Perceptual Bias Research Articles

The left side of gestures: left perceptual bias for meaningless hand gestures recognition is independent from handedness

The “Left Perceptual Bias” (LPB) is the effect for which the left side of a picture such as a face is used to a greater extent than its right side as shown in a wide variety of experimental tasks. This effect has been observed for faces, body parts and objects. The present work investigated the presence of a LPB in recognizing hand gestures in two experiments. The role of the side of stimuli presentation (left /right), stimuli orientation (palm/back), participants’ handedness and gender were analyzed. Participants were presented with images of meaningless gestures performed by an actor with the right or left hand, from a palm or a back view. Immediately afterward, participants were shown a drawing and had to discriminate whether it represented the same gesture or not. In the first experiment, the task was administered to a sample of right-handed participants, half males. Results showed shorter response times for stimuli presented on the left side and for those shown from the palm. No gender differences were observed. The second experiment included a sample of left-handed participants and the LPB was replicated. Taken together, our results suggest an interpretation of the bias in terms of asymmetries in perceptual processing rather than the involvement of motor representations.

Tackling Gender-Based Violence to Increase College Students’ Well-Being: A Study on Psychosocial Dimensions Affecting Attitudes Toward the Nonconsensual Intimate Image Dissemination

One of the most recent forms of gender-based violence is non-consensual intimate images dissemination (NCII). This type of offense, popularly referred to as “revenge pornography”, consists of the nonconsensual creation, dissemination, or threat of dissemination of nude or sexually explicit images (photographs and videos) of individuals. NCII is considered a public health issue because of its damaging psychological consequences, especially among adolescents and young adults. According to the social-ecological perspective, psychosocial variables (e.g., endorsement of sexist attitudes, rape myths, sexual double standards, and stereotypes on masculinity) influence and bias perceptions of NCII, but research on these dimensions is still lacking. The present study aims to investigate such variables in a sample of Italian college students (N = 309, 65.4% female, mean age = 21.95, SD = 2.00). The results will be discussed in the light of interventions aimed at raising awareness of violence and its prevention, thus increasing youth well-being in their educational and everyday contexts.

Association between Proficiency and Idiosyncratic Biases in Medical Image Perception

Association between Proficiency and Idiosyncratic Biases in Medical Image Perception

Repulsion biases in motion perception are attenuated by waiting

Repulsion biases in motion perception are attenuated by waiting

Cognitive Mechanisms of Aberrant Self-Referential Social Perception in Psychosis and Bipolar Disorder: Insights From Computational Modeling.

Individuals with schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar disorder (BD) show disruptions in self-referential gaze perception-a social perceptual process related to symptoms and functioning. However, our current mechanistic understanding of these dysfunctions and relationships is imprecise. The present study used mathematical modeling to uncover cognitive processes driving gaze perception abnormalities in SZ and BD, and how they relate to cognition, symptoms, and social functioning. We modeled the behavior of 28 SZ, 38 BD, and 34 controls (HC) in a self-referential gaze perception task using drift-diffusion models parameterized to index key cognitive components: drift rate (evidence accumulation efficiency), drift bias (perceptual bias), start point (expectation bias), threshold separation (response caution), and nondecision time (encoding/motor processes). Results revealed that aberrant gaze perception in SZ and BD was driven by less efficient evidence accumulation, perceptual biases predisposing self-referential responses, and greater caution (SZ only). Across SZ and HC, poorer social functioning was related to greater expectation biases. Within SZ, perceptual and expectancy biases were associated with hallucination and delusion severity, respectively. These findings indicate that diminished evidence accumulation and perceptual biases may underlie altered gaze perception in patients and that SZ may engage in compensatory cautiousness, sacrificing response speed to preserve accuracy. Moreover, biases at the belief and perceptual levels may relate to symptoms and functioning. Computational modeling can, therefore, be used to achieve a more nuanced, cognitive process-level understanding of the mechanisms of social cognitive difficulties, including gaze perception, in individuals with SZ and BD.

