The truly false consensus effect: An ineradicable and egocentric bias in social perception
Krueger and Clement ran three experiments on the tendency to overuse knowledge about oneself when estimating how common traits or attitudes are in a population. In the first, participants estimated population agreement with 40 personality statements, and the bias remained among those taught about it, given feedback on real agreement, or both. In the second, participants attributed the bias to another person but their own estimates were more influenced by their own response than by that person's. In the third, the bias remained when participants had unanimous information from 20 randomly chosen others. The authors argue the pattern reflects egocentrism rather than proper inductive reasoning. Only abstract-level claims are used.
Krueger and Clement ran three experiments on the tendency to overuse knowledge about oneself when estimating how common traits or attitudes are in a population. In the first, participants estimated population agreement with 40 personality statements, and the bias remained among those taught about it, given feedback on real agreement, or both. In the second, participants attributed the bias to another person but their own estimates were more influenced by their own response than by that person's. In the third, the bias remained when participants had unanimous information from 20 randomly chosen others. The authors argue the pattern reflects egocentrism rather than proper inductive reasoning. Only abstract-level claims are used.
Written from the abstract summary, PubMed 7965607, 2026-11-03.
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Krueger, J., & Clement, R. W. (1994). The truly false consensus effect: An ineradicable and egocentric bias in social perception. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67(4), 596-610. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.67.4.596 https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.67.4.596