← all facts
consensus
You assume everyone shares your private opinions.
A 1977 study showed that people who agreed to wear a sandwich board were more likely to believe others would too.
This is the false consensus effect, where we project our own beliefs onto the wider population. Because our own thoughts are salient and readily available, we use them as a baseline to predict social norms. We are rarely as objective about the consensus as we imagine.
You are a poor representative of the average person's view.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Ross, Greene, and House, 1977, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
- What the check found
- The study by Ross, Greene, and House (1977) is the definitive research source for the 'Repent' sandwich board experiment and the False Consensus Effect.
- 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.