Present-Oriented Bias in Psychology

 

A present-oriented bias refers to a tendency of people to focus on the present rather than the future.

Law and others (2024) reported the results of five studies revealing a present-oriented bias for moral perspectives.

Reference

Law, K. F., Syropoulos, S., Coleman, M., Gainsburg, I., & O’Connor, B. B. (2024). Moral Future-Thinking: Does the Moral Circle Stand the Test of Time? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672241284324

Geoffrey W. Sutton, PhD is Emeritus Professor of Psychology. He retired from a clinical practice and was credentialed in clinical neuropsychology and psychopharmacology. His website is  www.suttong.com

 

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Frames, Narratives, Worldviews and Psychology

 

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Narratives offer groups explanations for actions and often justify group behavior. 

Groups of people in conflict create narratives, which frame events for their group and those outside a group. A pervasive narrative offers a framework for understanding future information.

Persistent and pervasive narratives become substantial components of worldviews.

Lewandowsky and others provide an example of the narrative preceding the 2003 US war with Iraq and note that before the war, the narrative used a war metaphor to refer to terrorism and presented the idea of preventive war as self-defense.

Frames or narratives are not propaganda--

"Instead, frames and narratives are necessary cognitive tools, designed to pare down information in order to manage complexity. These tools facilitate communication even if they emphasize facts unevenly (Nisbet, 2009)." (Lewandowsky et al., 2013)

Effective leaders frame history for their people. They create narratives and effective narratives persist. They contribute to people's understanding of themselves and their group identity.

Frames or narratives may apply to nations, organizations, religious groups, families, and individuals.

References

Lewandowsky, S., Stritzke, W. G. K., Freund, A. M., Oberauer, K., & Krueger, J. I. (2013). Misinformation, disinformation, and violent conflict: From Iraq and the “War on Terror” to future threats to peace. American Psychologist, 68(7), 487–501.

Sutton, G. W. (2024, January 29). Frames, narratives, worldviews and psychology. Psychology Concepts and Theories. Retrieved from https://suttonpsychology.blogspot.com/2024/01/frames-narratives-worldviews-and.html

Related post

Propaganda and psychology

 

Geoffrey W. Sutton, PhD is Emeritus Professor of Psychology. He retired from a clinical practice and was credentialed in clinical neuropsychology and psychopharmacology. His website is  www.suttong.com

 

See Geoffrey Sutton’s books on   AMAZON       or  GOOGLE STORE

Follow on    FACEBOOK   Geoff W. Sutton    

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Dr. Sutton’s posts are for educational purposes only. See a licensed mental health provider for diagnoses, treatment, and consultation. 

Propaganda and Psychology

Recruiting

Propaganda is a form of communication that strongly favors a particular group and attempts to influence the thinking, feelings, and actions (that is, the core functioning components of cognition, emotion/ affect, and behavior) of group members to actively support a group or a cause.

Propaganda is an effective method of shaping public opinion. The presentation of selective information can influence people's views of reality, the way they feel, and what they do. Propaganda may be used for positive and negative purposes.

Examples of groups that use propaganda include:

Political parties

Governments, especially war departments

Advertisers

Religious groups

Propaganda is not the same as spin or persuasion. 

Spin is a form of propaganda used to manage information (including facts) in a favorable way.

Persuasion is a form of communication that attempts to influence others by presenting logical arguments, evidence, and appeals to reason. Unlike propaganda, persuasion seeks to engage the audience in a rational and informed decision-making process. Persuasion relies on presenting facts, expert opinions, and logical reasoning to convince individuals to adopt a particular viewpoint or take a specific course of action.

Research sample

In an article published a few years before the horrific World War II and the powerful propaganda efforts of nations at war, Biddle (1931) identified four principles (quoted from his abstract).

Propaganda relies less upon techniques which help the individual to come into intelligent control of his conduct, and more on techniques which induce the individual to follow non-rational emotional drives. The four principles followed in propaganda are: (1) rely on emotions, never argue; (2) cast propaganda into the pattern of "we" versus an "enemy"; (3) reach groups as well as individuals; (4) hide the propagandist as much as possible.

