Effects of Message-Sidedness on Perceived Source Bias: When Presenting Two Sides Does Versus Does Not Alleviate Concerns About Bias

Communicators commonly present two-sided messages to avoid being perceived as biased. This approach equates bias with one-sidedness rather than divergence from the position supported by available data. Messages often concern topics with mixed qualities: a product is exceptional but expensive; a politician is inexperienced but ethical. For these topics, providing a two-sided message should reduce perceived bias according to both views of bias as one-sidedness and divergence from available data. However, if perceived bias follows divergence from available data, for topics viewed as one-sided (univalent), a two-sided message should not reduce perceived bias. Across five studies, acknowledging two sides reduced perceived bias for novel topics. In two of the studies, two-sidedness no longer reduced perceived bias for topics viewed as univalent. This work clarifies that people conceptualize bias as a divergence from available data, not simply one-sidedness. It also clarifies when and how to leverage message-sidedness to reduce perceived bias.

The effect of subliminal priming on team trust: The mediating role of perceived trustworthiness

The present study aimed to explore the effect of subliminal priming on team trust and the mechanism through the mediating role of perceived trustworthiness. A total of 144 participants were asked to complete a lexical decision task that was embedded with the "trust" or "suspicion" Chinese words as the subliminal stimuli. Then, they played a public good game and evaluated the perceived trustworthiness of the team. The results of the study showed that subliminal stimuli had a significant effect on team trust [β = -0.99, 95% CI = (-1.64, -0.33)]. Perceived trustworthiness was found to have a significant mediating effect between the priming condition and team trust [β = -0.35, 95% CI = (-0.72, -0.02)]. The current study revealed the underlying mechanism through which subliminal priming techniques influence team trust and informed efforts by altering perceived trustworthiness.

Uncanny Valley Effects on Friendship Decisions in Virtual Social Networking Service

Drawing on the uncanny valley effects (UVE) hypothesis and related works on avatar-based interactions, this study investigates the role of UVE (i.e., a feeling of eeriness), induced by avatar realism and animacy, on the perceived trustworthiness (PT) of an avatar user, and subsequent decisions to befriend that avatar user in a virtual social networking service (SNS). Specifically, the current study examines whether (1) the realism (hyperrealistic vs. cartoonish) and animacy (animate vs. still) of avatars, rendered through a 3D scanning technology, will induce a feeling of eeriness as a result of UVE; (2) the degree to which perceivers experience a feeling of eeriness will negatively bias the PT of an avatar user; and (3) PT, determined by UVE, will serve a role as a gating mechanism for the decision whether to befriend the unknown avatar user in a virtual SNS. Results from a two (realism: cartoonish vs. hyperrealistic) × two (animacy: still vs. animate) between-subjects online experiment (N = 134) indicated that a feeling of eeriness, induced by the realism and animacy of avatars, negatively biased the PT of the avatar user, and this, in turn, led avatar perceivers to reject a friend request sent from the unknown avatar user. These results call into the question the effectiveness of rendering avatar realism in social virtual environments. Overall, the findings of our research provide theoretical as well as practical implications for the design of avatars in virtual SNSs.

Apologies Repair Trust via Perceived Trustworthiness and Negative Emotions

The present study examined whether perceptions of a transgressor's trustworthiness mediates the relationship between apologies and repaired trust, and the moderating role of negative emotions within this process. Chinese undergraduate students (N = 221) completed a trust game where they invested tokens in their counterpart, and either experienced no trust violation (i.e., half of the tokens returned), a trust violation (i.e., no tokens returned), or a trust violation followed by an apology. Participant's trust behavior was measured by the number of tokens they re-invested in their counterpart in a second round of the game. Participants also completed measures to assess perceptions of the transgressor's trustworthiness and emotional state. Results revealed that participants who received an apology were more likely to trust in their counterpart, compared to those who did not receive an apology, and this relationship was mediated by perceptions of the transgressor's trustworthiness. Further, the relationship between apologies and perceptions of the transgressors trustworthiness was moderated by negative emotions; apologies only improved perceptions of trustworthiness for participants who experienced less negative emotions.