Measuring corruption: whose perceptions should we rely on? Evidence from Iceland"

The extent of corruption in Iceland is highly contested. International corruption measures indicate a relatively small amount of corruption while domestic public opinion suggest a serious corruption problem. Thus, uncertainty prevails about the actual extent of corruption and whose perceptions to rely on. This problem is relevant for corruption research in general. Perceptions are increasingly used as proxies for the actual levels of corruption in comparative research. But we still do not know enough about the accuracy of these proxies or the criteria they must meet in order to give dependable results. In fact, radical differences exist concerning evaluations of perceptions between those who believe in unbiased learning and those believing perceptual bias to be widespread. The purpose of this article is, therefore, to attempt to gauge which factors may influence how perceptions of corruption are shaped and why differences in corruption perceptions between different groups may be so pronounced. We present findings from original survey data from three parallel surveys – among the "public", experts, and "municipal practitioners" – conducted in Iceland in 2014. Expectations based on the perceptual bias approach are tested, indicating that perceptions may be affected by (1) information factors, (2) direct experience of corruption and (3) emotive factors. The validity of perception measures should be considered with this in mind. Domestic experts are likely to be well informed and avoid perceptual bias to a greater extent than other groups. Our examination of the Icelandic case suggests that the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) tends to underestimate corruption problems in "mature welfare states", such as Iceland, whilst the general public tends to overestimate it.

Public interest or individual benefit: biased perception toward Chinese redistributive policies

PurposeRedistributive policies aim to reduce income disparities and improve social equity. This study investigates whether redistributive effects that successfully diminish objective income inequality also effectively alter people’s perceptions of inequality.Design/methodology/approachUtilizing data from the 2018 China Household Income Survey (CHIP), comprising 56,167 individuals, this study applies ordered probability regression (Oprobit) and ordinary least squares (OLS) for analysis. To address potential biases in estimates, we employed the generalized propensity score matching (GPSM) method to estimate the treatment effect of transfer income on perceptions of inequality.FindingsThe results indicate that while China’s redistribution policies effectively reduce income disparities, they do not improve perceptions of inequality. Individuals exhibit biased attitudes toward redistributive policies. Specifically, perceptions of inequality are insensitive to the overall redistributive effect; the relationship is negative among the poor but positive among the rich. This contradictory pattern may be attributed to perceived income losses among the rich and gains among the poor.Social implicationsThe findings have important implications for policy development. Redistribution policies should not only aim to mitigate income disparities but also address and improve people’s perceptions of inequality.Originality/valueExisting literature has largely overlooked the impact of redistribution on perceived income inequality. This study represents an early effort to explore whether redistributive policies that reduce income inequality also influence people’s perceptions of inequality.

Caregivers' Perception of Child Weight and Its Implications on Children's BMI: Examining the Role of Weight Concern and Pressed Eating Behaviors as Mediators.

This study aims to investigate the relationship between caregivers' perception of child weight, their concern about children's weight, pressed eating behaviors, and children's BMI. A Child Feeding Questionnaire was administered to 442 primary caregivers of school-aged children (6-12y old) in Hangzhou, China. Significant differences were observed in age, family average monthly income, and family care type among children with different weight statuses (P<0.05). Caregivers' perception of child weight was positively correlated with children's BMI. Caregivers' perception of child weight and children's BMI were negatively correlated with pressed eating behaviors. Caregivers' perception of the child's weight, BMI, and pressed eating behaviors were positively correlated with caregivers' weight concerns. Caregivers' perception of child weight not only had a direct positive predictive effect on children's BMI but also influenced children's BMI through three paths: via the independent mediation of children's weight concern, the independent mediation of pressed eating behaviors, and the chain mediation of children's weight concern and pressed eating behaviors. Caregivers need to rectify perception biases regarding child weight, adopt reasonable feeding strategies, nurture children's self-regulation abilities regarding diet, and prevent the occurrence of childhood overweight and obesity.

Under the influence: exogenous testosterone influences men's cross-sex perceptions of sexual interest.

