A meta-analysis of empirical studies of weight-based bias in the workplace

For nearly 30 years researchers have investigated how bodyweight affects evaluative workplace outcomes, such as hiring decisions and performance appraisals. Despite this, no meta-analytic review has been undertaken to quantify the negative impact that bodyweight has on such outcomes. The results of this meta-analytic study suggest that in relation to non-overweight individuals in the workplace, overweight individuals may be disadvantaged across evaluative workplace outcomes (d = −.52). Further, differences in magnitude of the effects of weight-based bias were found for hiring (d = −.70) and performance (d = −.23) outcomes.     

A reduction in positive self-judgment bias is uniquely related to the anhedonic symptoms of depression

Identifying patterns of biased cognitive processing specific to depression has proved difficult. The tripartite model of mood disorders [Clark, L. A., & Watson, D. (1991). Tripartite model of anxiety and depression: psychometric evidence and taxonomic implications. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 100, 316-336] suggests that a clearer processing ‘blueprint’ may emerge if depression is viewed dimensionally rather than categorically and by focusing on variations in the degree of positive, rather than negative, processing bias. To investigate this possibility, the present study examined the extent to which a reduced positive self-judgment bias previously found in depressed individuals relates to depression-specific anhedonic symptoms. Sixty participants with varying levels of anxiety and depression symptoms evaluated their own performance on a working memory task in the absence of external feedback. Overall, participants showed a positive self-judgment bias, overestimating the number of trials they had performed correctly relative to objective criteria. Consistent with the tripartite framework, the extent of this positive self-judgment bias was significantly and uniquely related to depression-specific symptoms, with the positive bias reducing as anhedonia severity increased across three different symptom measures.     

Explication of interspousal criticality bias

Although bias towards perceiving spousal criticism is related to dysphoria and marital discord (Smith & Peterson, 2008), the bias construct has received insufficient elaboration. We explicated the criticality bias construct by exploring its correlates and incremental validity relative to perceived criticism, marital attributions, and negative affect. 118 couples completed self-report measures and undertook a videotaped discussion task. Signal detection analyses of both spouses' and outside observers' ratings of discussions produced bias indices. Criticality bias evidenced a pattern of convergent and discriminant validity mirroring perceived criticism's (Renshaw, 2008). Bias also provided incremental validity beyond perceived criticism, marital attributions, and negative affect to the prediction of behavior. Bias may be a dysfunctional way to view marital events and a stress generation process.     

Attentional bias for doping words and its relation with physical self-esteem in young adolescents

ObjectivesPrevious studies revealed that adolescence is a period of risk for doping and drug addiction and that young athletes who used doping agents reported low self-esteem. We conducted a preventive study with the aims to investigate whether young adolescents displayed an attentional bias to doping-related words and whether this attentional bias was related to physical self-esteem.MethodNinety seven adolescents (44 girls and 53 boys) from 11 to 15 years-old participated to a study designed to measure reaction times (RT) in a Stroop emotional task related to doping, cheating and control words. They also completed the Physical Self-Perception Profile subscales assessing perceived general self-esteem, physical self-worth, physical condition, sport competence, body attractiveness, and physical strength.ResultsParticipants exhibited longer RT after doping words than after control words. RT was also longer after doping than after cheating words. Participants belonging to the low physical self-esteem group exhibited larger carry-over effects than those who were in the high physical self-esteem group.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that attentional resources allocated to doping words are already present at the onset of adolescence, and that they may be linked to a psychological feature (physical self-esteem) considered as a risk factor of substance abuse in young adults involved in competitive sports.     

群体交叉分类效应的代数模型及其潜在加工过程

交叉分类被认为是一种能够有效减少群际偏见的方法。交叉分类效应的代数模型主要包括平均模型、相加模型和等价模型,各个模型都有自己成立的证据,其中支持相加模型的研究证据最多。尽管如此,交叉分类效应的代数模型有很明显的局限,即要求所有进行交叉的类别维度权重相等,这与真实社会情境是相矛盾的。交叉分类的潜在加工过程主要有基于认知角度的类别差异模型和基于动机角度的社会认同两种比较成熟的理论,前者又分为类别差异消除模型和类别差异减少模型。     

Men's ratings of physical attractiveness,health, and partner suitability simultaneously versus separately: Does it matter whether within- or between-subjects designs are used?

