Misperception Among Gay Men of the Risk for AIDS Associated with Their Sexual Behavior1

Until a vaccine against AIDS is developed, the most effective strategy for preventing the spread of the disease among gay men, the largest risk group, is to persuade them to abstain from particular kinds of sexual practices implicated in the transmission of the AIDS virus. Motivation to comply with risk-reduction guidelines, however, is dependent in part on a realistic appraisal of the degree of risk associated with one's sexual practices. Data are presented from 160 asymptomatic gay men. Their subjective assessment of the riskiness of their sexual behavior is compared to an objective assessment of the riskiness of their sexual practices. Factors associated with a tendency to underestimate the riskiness of one's practices are examined. Finally, the implications of the findings for public health education efforts among gay men are discussed.     

Cognitive Heuristics and AIDS Risk Assessment Among Physicians1

Physicians (N= 331) reported perceived risk of HIV exposure, worry about on-the-job HIV exposure, and experience with patients who test seropositive for the HIV. In addition, the use of the availability heuristic was examined by responses to questions about talking and reading about AIDS, and the use of the simulation heuristic was examined by responses to questions about imagining oneself being exposed to HIV on the job. Simulation of the HIV-exposure experience related significantly to perceived risk (p < .001), even after variance attributable to actual experience and use of the availability heuristic was taken into account. Availability of AIDS information related marginally to perceived risk after variance attributable to actual experience and use of the simulation heuristic was taken into account. Simulation related strongly with worry about on-the-job exposure (p < .001), and availability was not significantly related to worry after variance associated with simulation and experience with AIDS was removed. Implications of these results for physician training are discussed.     

Epistemic Violence and Emotional Misperception

I expand upon Kristie Dotson's concept of “epistemic violence” by identifying another type of epistemic violence that arises in the context of nonverbal communication. “Emotional misperception,” as I call it, occurs when the following conditions are met: (1) A misreads B's nonlinguistic expression of emotion, (2) owing to reliable ignorance, (3) harming B.     

Misperception of exponential growth

Exponential growth in numerical series and graphs is grossly underestimated in an intuitive extrapolation task. Subjects’ extrapolations are well described by a model with two parameters only: one for underestimation of the nonlinear growth, the other for linear compensation. The size of the effect is considerable; it is not unusual that two-thirds of the subjects produce estimates below 10% of the normative value. The effect increases with the exponent of the stimulus series, and with addition of a constant to the stimulus series. Neither special instructions about the nature of exponential growth nor daily experience with growth processes enhanced the extrapolations.

     

Perceived Peer Norms,Casual Sex,and AIDS Risk Prevention1

To facilitate more effective AIDS education with heterosexual college students, an etiological study of AIDS risk behavior was conducted on a sample of 1,035 students at a large western university. In this study, “AIDS risk behavior” refers to participation in casual sex, failure to use condoms, and resistance to changing casual sex activity. Knowledge regarding AIDS had no significant correlation with AIDS-risk behavior. However, “perceived peer norms” (termed Peer Norm in this study) was a major predictor variable in AIDS risk behavior. Peer Norm was defined as perceived AIDS-risk attitudes and the behavior of one's peers. These findings contrast some what with those of Emmons et al.'s (1986) study of homosexual men. This difference may be due to the focus in the present study upon heterosexual university students as subjects. For this group, our results suggest that programs targeting the peer group in AIDS prevention education are especially needed. These might include peer-based AIDS education, emotion-oriented discussion sessions, encounters with “Peers-with-AIDS” models, and role-playing of assertive responses.     

