace Denslow
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 stems from the genetic effect in sheep whereby
a recessive gene occasionally manifests in the birth of a sheep with black rather than white coloring;
these sheep stand out in the flock and their wool was traditionally considered less valuable.
The term has typically been given negative implications, implying waywardness.[1]
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.[