Bias blind spot

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The bias blind spot is the cognitive bias of recognizing the impact of biases on the judgment of others, while failing to see the impact of biases on one's own judgment. [1] The term was created by Emily Pronin, a social psychologist from Princeton University's Department of Psychology, with colleagues Daniel Lin and Lee Ross. [2] [ better source needed ] The bias blind spot is named after the visual blind spot. Most people appear to exhibit the bias blind spot. In a sample of more than 600 residents of the United States, more than 85% believed they were less biased than the average American. Only one participant believed that they were more biased than the average American. People do vary with regard to the extent to which they exhibit the bias blind spot. This phenomenon has been successfully replicated and it appears that in general, stronger personal free will beliefs are associated with bias blind spot. [3] It appears to be a stable individual difference that is measurable. [5]

Contents

The bias blind spot appears to be a true blind spot in that it is unrelated to actual decision making ability. Performance on indices of decision making competence are not related to individual differences in bias blind spot. In other words, most people appear to believe that they are less biased than others, regardless of their actual decision making ability. [4]

Causes

Bias blind spots may be caused by a variety of other biases and self-deceptions. [6]

Self-enhancement biases may play a role, in that people are motivated to view themselves in a positive light. Biases are generally seen as undesirable, [7] so people tend to think of their own perceptions and judgments as being rational, accurate, and free of bias. The self-enhancement bias also applies when analyzing our own decisions, in that people are likely to think of themselves as better decision-makers than others. [6]

People also tend to believe they are aware of "how" and "why" they make their decisions, and therefore conclude that bias did not play a role. Many of our decisions are formed from biases and cognitive shortcuts, which are unconscious processes. By definition, people are unaware of unconscious processes, and therefore cannot see their influence in the decision making process. [6]

When made aware of various biases acting on our perception, decisions, or judgments, research has shown that we are still unable to control them. This contributes to the bias blind spot in that even if one is told that they are biased, they are unable to alter their biased perception. [6]

Role of introspection

Emily Pronin and Matthew Kugler have argued that this phenomenon is due to the introspection illusion. [8] In their experiments, subjects had to make judgments about themselves and about other subjects. [9] They displayed standard biases, for example rating themselves above the others on desirable qualities (demonstrating illusory superiority). The experimenters explained cognitive bias, and asked the subjects how it might have affected their judgment. The subjects rated themselves as less susceptible to bias than others in the experiment (confirming the bias blind spot). When they had to explain their judgments, they used different strategies for assessing their own and others' bias.

Pronin and Kugler's interpretation is that, when people decide whether someone else is biased, they use overt behaviour. On the other hand, when assessing whether they themselves are biased, people look inward, searching their own thoughts and feelings for biased motives. [8] Since biases operate unconsciously, these introspections are not informative, but people wrongly treat them as reliable indication that they themselves, unlike other people, are immune to bias. [9]

Pronin and Kugler tried to give their subjects access to others' introspections. To do this, they made audio recordings of subjects who had been told to say whatever came into their heads as they decided whether their answer to a previous question might have been affected by bias. [9] Although subjects persuaded themselves they were unlikely to be biased, their introspective reports did not sway the assessments of observers.

Differences of perceptions

People tend to attribute bias in an uneven way. When people reach different perceptions, they tend to label one another as biased while labelling themselves as accurate and unbiased. Pronin hypothesizes that this bias misattribution may be a source of conflict and misunderstanding between people. For example, in labeling another person as biased, one may also label their intentions cynically. But when examining one's own cognitions, people judge themselves based on their good intentions. It is likely that in this case, one may attribute another's bias to "intentional malice" rather than an unconscious process. [10]

Pronin also hypothesizes ways to use awareness of the bias blind spot to reduce conflict, and to think in a more "scientifically informed" way. Although we are unable to control bias on our own cognitions, [6] one may keep in mind that biases are acting on everyone. Pronin suggests that people might use this knowledge to separate other's intentions from their actions. [10]

Relation to actual commission of bias

Initial evidence suggests that the bias blind spot is not related to actual decision-making ability. [4] Participants who scored better or poorer on various tasks associated with decision making competence were no more or less likely to be higher or lower in their susceptibility to bias blind spot. Bias blind spot does, however, appear to increase susceptibility to related biases.

See also

Related Research Articles

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A cognitive bias is a systematic pattern of deviation from norm or rationality in judgment. Individuals create their own "subjective reality" from their perception of the input. An individual's construction of reality, not the objective input, may dictate their behavior in the world. Thus, cognitive biases may sometimes lead to perceptual distortion, inaccurate judgment, illogical interpretation, or what is broadly called irrationality.

Introspection is the examination of one's own conscious thoughts and feelings. In psychology, the process of introspection relies on the observation of one's mental state, while in a spiritual context it may refer to the examination of one's soul. Introspection is closely related to human self-reflection and self-discovery and is contrasted with external observation.