In a 2016 study, Carriere and Blackman conducted a study of recruitment videos. One was action-oriented and the other was community oriented. They were produced by the US or ISIS. The participants rated the community oriented response highest.

References

Biddle, W. W. (1931). A psychological definition of propaganda. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 26(3), 283–295. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0074944

Carriere, K. R., & Blackman, M. (2016). Perceptions of recruitment videos from armed forces. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 22(4), 401–403. 

Sutton, G. W. (2024, January 28). Propaganda and psychology. Psychology Concepts and Theories. Retrieved from https://suttonpsychology.blogspot.com/2024/01/propaganda-and-psychology.html

Geoffrey W. Sutton, PhD is Emeritus Professor of Psychology. He retired from a clinical practice and was credentialed in clinical neuropsychology and psychopharmacology. His website is  www.suttong.com

 

See Geoffrey Sutton’s books on   AMAZON       or  GOOGLE STORE

Follow on    FACEBOOK   Geoff W. Sutton    

   X  @Geoff.W.Sutton    

You can read many published articles at no charge:

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Dr. Sutton’s posts are for educational purposes only. See a licensed mental health provider for diagnoses, treatment, and consultation. 

Dual-Process Theory of Cognition

 

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The dual-process theory of cognition posits that human minds process information about the world in two ways, which are called system 1 and system 2. 

System 1 quickly processes information, which is influenced by cognitive biases and heuristics. System one thinking has been described as automatic, intuitive, and associative. System 2 is a slower system that requires cognitive effort. System 2 has been described as rational and analytical.

For an excellent review of research on system 1 and system 2 thinking, see Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman.

 

Cite this post

Sutton, G. W. (2024, January 8). dual-process theory of cognition. Psychology Concepts and Theories. Retrieved from https://suttonpsychology.blogspot.com/2024/01/dual-process-theory-of-cognition.html

Geoffrey W. Sutton, PhD is Emeritus Professor of Psychology. He retired from a clinical practice and was credentialed in clinical neuropsychology and psychopharmacology. His website is  www.suttong.com

 

See Geoffrey Sutton’s books on   AMAZON       or  GOOGLE STORE

Follow on    FACEBOOK   Geoff W. Sutton    

   TWITTER  @Geoff.W.Sutton    

You can read many published articles at no charge:

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Dr. Sutton’s posts are for educational purposes only. See a licensed mental health provider for diagnoses, treatment, and consultation. 

Naïve Realism in psychology

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Naïve realism is a cognitive bias characterized by believing a person's view of the world is an objective reality and that those who disagree are uninformed, irrational, or biased. 

Other names for the concept:

  direct realism

  common sense realism

  perceptual realism

Naïve realism may be considered one option within a dimension of a worldview.

Reference

Ross, L., & Ward, A. (1996). Naïve realism in everyday life: Implications for social conflict and misunderstanding. In E. S. Reed, E. Turiel, & T. Brown (Eds.), Values and knowledge (pp. 103–135). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Geoffrey W. Sutton, PhD is Emeritus Professor of Psychology. He retired from a clinical practice and was credentialed in clinical neuropsychology and psychopharmacology. His website is  www.suttong.com

 

See Geoffrey Sutton’s books on   AMAZON       or  GOOGLE STORE

Follow on    FACEBOOK   Geoff W. Sutton    

   TWITTER  @Geoff.W.Sutton    

You can read many published articles at no charge:

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Dr. Sutton’s posts are for educational purposes only. See a licensed mental health provider for diagnoses, treatment, and consultation.

Negativity effect in psychology

The negativity effect in psychology is an expectancy effect characterized by perceived negative experiences occurring as expected. The negativity effect is a cognitive bias which is also called a negative bias.

Negativity effects are linked to unhappiness, pessimism, and feeling stressed.

Rozin & Royzman (2001) reviewed research supporting the presence of a negativity bias in humans and animals. They proposed that the negativity bias was evident in four ways. Following is a quote from the 2001 article describing the four components.

