The Impact of Psychological Security on Individual Interpretation Bias

The Crucial Role of Social Situational Factors

Dados Bibliográficos

ID21477288
AutoresXian Tong (0009-0002-3449-6326, Guizhou Normal University), Lianping Zeng (Guizhou Normal University, autor correspondente), Yuncheng Jia (0000-0003-0647-7574, Guizhou Minzu University), Junru Guo (0000-0001-5063-8713, Guizhou Minzu University), Jia Xu (0000-0003-1238-1317, Guizhou Minzu University), Dan Yin (0000-0002-0617-5253, Guizhou Normal University), Sha Zeng (0009-0003-2244-8260, Guizhou Minzu University)
Ano2026
Páginas1-14
Data de publicação2026-05-21
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoBasic and Applied Social Psychology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0197-3533 • E-ISSN: 1532-4834
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01973533.2026.2666510
OpenAlexW7162010529
IdiomaEN
Referências citadas69

Psychological security, the subjective perception of environments and relationships as stable, predictable, and controllable, shapes how individuals interpret ambiguity. We examined how this security drives interpretation biases across early and later processing stages in social and nonsocial contexts among 228 participants. Individuals with high psychological security consistently showed a positive interpretation bias across all stages, whereas those with low security lacked this pattern. Notably, only in social contexts did the low-security group lack an early positive bias and develop a later-stage negative interpretation bias, defined as the tendency to draw pessimistic conclusions during delayed elaborative processing. This effect was absent in nonsocial situations. These findings clarify underlying cognitive mechanisms, providing a theoretical foundation for future practical applications

Situational ethics · Social identity theory · Social perception · Social relation · Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics · Psychometric Methodologies and Testing · Social and Intergroup Psychology