Egocentric bias is the tendency to rely too heavily on one's own perspective and/or have a higher opinion of oneself than reality. It appears to be the result of the psychological need to satisfy one's ego and to be advantageous for memory consolidation. Research has shown that experiences, ideas, and beliefs are more easily recalled when they match one's own, causing an egocentric outlook. Michael Ross and Fiore Sicoly first identified this cognitive bias in their 1979 paper, "Egocentric biases in availability and attribution". Egocentric bias is referred to by most psychologists as a general umbrella term under which other related phenomena fall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trait ascription bias</span>

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In psychology, the false consensus effect, also known as consensus bias, is a pervasive cognitive bias that causes people to “see their own behavioral choices and judgments as relatively common and appropriate to existing circumstances”. In other words, they assume that their personal qualities, characteristics, beliefs, and actions are relatively widespread through the general population.

The illusion of control is the tendency for people to overestimate their ability to control events. It was named by U.S. psychologist Ellen Langer and is thought to influence gambling behavior and belief in the paranormal. Along with illusory superiority and optimism bias, the illusion of control is one of the positive illusions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Gilovich</span> American psychologist (born 1954)

Thomas Dashiff Gilovich an American psychologist who is the Irene Blecker Rosenfeld Professor of Psychology at Cornell University. He has conducted research in social psychology, decision making, behavioral economics, and has written popular books on these subjects. Gilovich has collaborated with Daniel Kahneman, Richard Nisbett, Lee Ross and Amos Tversky. His articles in peer-reviewed journals on subjects such as cognitive biases have been widely cited. In addition, Gilovich has been quoted in the media on subjects ranging from the effect of purchases on happiness to perception of judgment in social situations. Gilovich is a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lee Ross</span> American academic (1942–2021)

Lee David Ross was a Canadian-American professor. He held the title of the Stanford Federal Credit Union Professor of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University and was an influential social psychologist who studied attributional biases, shortcomings in judgment and decision making, and barriers to conflict resolution, often with longtime collaborator Mark Lepper. Ross was known for his identification and explication of the fundamental attribution error and for the demonstration and analysis of other phenomena and shortcomings that have become standard topics in textbooks and in some cases, even popular media. His interests included ongoing societal problems, in particular protracted inter-group conflicts, the individual and collective rationalization of evil, and the psychological processes that make it difficult to confront societal challenges. Ross went beyond the laboratory to involve himself in conflict resolution and public peace processes in the Middle East, Northern Ireland, and other areas of the world.

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References

  1. ↑ Pronin, E.; Lin, D. Y.; Ross, L. (2002). "The Bias Blind Spot: Perceptions of Bias in Self Versus Others". Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 28 (3): 369–381. doi:10.1177/0146167202286008. S2CID   14259317.
  2. ↑ Emily Pronin, Center for Behavioral Decision Research
  3. ↑ Chandrashekar, S.P.; Yeung, S.K.; Yau, K.C.; Cheung, C.Y.; Agarwal, T.K.; Wong, C.Y.J.; Pillai, T.; Thirlwell, T.N.; Leung, W.N.; Tse, C.; Li, Y.T. (November 2021). "Agency and self-other asymmetries in perceived bias and shortcomings: Replications of the Bias Blind Spot and link to free will beliefs" (PDF). Judgment & Decision Making. 16 (6): 1392–1412. doi:10.1017/S1930297500008470. S2CID   248385737.
  4. 1 2 3 Scopelliti, Irene; Morewedge, Carey K.; McCormick, Erin; Min, H. Lauren; Lebrecht, Sophie; Kassam, Karim S. (2015). "Bias Blind Spot: Structure, Measurement, and Consequences". Management Science . 61 (10): 2468–2486. doi: 10.1287/mnsc.2014.2096 .
  5. ↑ For a scale, see Scopelliti et al. 2015. [4]
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Page, Antony (2009). "Unconscious Bias and the Limits of Director Independence". University of Illinois Law Review. 2009 (1): 237–294. ISSN   0276-9948. SSRN   1392625. Archived from the original on 2016-06-25. Retrieved 2016-06-11.
  7. ↑ Pronin, Emily (2007). "Perception and misperception of bias in human judgment". Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 11 (1): 37–43. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2006.11.001. PMID   17129749. S2CID   2754235.
  8. 1 2 Gilovich, Thomas; Nicholas Epley; Karlene Hanko (2005). "Shallow Thoughts About the Self: The Automatic Components of Self-Assessment". In Mark D. Alicke; David A. Dunning; Joachim I. Krueger (eds.). The Self in Social Judgment . Studies in Self and Identity. New York: Psychology Press. p.  77. ISBN   978-1-84169-418-4.
  9. 1 2 3 Pronin, Emily; Kugler, Matthew B. (2007). "Valuing thoughts, ignoring behavior: The introspection illusion as a source of the bias blind spot". Journal of Experimental Social Psychology . Elsevier. 43 (4): 565–578. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2006.05.011.
  10. 1 2 Pronin, E. (2008). "How We See Ourselves and How We See Others". Science. 320 (5880): 1177–1180. Bibcode:2008Sci...320.1177P. doi:10.1126/science.1154199. PMID   18511681. S2CID   20304803.
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