Interpretation of ambiguous situations: evidence for a dissociation between social and physical threat in Williams syndrome

There is increasing evidence that Williams syndrome (WS) is associated with elevated anxiety that is non-social in nature, including generalised anxiety and fears. To date very little research has examined the cognitive processes associated with this anxiety. In the present research, attentional bias for non-social threatening images in WS was examined using a dot-probe paradigm. Participants were 16 individuals with WS aged between 13 and 34 years and two groups of typically developing controls matched to the WS group on chronological age and attentional control ability respectively. The WS group exhibited a significant attention bias towards threatening images. In contrast, no bias was found for group matched on attentional control and a slight bias away from threat was found in the chronological age matched group. The results are contrasted with recent findings suggesting that individuals with WS do not show an attention bias for threatening faces and discussed in relation to neuroimaging research showing elevated amygdala activation in response to threatening non-social scenes in WS

Ethnically Biased? Experimental Evidence from Kenya

Ethnicity has been shown to shape political, social, and economic behavior in Africa, but the underlying mechanisms remain contested. We utilize lab experiments to isolate one mechanism - an individual's bias in favor of coethnics and against non-coethnics - that has been central in both theory and in the conventional wisdom about the impact of ethnicity. We employ an unusually rich research design involving a large sample of 1300 participants from Nairobi, Kenya; the collection of multiple rounds of experimental data with varying proximity to national elections; within-lab priming conditions; both standard and novel experimental measures of coethnic bias; and an implicit association test (IAT). We find very little evidence of an ethnic bias in the behavioral games, which runs against the common presumption of extensive coethnic bias among ordinary Africans and suggests that mechanisms other than a coethnic bias in preferences must account for the associations we see in the region between ethnicity and political, social, and economic outcomes

Skilled women ethnic immigrants : is there any point at which being a multiple minority becomes an advantage, as predicted by Dual Process Theory? : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Psychology, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand

Previous research on bias has focused on selection bias in recruitment. This research explores the issue of Treatment Bias (lack of advancement or promotion opportunities). The context for the research is potential treatment bias against skilled immigrant women from a range of different ethnic backgrounds, some of whom may experience bias yet others not. The purpose of this research is to test the theories of treatment bias in particular to find out whether Dual Process Theory can help close the gap in understanding of why some skilled immigrant women may not always be accepted in sustainable (respectful, recognition of skills) forms of livelihood in New Zealand workplaces. The research examines the interplay of psychological theories of similarity attraction, social identity, social dominance and realistic conflict with minority influence theory, which suggests that minority status might actually become an advantage for consistent minorities, e.g., minorities that are a minority across multiple criteria (such as “woman” AND “immigrant” AND “ethnic”). Sixty-five immigrant women with approximately 6.35 years’ experience working in a diverse range of New Zealand organisations completed a scenario-type questionnaire based on their direct experiences of working in New Zealand. Participants ranked employers’ perceived preference for promotion, perceived similarity/cultural fit to the majority culture/workplace, perceived status in the workplace and perceived threat or competitiveness for promotion opportunities. Employees were presented in the scenarios as equally skilled, qualified and all performed at the same level. In a 2x2x2 factorial design, majority and minority status for each employee to be ranked was systematically varied by gender (male/female), ethnicity (ethnic/non-ethnic) and immigration status (immigrant/non-immigrant). Despite equality of qualifications, experience and performance, there was no point at which being a minority presented an advantage as predicated by the minority influence theory. Instead, the mean ranking for perceived preference for promotion revealed that the majority was consistently preferred over single (e.g., female, or immigrant, or ethnic) then double (any combination of two of the above minority criteria) then treble minorities. There was also co-variation between minority status on the one hand and social dominance, social identity, realistic conflict and similarity attraction on the other, suggesting a combined explanatory role for each construct (similarity, identity, etc.) in treatment bias. With each step from single, double to treble minority status there was a consistent decrement in perceived preference; the results showed clear preference for the majority with no particular preference or advantage for the minority at any stage. Discussion focuses on opportunities for future research and improvements regarding the methodology for future research

The Effect of Social Desirability Bias on Willingness-To-Pay for Organic Beef.