...(a) negative potency (negative entities are stronger than the equivalent positive entities), (b) steeper negative gradients (the negativity of negative events grows more rapidly with approach to them in space or time than does the positivity of positive events, (c) negativity dominance (combinations of negative and positive entities yield evaluations that are more negative than the algebraic sum of individual subjective valences would predict), and (d) negative differentiation (negative entities are more varied, yield more complex conceptual representations, and engage a wider response repertoire).

    (Rozin & Royzman, 2001)

Reference

Rozin, P., & Royzman, E. B. (2001). Negativity Bias, Negativity Dominance, and Contagion. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 5(4), 296-320. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327957PSPR0504_2

Geoffrey W. Sutton, PhD is Emeritus Professor of Psychology. He retired from a clinical practice and was credentialed in clinical neuropsychology and psychopharmacology. His website is  www.suttong.com

 

See Geoffrey Sutton’s books on   AMAZON       or  GOOGLE STORE

Follow on    FACEBOOK   Geoff W. Sutton    

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Dr. Sutton’s posts are for educational purposes only. See a licensed mental health provider for diagnoses, treatment, and consultation.

Outgroup homogeneity effect in psychology

 

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The outgroup homogeneity effect is a cognitive bias based on the finding that people in a group view outsiders as all alike in one or more characteristics.

Examples

Members of a political party view other party members as individuals with various characteristics but view people outside the party as having the same opinions, social values, or some other characteristic.

Members of a congregation view other members as being diverse in contrast to those outside whom the members see as all alike.

Geoffrey W. Sutton, PhD is Emeritus Professor of Psychology. He retired from a clinical practice and was credentialed in clinical neuropsychology and psychopharmacology. His website is  www.suttong.com

 

See Geoffrey Sutton’s books on   AMAZON       or  GOOGLE STORE

Follow on    FACEBOOK   Geoff W. Sutton    

   TWITTER  @Geoff.W.Sutton    

You can read many published articles at no charge:

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Dr. Sutton’s posts are for educational purposes only. See a licensed mental health provider for diagnoses, treatment, and consultation.

Lake Wobegon effect in psychology

 

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The Lake Wobegon Effect is a cognitive bias characterized by overestimating personal abilities compared to those of others. 

The Lake Wobegon effect is a self-enhancement bias and applies to many abilities such as intelligence, humour, and sports.

The effect was named after the fictional Minnesota town created by Garrison Keillor where all the children were above average.

Geoffrey W. Sutton, PhD is Emeritus Professor of Psychology. He retired from a clinical practice and was credentialed in clinical neuropsychology and psychopharmacology. His website is  www.suttong.com

 

See Geoffrey Sutton’s books on   AMAZON       or  GOOGLE STORE

Follow on    FACEBOOK   Geoff W. Sutton    

   TWITTER  @Geoff.W.Sutton    

You can read many published articles at no charge:

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Dr. Sutton’s posts are for educational purposes only. See a licensed mental health provider for diagnoses, treatment, and consultation.

Rhyme as Reason effect in psychology

The rhyme-as-reason effect is a cognitive bias favoring a rhyming statement as more truthful than a nonrhyming statement.

The effect is also called the Eaton-Rosen phenomenon.

Research quote

"Our results suggest that rhyme, like repetition, affords statements an enhancement in processing fluency that can be misattributed to heightened conviction about their truthfulness." McGlone & Tofighbakhsh (2000, Abstract)

Reference

McGlone, M. S., & Tofighbakhsh, J. (2000). Birds of a feather flock conjointly (?): rhyme as reason in aphorisms. Psychological science, 11(5), 424–428. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.00282

 

Geoffrey W. Sutton, PhD is Emeritus Professor of Psychology. He retired from a clinical practice and was credentialed in clinical neuropsychology and psychopharmacology. His website is  www.suttong.com

 

See Geoffrey Sutton’s books on   AMAZON       or  GOOGLE STORE

Follow on    FACEBOOK   Geoff W. Sutton    

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Dr. Sutton’s posts are for educational purposes only. See a licensed mental health provider for diagnoses, treatment, and consultation.

