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Cognitive biases and associated explanations as factors determining risk sexual behaviour

Abstract:

Using self-report as a data-collection instrument, we attempted to determine the extent to which certain cognitive biases are associated with situations of sexual intimacy that vary in the amount of risk they involve. Participants in the study were 149 young people with an average age of 24. Illusion of invulnerability and false consensus were the cognitive biases most frequently associated with certain risk behaviours, and to a lesser extent that of pluralistic ignorance. The illusion of invulnerability, expressed by 75% of participants, appears associated with a greater perception of control and greater assumed seriousness of the consequences of having sexual relations. The false consensus bias, applied to premarital sexual relations, affected 84% of participants that had maintained such relations; these young people were more likely to assume that their personal experience was shared by others, judged this behaviour favourably both in themselves and in others, and gave internal causal explanations of the behaviour. Those that presented pluralistic ignorance had less experience in occasional unprotected sex and perceived themselves as more insecure for suggesting condom use in future relationships. The results obtained suggest that it would be recommendable to take these cognitive biases into account in prevention programmes for young people. © 2003 by Fundación Infancia y Aprendizaje.