The sexual misperception bias is a cognitive bias in which men tend to overestimate sexual interest from women, potentially shaped by evolutionary mating strategies. Testosterone, often linked to mating behaviors, might play a role in sustaining sexual overperceptions. To explore this possibility, we conducted a placebo-controlled study with 190 heterosexual men, administering either 11 mg of testosterone or a placebo. Participants interacted with an attractive female confederate, while naïve raters assessed the confederate's affiliative behaviors. Our findings suggest that exogenous testosterone did not broadly impact sexual overperception. However, we found that affiliative behavior from the confederate was positively correlated with perceived sexual interest among testosterone-treated, but not placebo-treated men. In addition, we found that this effect among testosterone-treated men was contingent on their self-perceived attractiveness. Specifically, the confederate's affiliative behaviors were positively correlated with perceived sexual interest, but only for testosterone-treated men with average or above average self-perceived attractiveness. Furthermore, our data revealed that men's tendency to project their own short-term and long-term mating interests increases as a function of self-perceived attractiveness, and this coupling is enhanced by testosterone for long-term interest. Taken together, these results suggest that testosterone may potentiate existing biases, particularly when sexual motivation is high, and bias perceptions of friendly behavior when engaging in cross-sex mindreading. This study adds to the understanding of the neuroendocrine bases of social cognition, suggesting that testosterone can affect men's perceptions of potential mates.

Female sexual Objectification Among Gay Men: Neural and Cultural Insights

Research on sexual objectification has mostly taken a heterosexual perspective and has studied gay men to understand when they become victims rather than agents of this phenomenon. In three studies we investigated gay men as agents of sexual objectification and the underlying motives that guide their biased perceptions. In Study 1, using electroencephalography, gay men showed to objectify women more than men. In Study 2a and Study 2b, results confirmed this tendency and demonstrated that exposure to sexually objectified depictions of women on content-rather than relational-based (social) media was positively related to the sexual objectification of women. Media exposure to female sexualization can increase and explain why women remain the target of sexual objectification regardless of one’s sexual orientation.

Rape victim advocates’ perceptions of a racial bias in the #MeToo movement

While applauded as important for survivors, the #MeToo movement is criticized for ignoring survivors of color. Interviews with 41 rape victim advocates reveal that they perceive a racial bias in the movement. Eighteen advocates note that an African American woman started the movement, but it did not garner attention until taken over by White survivors and celebrities. Advocates perceive that the movement does not give victims of color a voice, and they are not believed (15 advocates discuss). According to 13 advocates, the movement reflects societal racial bias and blame of survivors of color. Understanding advocates’ perceptions could improve the recognition and inclusion of survivors of color, not only by the #MeToo movement but also in general sexual victimization awareness.

Übersichtsarbeiten / Review Articles. Voreingenommenheiten und Wahrnehmungsverzerrungen (Bias) in der psychiatrisch-psychotherapeutischen Versorgung von Kindern und Jugendlichen mit intellektueller Beeinträchtigung

Bias in Mental Health Care of Children and Adolescents with Intellectual Disabilities Implicit and explicit bias and distortions of perception are partly responsible for the unequal and significantly deficient psychotherapeutic and psychiatric care situation for children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities and additional behavioral problems. The extent to which these biases influence misdiagnoses and treatment errors, refusals and exclusions from professional care, and grossly hostile rejections of people with disabilities requires empirical evidence (Bartig et al., 2021). The fact that all forms occur - probably to a considerable extent - contradicts the ethical principles of the medical and psychotherapeutic profession. In order to avoid misdiagnosis and treatment as a result of bias, this must be openly addressed. Selfawareness, supervision and second views, the concept of working diagnosis and, above all, the full application of child and adolescent psychiatric standards help to reduce bias.

Perception of emotional facial expressions in aggression and psychopathy.

Altered affective state recognition is assumed to be a root cause of aggressive behavior, a hallmark of psychopathologies such as psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder. However, the two most influential models make markedly different predictions regarding the underlying mechanism. According to the integrated emotion system theory (IES), aggression reflects impaired processing of social distress cues such as fearful faces. In contrast, the hostile attribution bias (HAB) model explains aggression with a bias to interpret ambiguous expressions as angry. In a set of four experiments, we measured processing of fearful and angry facial expressions (compared to neutral and other expressions) in a sample of 65 male imprisoned violent offenders rated using the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R, Hare, R. D. (1991). The psychopathy checklist-revised. Toronto, ON: Multi-Health Systems) and in 60 age-matched control participants. There was no evidence for a fear deficit in violent offenders or for an association of psychopathy or aggression with impaired processing of fearful faces. Similarly, there was no evidence for a perceptual bias for angry faces linked to psychopathy or aggression. However, using highly ambiguous stimuli and requiring explicit labeling of emotions, violent offenders showed a categorization bias for anger and this anger bias correlated with self-reported trait aggression (but not with psychopathy). These results add to a growing literature casting doubt on the notion that fear processing is impaired in aggressive individuals and in psychopathy and provide support for the idea that aggression is related to a hostile attribution bias that emerges from later cognitive, post-perceptual processing stages.

