We examine judgements of bias in distributional outcomes. Such judgements are often based on imbalance in distributional outcomes, namely, the under- or over-representation of a target group relative to some baseline. Using data from 26 studies (N = 14,925), we test how these judgements of bias vary with the target group’s characteristics (traditionally dominant or non-dominant) and the observer’s political ideology (liberal or conservative). We find that conservatives set a higher threshold for recognizing bias against traditionally non-dominant targets (women, Black people, immigrants), as compared with liberals. Conversely, liberals set a higher threshold for recognizing bias against traditionally dominant targets (men, white people, native-born citizens), as compared with conservatives. However, these relationships between political ideology and judgements of bias diminish when the targets are unknown or ideologically irrelevant. These findings emphasize the context-dependency of bias judgements and underscore the importance of stimulus sampling and appropriate selection of controls.

我们研究了对分配结果偏差的判断。这种判断通常基于分配结果的不平衡，即目标群体相对于某些基线的代表性不足或过高。我们利用 26 项研究 ( N  = 14,925) 的数据，测试这些偏见判断如何随目标群体的特征（传统主导或非主导）和观察者的政治意识形态（自由派或保守派）而变化。我们发现，与自由派相比，保守派在承认针对传统非主导目标（妇女、黑人、移民）的偏见方面设定了更高的门槛。相反，与保守派相比，自由派在承认对传统主导目标（男性、白人、本土出生的公民）的偏见方面设定了更高的门槛。然而，当目标未知或与意识形态无关时，政治意识形态与偏见判断之间的关系就会减弱。这些发现强调了偏差判断的背景依赖性，并强调了刺激抽样和适当选择控制的重要性。