Hostile media effect in psychology

 

The hostile media effect refers to a strong cognitive bias of perceiving media coverage of a story as favoring an opposing view and presenting a negative view of the perceiver's view.

Other names for the phenomenon include hostile media phenomenon and hostile media perception.

Read more in the article by Vallone et al. (1985)



Vallone, R. P., Ross, L., & Lepper, M. R. (1985). The hostile media phenomenon: Biased perception and perceptions of media bias in coverage of the Beirut massacre. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 49(3), 577–585. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.49.3.577

Geoffrey W. Sutton, PhD is Emeritus Professor of Psychology. He retired from a clinical practice and was credentialed in clinical neuropsychology and psychopharmacology. His website is  www.suttong.com

 

See Geoffrey Sutton’s books on   AMAZON       or  GOOGLE STORE

Follow on    FACEBOOK   Geoff W. Sutton    

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You can read many published articles at no charge:

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Dr. Sutton’s posts are for educational purposes only. See a licensed mental health provider for diagnoses, treatment, and consultation.

Halo effect

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The halo effect is a cognitive bias characterized by judging other features of a person or organization based on experiences with one feature. 

Examples

A person who appears attractive may be considered as morally good or as having high intelligence based on attractiveness rather than evidence supporting the other features. Similarly, a person who has a bad experience with a company product may judge other products from the same company as inferior.

From the work of Edward Thorndike (notice the word halo).

In a study made in 1915 of employees of two large industrial corporations, it appeared that the estimates of the same man in a number of different traits such as intelligence, industry, technical skill, reliability, etc., etc, were very highly correlated and very evenly correlated. It consequently appeared probable that those giving the ratings were unable to analyze out these different aspects of the person's nature and achievement and rate each in independence of the others Their ratings were apparently affected by a marked tendency to think of the person in general as rather good or rather inferior and to color the judgments of the qualities by this general feeling This same constant error toward suffusing ratings of special features with a halo belonging to the individual a's a whole appeared in the ratings of officers made by their superiors in the army. (Thorndike, 1920, p. 25)

Cite this post

Sutton, G. W. (2023, September 26). Halo effect. Psychology concepts and theories. Retrieved from https://suttonpsychology.blogspot.com/2023/09/halo-effect.html

Reference

Thorndike, E. L. (1920). A constant error in psychological ratings. Journal of Applied Psychology, 4(1), 25–29. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0071663

Geoffrey W. Sutton, PhD is Emeritus Professor of Psychology. He retired from a clinical practice and was credentialed in clinical neuropsychology and psychopharmacology. His website is  www.suttong.com

 

See Geoffrey Sutton’s books on   AMAZON       or  GOOGLE STORE

Follow on    FACEBOOK   Geoff W. Sutton    

   TWITTER  @Geoff.W.Sutton    

You can read many published articles at no charge:

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Dr. Sutton’s posts are for educational purposes only. See a licensed mental health provider for diagnoses, treatment, and consultation.

Focusing effect in psychology

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The focusing effect is a cognitive bias characterized by over-emphasizing selected details and not others, which can lead to errors in judgment if other relevant details are ignored.

Seek critical feedback from others to help identify important details we may ignore when engaged in personal project alone or with a team of likeminded co-workers.

Geoffrey W. Sutton, PhD is Emeritus Professor of Psychology. He retired from a clinical practice and was credentialed in clinical neuropsychology and psychopharmacology. His website is  www.suttong.com

 

See Geoffrey Sutton’s books on   AMAZON       or  GOOGLE STORE

Follow on    FACEBOOK   Geoff W. Sutton    

   X @Geoff.W.Sutton    

You can read many published articles at no charge:

  Academia   Geoff W Sutton     ResearchGate   Geoffrey W Sutton 

 

Dr. Sutton’s posts are for educational purposes only. See a licensed mental health provider for diagnoses, treatment, and consultation.