The Impact of Psychological Security on Individual Interpretation Bias

The Crucial Role of Social Situational Factors

Bibliographic Data

ID21477288
AuthorsXian Tong (0009-0002-3449-6326, Guizhou Normal University), Lianping Zeng (Guizhou Normal University, corresponding author), 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)
Year2026
Pages1-14
Publication date2026-05-21
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueBasic and Applied Social Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0197-3533 • E-ISSN: 1532-4834
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01973533.2026.2666510
OpenAlexW7162010529
LanguageEN
References cited69

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