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false consensus
You believe your own opinions are the default setting.
Research shows that people consistently overestimate the proportion of the population that shares their specific preferences.
Because your social circle often reflects your views, you mistake that local experience for universal reality. You assume that if you think something is common sense, others do too. It makes the world seem more agreeable than it is.
Your worldview feels objective only because you choose your company.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Ross, Greene, and House, 1977, False Consensus Effect
- What the check found
- The claim accurately describes the seminal 1977 study by Ross, Greene, and House, which established the false consensus effect in psychological research.
- 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.