← all facts
social dynamics
We consistently assume that others think like we do.
A 1977 study revealed that people are significantly more likely to assume others share their own beliefs and habits than is statistically accurate.
This bias persists because our own perspective is the most available information in our minds. When we cannot easily recall a contrary viewpoint, we assume the average person must mirror our own.
Our primary reference point for the world is usually ourselves.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Ross, Greene, & House, 1977, False Consensus Effect
- What the check found
- The 1977 study by Lee Ross, David Greene, and Pamela House titled 'The false consensus effect: An egocentric bias in social perception and attribution processes' is the seminal work defining this phenomenon.
- Confidence
- Well replicated
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.