Perceptions of bias and credibility of male and female clinical psychologist and psychiatrist expert witnesses presenting clinical information in the courtroom

Expert witness credentials and gender have independently been shown to influence jurors' perceptions of expert witness credibility and legal decision-making. This study examined how manipulations of expert witness gender (Male/Female) and profession (Consultant Clinical Psychologist/Consultant Psychiatrist) together affected mock jurors' perceptions of expert witness credibility, judgements, and decision-making. Mock jurors (N = 182; 80.9 % were White) were recruited from England and Wales and were randomly assigned to watch a video-recorded mock expert witness testimony. Participants rated the expert witness using the Witness Credibility Scale and reported the likelihood of assigning the defendant to a guilty verdict. Results showed significant interaction effects of expert witness gender and profession on jurors' perceptions of their likeability, trustworthiness, knowledge, and total credibility. Male psychiatrists, followed by female clinical psychologists, received the highest scores in most credibility variables. Varied main effects of expert witness gender and profession on credibility were also found. Overall, jurors' ratings of expert witness credibility, when controlled by the expert's gender and profession, predicted jurors' determination of guilt. This study provides evidence of a potential interaction effect between profession and gender in expert witness credibility and supports existing research linking credibility with ultimate decision-making. More research is needed to understand jurors' unconscious biases and cognitive processes in making legal decisions.

Bias intervention messaging in student evaluations of teaching: The role of gendered perceptions of bias

Many studies have documented discrepancies in student evaluation of teaching ratings between male and female instructors and between ethnic majority and minority instructors. Given the importance of such ratings to academic careers and the likelihood of potential intergroup bias, it is crucial that institutions consider approaches to mitigate such biases. Several recent studies have found that simple bias mitigation messaging can be effective in reducing gender and other biases. In the present research, students enrolled in several large Faculty of Science undergraduate courses at an Australian university were recruited on a volunteer basis via the course learning management system. Half of the participants were randomly assigned an intervention message highlighting potential biases relating to gender and language background. Data from 185 respondents were analysed using Bayesian ordinal regression models assessing the impact of message exposure on evaluation scores. Reading a bias intervention message caused students to significantly adjust their scores, with the nature of that change dependent on student and instructor characteristics. Among male students, the bias intervention message significantly increased scores for all except male instructors with English speaking backgrounds, for whom there was no significant impact of the message. In contrast, among female students, the bias intervention message significantly decreased scores for male instructors with English speaking backgrounds only. The sample showed an overall decrease in scores in the intervention group relative to the control group. This is the first study to detect a negative impact of bias intervention messaging on SET scores. Our results suggest students may not acknowledge their own potential bias towards instructors with whom they share similar demographic backgrounds. In conclusion, bias intervention messaging may be a simple method of mitigating bias, but it may lead to consequences in which one or more groups receive lower ratings as a result of the correction.

Cognitive Bias in Perceptions of Industrialized Housing

Industrialized housing offers potential benefits in efficiency and sustainability compared to traditional construction methods, but public perception often remains negative due to a lack of familiarity. This study explores how prior information and knowledge influence perceptions of industrialized versus traditional housing. An online survey with 267 participants evaluated stimuli composed of an image of a house and a label (industrialized or non-industrialized). Results indicated no significant differences in perception based on visual appearance alone; however, the “industrialized” label was rated less favorably. This effect was more pronounced among those without expertise in industrialized construction. The study also revealed that providing objective prior information improved perceptions of personal and emotional attributes (e.g., cozy, family-friendliness, comfortable, well-being), but did not affect views on construction-specific attributes (e.g., quick-to-build, automated, or modular). These findings underscore the need for neutral and informative communication to counteract negative biases and enhance acceptance of industrialized housing. For the construction industry and policymakers, it is crucial to promote unbiased information and education to overcome resistance due to misconceptions and foster a more positive perception of the product’s features. Addressing concerns and clarifying benefits, these initiatives aim to shift public opinion toward recognizing the value of industrialized housing.

