Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The “bias” in the extant literature on optimistic bias has been attributed to an irrational belief in one’s invulnerability. This study asked whether individuals’ efficacy beliefs are also responsible for heightened levels of personal invulnerability. We proposed and tested our hypothesis that risk assessments depend on assessments of personal efficacy. A within-subject experiment was conducted by first categorizing six health and behavioral domains (from a total of 57) according to individuals’ personal efficacy to avoid the risk event. Participants then provided risk assessments for themselves and for an average person. Results lend support to the hypothesis that the “bias” in optimistic bias can be attributed to individuals’ perceptions about their efficacy to avoid risks. Although this study replicated the central argument of optimistic bias research – that we perceive our personal risk to be lower than risk to others across most domains – it also pointed to the importance of including efficacy beliefs in assessing personal risks. Implications for health campaigns are also discussed.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The recent growth in opinionated cable news (i.e., news in which the anchor or host expresses a clear political point of view) has aroused concerns about its potential polarizing effects on public opinion – concerns which have not yet been subject to empirical scrutiny. Key to uncovering opinionated news’ impact on public opinion is an understanding of how audiences – particularly partisan audiences – process opinionated news: Do they engage in selective perception or acceptance as a means to protect their existing beliefs? Or, does sensitivity to the news’ non-objectivity prompt a more even-handed, even critical kind processing – irrespective of one’s prior predispositions? This paper addresses these questions by examining the effects of news opinionation – and its interaction with individual partisanship – on perceptions of bias and information processing. An experiment comparing audience responses to opinionated and non-opinionated news was conducted. Results indicate that while, overall, opinionated news is perceived as more biased and opinionated than traditional, objective formats, this is – in certain cases – contingent on partisanship. Further, to the extent that opinionated news is actually perceived as opinionated, it reduces biased message processing relative to non-opinionated news. Implications for theories of political information processing are discussed.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This paper will address what the antidiscrimination laws should do to counter the use of automatic stereotypes in employment decisions. One area of particular interest is what legal framework courts should apply to individual disparate treatment claims at the summary judgment stage. The Fourth and Ninth Circuits permit a plaintiff claiming employment discrimination to avoid a defendant’s motion for summary judgment by producing evidence that a forbidden characteristic at least played a role in the decision. This framework is a step towards directly rooting out implicit bias by allowing a plaintiff to articulate a mixed motive case and support it with rather minimal evidence that a forbidden characteristic played a role in the decision at least at the summary judgment stage.

In this paper, I will argue, however, that the use of the motivating factor framework at summary judgment actually may have a greater, though more indirect, effect on the implicit biases of decision-makers. Specifically, employers will be forced to think about what their motives really are when making a decision. Psychological research has shown that increased attention to decision-making reasons can have a positive effect on the recognition that automatic stereotypes may be playing a role in a particular decision; thus, forcing employers to afford more attention to the reasons behind their employment decisions is a promising step in rooting out implicit bias.

Publication Type: Individual Poster
Abstract: Background and Aims
Fritzley and Lee (2003) reported that 2- and 3-year-old children have a strong yes bias that children tend to answer yes to yes-no questions. Investigating the yes bias is very important for developmental study, but the mechanism is still unknown. In the present study, we investigated whether Japanese and Vietnamese 2-year-old children have the yes bias (Study 1), and whether the yes bias occurs only in the experimental situation (Study 2).

Study 1
Methods: Eight Vietnamese children (M = 26.20 months, SD = 2.78) and 10 Japanese children (M = 29.27 months, SD = 4.15) were participated. Children were asked four questions each of six objects. Three objects were familiar, and other three objects were unfamiliar.
Key Results: A mixed-design ANOVA revealed no main effects of country and familiarity. One sample t-test, the mean response bias score compared to a score of zero (no response bias), revealed that both Japanese and Vietnamese children showed strong yes bias (Familiar: t = 3.41, p < .01; Unfamiliar, t = 2.23, p < .05). In addition, Japanese children tended not to say yes nor no to yes-no questions (“no answer” response) while Vietnamese children mostly said yes (F = 4.786, p < .05). This result indicated that Japanese young children were too shy to respond something to a stranger interviewer. In study 2, we investigated how Japanese 2-year-olds answer to the questions from their own mothers.

Study 2
Methods: Eighteen Japanese children (M = 27.67 months, SD = 3.63) were participated. Mothers asked their children four questions each of six objects at their home.
Key Results: One sample t-test revealed that Japanese children showed strong yes bias (Familiar: t = 6.04, p < .001; Unfamiliar: t = 4.52, p < .005). They also showed high other responses, such as “no answer” and say “I don’t know.” When the mother is the interviewer, Japanese 2-year-olds showed the yes bias, and they also showed other responses.

Conclusion
The yes bias in two different Asian countries was investigated to clarify a role of cultural factor, and the mothers asked questions to investigate whether the yes bias (and/or “other responses”) occur only in the experimental situation. Our results indicated that the yes bias occur in any situation (Viet Nam and Japan, and both in the experimental situation and at home) and Japanese young children likely to say neither yes nor no to yes-no questions. We will discuss these cultural differences.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Error management theory (Haselton & Buss, 2000) addresses sex differences in judgments formed during cross sex interactions by referencing the costs inherent in making mistakes during interactions. In study one we seek to replicate findings consistent with error management theory in the context of face-to-face interactions. In study two, the underlying presumptions of the theory are directly tested by examining sex differences in perceptions of the costs inherent in false positives and false negatives in pursuing sexual or committed relationships. Results are generally supportive of both sexual overperception and commitment skepticism biases.