Third-person perception about domestic violence among experts

The current study used a test and re-test of the same third-person perception instrument with similar participants to attempt to replicate findings. Both studies used emergency medical personnel (study 1, N = 587 urban hospital personnel; study 2, N = 212 suburban and rural hospital personnel) to assess the impact of actual expertise on third-person perception regarding media depictions of domestic violence. Results were stronger than anticipated, yielding instead first-person perception. The study contributes to the growing literature linking third/first-person perception to optimistic bias and extends the behavioral component of person-perception research by testing a relationship with self-efficacy, with mixed results.