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cognition
You mistakenly believe others think exactly like you do.
The false consensus effect is the cognitive bias where you overestimate the extent to which your opinions and habits are shared by others.
Because your own worldview is the only one you directly experience, your brain assumes it is the baseline for everyone. You treat your own beliefs as facts and assume others simply haven't seen the evidence you have.
You find it difficult to imagine that someone else could be as reasonable as you and still disagree.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Ross et al., 1977, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
- What the check found
- The definition is correct and the cited study (Ross, Greene, & House, 1977) is the primary source for the phenomenon, though the specific reference is not present in the provided text.
- Confidence
- Solid, with limits
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.