Wishful Seeing: Motivational Influences on Visual Perception of the Physical Environment

Imagine you were witness to the 2007 Champions League first knockout roundsoccer match played in Italy. As an avid AC Milan fan, you may have con-vinced yourself you saw that reckless Celtic player, Mark Wilson, cruelly clip your beloved Alberto Gilardino – sending Gilardino into a prolonged and dangerous five-step tumble. Or, perhaps you were a more objective and disinterested witness. Instead, you would have seen it as the acrobatic and well-choreographed feigned fall that it truly was.