Researchers regularly conduct willingness-to-pay or valuation studies for product marketing or public policy purposes. However, a large volume of research suggests valuation tools such as conjoint analysis may be subject to social desirability bias, where subjects misrepresent their true preferences to create a favorable impression. The objective of this study is to measure the effects of social desirability bias on conjoint survey responses. Consumers were asked to rank organic ground beef relative to other ground beef products at various prices. A popular scale measuring individuals’ tendency to exhibit social desirability bias was also administered. Regression analysis found no correlation between individuals’ social desirability scale scores and their preferences for organic beef. Thus, in this study, social desirability bias does not appear to be a problem for valuation researchers.Consumer/Household Economics, Livestock Production/Industries,

The political economy of public spending on education, inequality, and growth

Public provision of education has often been perceived as universal and egalitarian, but in reality it is not. Political pressure typically results in incidence bias in favor of the rich. The author argues that the bias in political influence resulting from extreme income inequalities is particularly likely to generate an incidence bias, which we call social exclusion. This may then lead to a feedback mechanism whereby inequality in the incidence of public spending on education breeds higher income inequality, thus generating multiple equilibria: with social exclusion and high inequality; and with social inclusion and relatively low inequality. The author also shows that the latter equilibrium leads to higher long-run growth than the former. An extension of the basic model reveals that spillover effects among members of social groups differentiated by race or ethnicity may reinforce the support for social exclusion.Public Health Promotion,Environmental Economics&Policies,Decentralization,Economic Theory&Research,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Inequality,Poverty Assessment,Governance Indicators,Achieving Shared Growth,Economic Theory&Research

Belief in free will affects causal attributions when judging others' behavior

Free will is a cornerstone of our society, and psychological research demonstrates that questioning its existence impacts social behavior. ;In six studies, we tested whether believing in free will is related to the correspondence bias, which reflects people's automatic tendency to overestimate the influence of internal as compared to external factors when interpreting others' behavior. All studies demonstrate a positive relationship between the strength of the belief in free will and the correspondence bias. Moreover, in two experimental studies, we showed that weakening participants' belief in free will leads to a reduction of the correspondence bias. Finally, the last study demonstrates that believing in free will predicts prescribed punishment and reward behavior, and that this relation is mediated by the correspondence bias. Overall, these studies show that believing in free will impacts fundamental social-cognitive processes that are involved in the understanding of others' behavior

The Devil You Don’t Know: Implicit Bias Keeps Women in Their Place

While men’s claims of gender bias in the family law system are acknowledged, this article focuses on how bias, whether implicit or explicit under the guise of unconscious attitudes or behavior, continues to place women at a systemic disadvantage. Although implicit bias also impacts outcomes in child abuse and neglect actions involving the state, the focus of this article is the impact of implicit bias in actions between women and men in the family courts, in particular those issues involved in the dissolution of the relationship and the family unit. First, the emergence of implicit social cognition theory will be explored in order to set the stage for understanding how bias continues to effect decision-making in the legal system. Next, this article explores the continued existence of gender bias against women in our society and the external and internal justifications for its persistence. This article will then discuss the persistence of gender bias in the family court system. Existing implicit bias science and research is then applied to the family court environment as a means to explain why and how bias against women continues to affect outcomes in family matters. Finally, although no strategies have been proven to have a long-term impact on eliminating implicit bias against women, this article looks to the findings of existing explicit and implicit bias research and scholarship as a means to discover techniques to eliminate the barrier implicit bias creates for a woman’s ability to obtain a just result in family matters

Implicit Bias in the Criminal Justice System: An Economic Review

This project seeks to investigate implicit racial bias in the prosecution section of the criminal justice system and calculate its potential economic consequences. Combining past research and analyses of racial bias in other contexts with evaluations of legal rulings and precedents that hinder effective reform, potential areas for change and further study are identified. An experiment is designed to identify racial bias within the context of a drug offense where race and strength of evidence are isolated variables. Subsequent results are analyzed in the context of economic and social cost to both individuals and the United States as a whole

Are people really conformist-biased? An empirical test and a new mathematical model

According to an influential theory in cultural evolution, within-group similarity of culture is explained by a human 'conformist-bias', which is a hypothesized evolved predisposition to preferentially follow a member of the majority when acquiring ideas and behaviours. However, this notion has little support from social psychological research. In fact, a major theory in social psychology (LATANÉ and WOLF, 1981) argues for what is in effect a ‘nonconformist-bias’: by analogy to standard psychophysics they predict minority sources of influence to have relatively greater impact than majority sources. Here we present a new mathematical model and an experiment on social influence, both specifically designed to test these competing predictions. The results are in line with nonconformism. Finally, we discuss within-group similarity and suggest that it is not a general phenomenon but must be studied trait by trait