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Journal of Health Psychology
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Risk Perceptions of People Living with HIV/AIDS

How Similarity Affects Optimistic Bias

Maria Knight Lapinski

Michigan State University, USA, lapinsk3{at}msu.edu

Rajiv N. Rimal

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA

Katherine A. Klein

Michigan State University, USA

Hillary C. Shulman

Michigan State University, USA

Little as known about how people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWH/A) assess their vulnerability to non-HIVrelated risk factors, and how this judgement is affected by perceived similarity with others. This study indicates not only that PLWH/A are optimistically biased in their risk pereceptions, but also that they do not use others' HIV status to assess similarity. Perceived similarity with others, however, affects risk judgements: greater the perceived similarity with others, greater the tendency to judge others' vulnerability relative to one's own. Findings point to the importance of considering similarity as a key variable in understanding how risk assessments are made by persons with chronic health conditions.

Key Words: anchoring effects • optimistic bias • people living with HIV • perceived risk • similarity • susceptibility

Journal of Health Psychology, Vol. 14, No. 2, 251-257 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1359105308100209
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