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consensus
You think others agree with you more than they do.
A 1977 study showed that people overestimate the consensus for their own choices.
Participants who were willing to wear a sandwich board with a message were convinced the majority of their peers would do the same. Conversely, those who refused were convinced most others would also refuse.
You mistake your own opinion for a social standard.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Ross et al. (1977), Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
- What the check found
- The study by Ross, Greene, and House (1977) in the JESP is indeed the foundational text for the 'false consensus effect,' and the sandwich board experiment is the classic example used within that paper.
- 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.