When Cheap Isn't the Same as Not Expensive: Generic Price Terms and Their Negations

Generic price terms such as cheap, not expensive, not cheap, and expensive are used frequently in marketing, but little is known about how consumers interpret them. In typical consumer contexts, in which lower prices are preferred, we find that not cheap means essentially the same as expensive (i.e., not cheap = expensive). In contrast, not expensive does not mean the same as cheap, in that cheap is associated with lower prices (i.e., cheap < not expensive). As an implication, in a consumer survey we find different response distributions for rating scales that are anchored with endpoint labels of not expensive versus expensive as compared to cheap versus expensive or cheap versus not cheap (the latter two are equivalent). Furthermore, although cheap is associated with lower prices than not expensive, this does not necessarily translate into higher preferences for options that are described as cheap (vs. not expensive), because cheap may also evoke negative quality perceptions. Finally, we demonstrate an interesting reversal in the way price terms are interpreted: when higher prices are preferred, cheap is equal to not expensive (i.e., cheap = not expensive), whereas not cheap is associated with lower prices than expensive (i.e., not cheap < expensive).     

AIDS Knowledge,Self-Esteem,Perceived AIDS Risk,and Condom Use Among Female Commercial Sex Workers1

This paper explores the effects of type of sexual partner (customer vs. primary partner) and several social psychological enabling resources (self-esteem, perceived personal risk of HIV infection, and knowledge about AIDS/HIV) on condom use among 141 female commercial sex workers. The data examine condom use during the respondents' most recent sexual activity with a male partner. Logistic regression analysis supports earlier findings that commercial sex workers are significantly more likely to use condom during commercial sex with a customer, rather than relational sex with a spouse or significant other. Subsequent multiple logistic regression analysis indicates that, controlling for type of sexual partner (client vs. primary partner), the odds of condom use are significantly increased by the respondents' knowledge about AIDS, level of self-esteem, and personal sense of risk of AIDS infection.     

Social Misperception and Its Implications for Counseling

This article explores social misperception, a unique way of viewing the behavior problems of children. While the emotional-disturbance label is usually given to behaviorally disordered youngsters, it inaccurately reflects the social learning problems of children. Explored are the characteristics of social misperception (both verbal and nonverbal), its historical foundations (taken from the psychological and educational literature), and its relation to learning disabilities and to emotional disturbance; a differential diagnostic system is offered. Counselors are given techniques by which they can assist teachers with remediation, a task that helps the counselor to assist classroom teachers to become socially sensitive to the emotional needs of children.     

The Effects of Information About AIDS Risk and Self-Efficacy on Women's Intentions to Engage in AIDS Preventive Behavior1

Female college students' perceived vulnerability to AIDS and their perceived self-efficacy regarding AIDS preventive behavior (APB), were manipulated in a 2 × 2 design. Consistent with protection motivation theory (e. g., Rogers. 1983), the results showed that intention to engage in APB was highest among subjects who received information that their risk of getting infected with HIV was high, and who experienced relatively high feelings of self-efficacy. These subjects also seemed least likely to engage in denial of their AIDS risk. The implications of these findings for AIDS education programs are discussed.     

Context‐Constrained Judgment of the Perceived Risk of HIV/AIDS1

This study introduces a computer method for assessing perception of stimuli presented in a constrained context. The method is illustrated through experiments on perception of the risk of becoming infected with HIV and AIDS. In five experiments, context‐constrained judgments (CCJ) or context‐independent judgments were obtained from 258 undergraduates. Participants judged the risk of contracting HIV/AIDS for a variety of target populations, including themselves. The CCJ method results in greater response discrimination among the salience of perceived risk factors than does a context independent method. This outcome has potential implications for education and intervention programs to control the spread of HIV.     

Misperception of exocentric directions in auditory space

Previous studies have demonstrated large errors (over 30 degrees ) in visually perceived exocentric directions (the direction between two objects that are both displaced from the observer's location; e.g., Philbeck et al. [Philbeck, J. W., Sargent, J., Arthur, J. C., & Dopkins, S. (2008). Large manual pointing errors, but accurate verbal reports, for indications of target azimuth. Perception, 37, 511-534]). Here, we investigated whether a similar pattern occurs in auditory space. Blindfolded participants either attempted to aim a pointer at auditory targets (an exocentric task) or gave a verbal estimate of the egocentric target azimuth. Targets were located at 20-160 degrees azimuth in the right hemispace. For comparison, we also collected pointing and verbal judgments for visual targets. We found that exocentric pointing responses exhibited sizeable undershooting errors, for both auditory and visual targets, that tended to become more strongly negative as azimuth increased (up to -19 degrees for visual targets at 160 degrees ). Verbal estimates of the auditory and visual target azimuths, however, showed a dramatically different pattern, with relatively small overestimations of azimuths in the rear hemispace. At least some of the differences between verbal and pointing responses appear to be due to the frames of reference underlying the responses; when participants used the pointer to reproduce the egocentric target azimuth rather than the exocentric target direction relative to the pointer, the pattern of pointing errors more closely resembled that seen in verbal reports. These results show that there are similar distortions in perceiving exocentric directions in visual and auditory space.     