Compounding disaster: Perceptions of coastal risk, extreme events, and oil and gas energy production in the Gulf of Mexico

With more than five million people living in proximity to oil and gas (OGA) infrastructure, the state of Texas has the largest population at risk for developing health problems attributable to the industry in the U.S. The interaction between environmental and technological events, one kind of compound disaster events, has the potential to increase future health risks and aggravate existing social and environmental impacts. To identify current knowledge and awareness of the risks of compound disasters among residents, this article presents findings from interviews conducted in 2017 and 2019 with key stakeholders from Corpus Christi, Texas. The city is a hub of OGA production and transport and has recently suffered from the devastating effects of Hurricane Harvey. The primary set of interviews (n: 23) is also complemented by the analysis of 2 other collections (n: 20) from residents who were affected by Hurricane Harvey and which are stored at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi's library. Findings underscore the lack of awareness of OGA activities in general and of problems related to environmental racism. We also found a normalization of the impacts of small oil incidents among respondents and biased perceptions of development. Knowledge of the risk of compound events is rare, an issue that poses significant concerns for the future of these communities and their ability to prepare and mitigate.

The leader among us: Identifying career progression barriers between librarians and archivists

For many reasons, not every organizational member will have equal access to career progression or senior leadership positions. Barriers to advancement have been widely studied with demographic differences (e.g., gender, race) but little research has focused on deep-level, cognitive differences. Reasons for disproportionate advancement may be related to individual differences between groups, perceptual biases, or contextual factors. The present study investigated differences between two groups of information science professionals, one that readily advances to senior positions, and the other that does not. In a sample of 460 librarians and archivists, it was found that the two groups were largely similar on individual differences yet varied in their experiences at their organization. Both groups had overlapping personal values and similar levels of worry/concern about leading. However, archivists were significantly lower in engagement at work, leadership support/development, and affective motivation to lead. Recommendations for future research are discussed and it is suggested that organizations pay attention to imbalances in engagement and opportunities across units/specialties.

Temporal regularities shape perceptual decisions and striatal dopamine signals

Perceptual decisions should depend on sensory evidence. However, such decisions are also influenced by past choices and outcomes. These choice history biases may reflect advantageous strategies to exploit temporal regularities of natural environments. However, it is unclear whether and how observers can adapt their choice history biases to different temporal regularities, to exploit the multitude of temporal correlations that exist in nature. Here, we show that male mice adapt their perceptual choice history biases to different temporal regularities of visual stimuli. This adaptation was slow, evolving over hundreds of trials across several days. It occurred alongside a fast non-adaptive choice history bias, limited to a few trials. Both fast and slow trial history effects are well captured by a normative reinforcement learning algorithm with multi-trial belief states, comprising both current trial sensory and previous trial memory states. We demonstrate that dorsal striatal dopamine tracks predictions of the model and behavior, suggesting that striatal dopamine reports reward predictions associated with adaptive choice history biases. Our results reveal the adaptive nature of perceptual choice history biases and shed light on their underlying computational principles and neural correlates.

Why do politicians perceive the same financial conditions differently?

AbstractBehavioral public administration research has provided empirical evidence of several perception biases when individuals process information. Building on these findings, we seek to advance the literature by analyzing politicians' financial perceptions of their own government. Drawing on the theory of motivated reasoning, we examine the context of Swedish municipalities and find financial perception gaps associated with politicians' party affiliation (establishment or anti‐establishment), parliamentary position (opposition or governing party), and formal hierarchical rank. Specifically, politicians representing anti‐establishment and opposition parties, as well as those occupying lower positions in the political hierarchy—and thus having less influence over and less responsibility for municipal affairs—tend to perceive the financial situation more negatively. These findings suggest the presence of a motivationally driven bias in politicians' perceptions of financial conditions; moreover, they illustrate that these perceptions are influenced by factors beyond the traditional financial, socioeconomic, and demographic ones examined in previous research.