Blind Spot Bias (Why do we think that we are less biased than other people?)
The Blind Spot Bias, a brief explanation
What is the Blind Spot Bias?
The blind spot bias is the tendency to recognize the effect of cognitive biases in others, whilst failing to see the impact of these biases in our own decision-making.
Examples
In the workplace when a manager evaluates the work of an employee they may see cognitive biases in their employee’s thinking but not their own.
When interviewing a candidate for a job the interview panel may see problematic decision-making in the candidates response to questions whilst not recognising their own use of cognitive biases.
The literature
Pronin, E. & Kugler, M. B. (2007). Valuing thoughts, ignoring behaviour: the introspection illusion as a source of the bias blind spot. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 43(4), 565-578. Doi: 10.1016/j.jesp.2006.05.011
West, R. F., Meserve, R. J. & Stanovich, K. E. (2012). Cognitive sophistication does not attenuate the bias blind spot. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 103(3), 506-519. Doi: 10.1037/a0028857
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