Defining Trauma: Terminology and Generic Stressor Dimensions1

The present report discusses vague and/ or confusing terminology that is employed in research and clinical work in the area of “traumatic stress”. It divides the stress process into three major aspects and suggests appropriate terminology for each aspect, focusing on the input, or stressor, aspect. Eight generic stressor dimensions are suggested that cut across different types of traumatic events, along with research supporting the association of these dimensions with stress responses. Recommendations are made for future research directions.     

Perceived Risk of AIDS: Assessing the Behavioral and Psychosocial Consequences in a Cohort of Gay Men1

Longitudinal analyses reported here explored the relationship between a perceived sense of being at risk for AIDS and a variety of behavioral, social, and psychological consequences. Data were obtained from a cohort of 637 homosexual men living in Chicago, who are participating in a psychosocial study and have completed two waves of data collection. Their perceptions of risk were quantified using both an absolute and a comparative measure; these were combined into a risk index, scored from one to nine (x?= 3.91; SD= 1.64). Univariate analyses demonstrated that level of risk was related to several measures of subsequent behavioral risk reduction. However, after adjustment for sociodemographic variables, initial behavior, and other components of a model predicting behavior change, this was no longer true. Of the 12 behavioral outcomes assessed, only one was related to risk after appropriate adjustment, and this relationship was negative. Other longitudinal analyses examined the impact of a sense of risk on measures of psychosocial functioning which have been theoretically linked to health behaviors and to measures of psychological/ social distress. These demonstrated a range of potentially adverse consequences for those who perceived themselves to be at greater risk for AIDS, including increased barriers to behavioral change, obsessive/compulsive behavior, social role impairment, and more intrusive worries and concerns about AIDS. Taken together, these results suggest that there is little or no observable benefit to an increased sense of risk, but that such a sense subsequently leads to distress and dysfunction in a variety of realms. The implications of these findings for development of policy concerning antibody testing of at-risk populations is discussed.     

When Two Heads Aren't Better Than One: AIDS Risk Behavior in College-Age Couples1

Individuals in intimate relationships engage in higher levels of HIV risk behavior than do individuals engaging in casual sex (e.g., Bowen & Michal-Johnson, 1989; Misovich, Fisher, & Fisher, 1996). While there are many possible reasons for this consistent pattern of effects, few studies have focused on identifying the underlying causes. Therefore, same-gender focus groups were conducted with college-age men and women in intimate relationships as participants in order to examine, qualitatively, factors particular to relationships which are associated with HIV risk. Focus-group members indicated that concerns about questioning interpersonal trust and commitment in their relationship through the introduction of condoms or HIV testing were often strong impediments to these practices. Recommendations for future HIV-prevention interventions specific to individuals in relationships are discussed.     

Misperception of sleep can adversely affect daytime functioning in insomnia

This experiment was designed to investigate the relationship between subjective perception of sleep and daytime processes in primary insomnia. Twenty-two individuals with primary insomnia received positive or negative feedback about their sleep, immediately on waking, on three consecutive mornings. The positive feedback was that last night's sleep was good quality. The negative feedback was that last night's sleep was poor quality. Objective sleep on each of the three nights was estimated by actigraphy and did not differ across the three nights or the two feedback conditions. Negative feedback (based on 32 nights of data) was associated with more negative thoughts, sleepiness, monitoring for sleep-related threat, and safety behaviours during the day, relative to positive feedback (based on 34 nights of data). These results indicate that the impaired daytime functioning reported by insomnia patients is maintained, at least in part, by subjective perception of sleep.