Being A Fan Predisposes You To Biased Retrospective Thinking But NOT Biased Perception During An Event

JustTryMe, Ph.D.

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Feb 25, 2017 · 5 min read

This post discusses an article published February 24, 2017 in Nature: Scientific Reports titled “Fandom Biases Retrospective Judgments Not Perception.”

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We all have things of which we would describe ourselves fans of, but did you know that some research indicates that our attitude toward something has an effect on how we actually perceive it?[2] We all assume that the world is as we observe it to be, but research indicates that may not be the case at all, with our own assumptions actually changing how we perceive the world around us. The fact of the matter is we may actually see what we WANT to see, rather than what truly is. [3]

This is a gif of a kitten sleeping, but you may be perceiving it a bit differently, because you have some sort of weird banana fetish or something

There was a classic study done involving an (american) football match (between Dartmouth and Princeton), where spectators were asked to describe what occurred at the game. What researchers found was that people perceived a variety of different things to have occurred, and each one of those descriptions was quite real to the person who described it. [4] This study was looking at retrospective judgements (judgements after something has happened, looking back on the situation) however the authors of the current article indicate that it is often cited as further evidence for selective perception.

The Study

In this study the authors wanted to determine with increased certainty whether being a fan of something effects not just the persons retrospective judgements, but also perceptions during the event. To do this they monitored participants while they were actively watching a live TV brodcast of the the 2013 UEFA Champions League Final between two German football (soccer) teams Borussia Dortmund (BVB) and FC Bayern München (FCB). (FCB Won that game)

I’m not biassed at all, see I show both teams… oh wait no I don’t. Only FCB!

The study was performed with 58 participants, 33 who supported BVB and 25 FCB.

PANAS Test

PANAS stands for positive negative affect schedule, and basically the researchers just polled how the participants were feeling. They did this three times (hence the three plots at the right) the top is the beginning of the game, the middle is during the game and the bottom is after the game had ended. BVB fans are in yellow, and FCB fans are in red.

Not shockingly since FCB won, FCB fans were happiest at the end as seen by the bigger red bar for positively affected, and the bigger yellow bar for negatively affected (they were sad that BVB lost). The whole purpose of this was for the researchers to show that the participants were engaged in the game, and biased toward the team they were claiming to be fans of. So check that off the list, these participants are biased.

But What About Biases In Perception?

Eye Movements

The first aspect of perception that the researchers monitored were the movements of the eyes of the participants as they watched the match. Eye movements, according to the researchers are representative of not only the stimulus of what is going on, during the match but also the attitudes. [5] So they compared the eye movements of both sets of fans against each other:

The yellow trace is the average of BVB fans eye movements, while the red trace is the average of the FCB fans eye movements. The grey traces are the opposing fans eye movements overlaid for comparison. This data showed through statistical analysis that there was no significant difference between the eye movements of the two sets of fans during the recorded period. Based upon this the authors concluded that perception of an event is NOT biased by being a fan.

But Retrospective Thinking Is Influenced?

The participants were asked how much each team participated in the game (ball control, more scoring chances etc..) after the fact (10–12 days after the game)

Here we see that BVB’s performance was rated more highly by BVB fans, and FCB’s performance was viewed more highly by FCB fans (despite the fact that both fans watched the game and knew FCB won). So being a fan biases your memory of the game in favor of the team you support, regardless of outcome.

This All Seems Like Common Sense?

You may be asking, why the hell did people even study this, of course these are the results, this is common sense. Ah HA! You must remember however that a number of studies have previously been published indicating that peoples biases color how they perceive events while they are occurring, in addition to how they remember them. This study argues that in this case (fandom of a sports team) that isn’t the case, only your memories down the line are biased. Everyone views the same game, in the same way.

So What Do You Think?

Do our biases color how we witness situations? Is what I observe different from what you observe (dependent on you and I having different biases of course)? Or do you think we all observe the same world in the same way, and the other studies indicating bias’ influence on our perception were possibly flawed (as indicated by the study here)?

Sources

1. https://elifesciences.org/content/6/e18554
2. https://nyuscholars.nyu.edu/en/publications/wishful-seeing-how-preferences-shape-visual-perception
3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/articles/24683098/
4. http://psycnet.apa.org/?&fa=main.doiLanding&doi=10.1037/h0057880
5. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1360-0443.2003.00392.x/abstract;jsessionid=F4E803E2347610BF601B3FAEB121B4C4.f04t04

All Non Cited Images Are From Pixabay.com And Are Available Under Creative Commons Licenses Or From The Original Research Article From Nature: Scientific Reports Which Allows For Re-production Of Figures Under A Creative Commons License.

Any Gifs Are From Giphy.com and Are Also Available for Use Under Creative Commons Licences

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