A Concurrent Examination of Self-versus-Others Perceptual Bias and the Willingness to Self-Censor

Abstract

This study examines the concepts of perceptual bias and willingness to self-censor (WTSC) to ascertain which factors would influence college newspaper editors’ comfort levels with controversial material. Data from 189 matched pairs of college newspaper editors revealed that editors underestimated advisers’ comfort levels and that those erroneous estimations were predictive of the editors’ comfort levels. In addition, while adviser WTSC was not predictive of editors’ comfort levels on several controversial topics, editors’ WTSC did predict the editors’ comfort with the material.