Previous studies have documented moderate-to-large associations between ratings of physical attractiveness and other interpersonal traits, but this research has invariably relied on within-subjects designs that leave open the possibility of halo effects or response biases. In the present study, 40 men completed the Photographic Figure Rating Scale in a within-subjects design, rating the figures for physical attractiveness, health, and suitability as a long-term partner. In addition, 108 men completed the same scale in a between-subjects design, being randomly allocated to one of three subgroups where they rated the figures for attractiveness, health, or suitability as a long-term partner. Results indicated no significant differences in ratings for the within-subjects participants. In contrast, there were significant differences in ratings for the between-subjects design. These results highlight the importance of considering halo and response bias effects when designing studies of interpersonal judgements and interpreting their results.     

学习不良儿童的元认知偏差：内部线索的影响

通过改变实验材料内部线索,旨在考察内部线索在学习不良儿童元认知偏差形成过程中的影响。实验1发现,学习不良儿童低关联字对的元认知偏差显著高于一般儿童,关联强度对学习判断的影响显著小于对测试成绩的影响;实验2发现,学习不良儿童反向方向字对的元认知偏差显著高于一般儿童,关联方向对学习判断的影响显著小于对测试成绩的影响。综合以上研究发现,相对一般儿童,学习不良儿童存在更大的元认知偏差,内部线索对学习判断和测试成绩的影响不一致模式适用于两组儿童。     

Negative Affectivity, Effortful Control, and Attention to Threat-Relevant Stimuli

There is increasing recognition of temperamental influences on risk for psychopathology. Whereas the link between the broad temperament construct of negative affectivity (NA) and problems associated with anxiety and depression is now well-established, the mechanisms through which this link operate are not well understood. One possibility involves interactions between reactive and effortful components of temperament, as well as cognitive factors, like attentional biases to threat stimuli. This study tested a predicted relation between high levels of NA, low levels of effortful control (EC), and an attentional bias toward threat in children. A sample of 104 4th through 12th graders, selected from a larger screening sample because they reported high or low levels of trait NA and EC, completed a dot probe detection task. Results indicated that EC moderated the relation between NA and attentional bias; only children with low levels of EC and high levels of NA showed an attentional bias to threat stimuli. This pattern was not moderated by grade level or age.

Math in actions: Actor mode reveals the true arithmetic abilities of French-speaking 2-year-olds in a magic task

Our previous studies provide some evidence of between-language effects on arithmetic performance in 2-year-olds. French-speaking children were especially biased by the use of the word un as a cardinal value and as an article in the singular/plural opposition (1 vs. the set 2, 3, …). Here we evaluated the ability of a new action-based assessment method to avoid this bias. A total of 80 French-speaking 2- and 3-year-olds were confronted with impossible (1 + 1 = 1 or 1 + 1 = 3) and possible (1 + 1 = 2) addition problems that triggered the bias. The problems were either presented to the children by the experimenter (onlooker mode) or realized by themselves (actor mode). The 2-year-olds performed better in the actor mode than in the onlooker mode. A subtraction control with no language ambiguity (2-1 = 2 or 1) was conducted with 80 other children; both modes elicited comparable performances regardless of age. These data indicate that the actor mode is effective for assessing arithmetic ability in French-speaking 2-year-olds.     

When thoughts don’t feel like they used to: Changing feelings of subjective ease in judgments of the past

Thinking about the past is critical to everyday experiences, but people are not unbiased when doing so. Feelings of subjective ease that accompany generating reasons for known or alternative outcomes influence hindsight bias. But people do not always make decisions immediately after thinking about issues. Three experiments demonstrated that generating versus reading earlier generated reasons has markedly different effects on judgments, with theoretical and practical implications. Inevitability judgments were consistent with feelings of ease when generating reasons, but with numbers of reasons (content) when later reading those reasons. Experiments 2 and 3 also found that feelings of ease can be reconstructed if people reconsider their feelings when initially generating reasons. Discussion centers on the operation of subjective ease and its role in understanding judgment and decision making.