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Updated: Feb 25, 2026

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Published on: August 25, 2023
Distortion in time perception as a result of concern about appearing biased
Gordon B Moskowitz1, Irmak Olcaysoy Okten1, Cynthia M Gooch2
1Lehigh University, Psychology Department, Bethlehem, PA, United States of America.
Abstract:
Two experiments illustrate that the perception of a given time duration slows when white participants observe faces of black men, but only if participants are concerned with appearing biased. In Experiment 1 the concern with the appearance of bias is measured as a chronic state using the external motivation to respond without prejudice scale (Plant & Devine, 1998). In Experiment 2 it is manipulated by varying the race of the experimenter (black versus white). Time perception is assessed via a temporal discrimination task commonly used in the literature. Models of time perception identify arousal as a factor that causes perceived time to slow, and we speculate that arousal arising in intergroup interactions can alter time perception.
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