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social dynamics
You overestimate how much people read your internal state.
A 1998 study found that people significantly overestimate their ability to hide their true emotions from observers.
Participants asked to hide their disgust while drinking a foul beverage believed they were successful, yet observers identified the emotion with high accuracy. We assume others see our internal thoughts as clearly as we do.
Your poker face is never as convincing as you believe.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Gilovich, Savitsky, and Medvec (1998), Illusion of Transparency
- What the check found
- The claim accurately describes Study 1 of the landmark 1998 paper 'The Illusion of Transparency' by Gilovich, Savitsky, and Medvec.
- 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.