"White crow" redirects here. For the 2018 film, see The White Crow.

For other uses, see Black

sheep (disambiguation).

A black sheep stands out from the flock.

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.[