Blind spot of bias: what is this psychological phenomenon and how does it affect us?

Everyone is manipulated by their families, the media, politicians, fads, and their own way of thinking. Nobody thinks freely since their thinking has been influenced by all kinds of other people's opinions and they cannot ignore their cognitive biases.

Fortunately, this does not happen to me. I am much more objective, rational and impartial than most, I have managed to set aside my prejudices and I know how to distinguish between my opinion and that of the high elites that control us. My thinking is truly my own, I see reality as it is and I can tell others that they are wrong...

Surely more than one, if not almost everyone, feels identified with this definition. Well, we're sorry to tell you that you're as biased as everyone else. The blind spot of bias is a cognitive phenomenon in which people believe that they are more impartial than most., despite being as biased as anyone.

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What is the blind spot of bias?

The bias blind spot, also called bias blind spot, is a cognitive phenomenon that occurs when people are incapable of realizing that we ourselves are victims of all kinds of cognitive prejudices and biases and, despite it, we tend to think that we are less biased than the common average of mortals. This phenomenon was originally proposed by psychologist Emily Pronin, a researcher at Princeton University.

We tend to think that we, for the simple fact of being us, see things in a significantly more objective and rational way than others. That is why we consider that our way of seeing "reality" is the most accurate, clear and correct in comparison with how others do that, as we attribute a biased thought to them, we tend to reject their way of seeing the reality. We think we are the best or we are better at seeing things as they are compared to others.

This type of bias allows us to understand why there are people who believe in conspiracy theories, although it would not be the only cognitive phenomenon behind these particular cases. Combined with conspiracy thinking, these people have no qualms about saying that they are the ones who can clearly see the "strings" that pull society and that their way of seeing things is independent of the media, politicians, their loved ones or any other source of information. information.

It's important to note that the blind spot of bias occurs in everyone, not just conspiracy theorists. We believe we are above average when it comes to the positive qualities we value most, the most common being objectivity, rationality, fairness, and sincerity.

That is probably why we consider ourselves more objective, rational, fair and sincere people than most people. Thus, we convince ourselves of our moral rectitude and the veracity of our ideas, believing that our thought is free and independent of our subjectivity.

Scientific research on this phenomenon

Studies have been carried out to verify the existence of the blind spot of bias. A study, conducted by Emily Pronin, Daniel Y. Lin and Lee Ross at Stanford University, revealed that most people considered themselves better than average, specifically 86%.

Nearly 63% of the participants thought that the self-portrait they gave of themselves was objective and reliable, considering that their assessment of themselves was not influenced by bias at all some. Only 13% of them claimed to be very modest when describing themselves. The researchers found that only 24% of the people in the study accepted the idea that they had been influenced. by some kind of bias or prejudice when psychologists pointed out and talked about the existence of the blind spot of the bias.

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Why do we think we are more rational and objective than others?

The fact that we think that we perceive reality without distortions is due to the fact that we do not analyze our cognitive and motivational processes. That is to say, We do not make an examination of conscience about the form and the way in which we perceive and analyze the information that comes to us of the external world. In order to be aware of our prejudices and limitations, it is necessary to make a great effort and a deep exercise of introspection, inferring that, as happens to others, we are not immune to biases cognitive.

Most of us like to see ourselves as great people, whose merits are attributable to our efforts and our misfortunes are the fault of others, unless we have depressive symptoms in which this pattern is invest. We feed our self-esteem and self-concept by seeing ourselves as more than what we are, since the opposite would be something quite maladaptive. The same thing happens with our way of thinking, which we like to consider as better than that of others and the result of a superior intellectual effort.

However, at the slightest discrepancy between what we think and perceive and what others think and perceive, Far from thinking about whether we are really right, we infer that others are wrong, they are less objective and little rational.

In this way, our mind avoids entering into cognitive dissonance, since accepting another point of view supposes questioning our own beliefs and value system, something that generates discomfort and requires great effort change.

In turn, in the same way that we think that others are not very rational, we delude ourselves into thinking that we are even more impartial. This same self-deception is what allows us to evaluate ourselves from a more flattering perspective, which increases and protects our self-esteem. We prefer to think that we are not wrong before being aware that, like the rest, we have our limitations and we only perceive a part of reality.

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The blind spot of bias at pathological levels

As we said, the vast majority of people manifest the blind spot of bias. We like to consider ourselves better than most mortals, at least a little bit. However, not systematically recognizing that we can be victims of biases and believe that everyone is wrong except us is an almost delusional type of behavior, distancing us from the authentic reality that we naively believe that we are perceiving.

Feeding our own vision of the world while ignoring or belittling that of others causes us to end up excluding ourselves from the rest of society, since we will not accept under any circumstances any opinion contrary or different from the our. We are creating a smaller and smaller comfort zone in which we only allow the only person who thinks the same as us to enter.

How to recognize the blind spot of bias?

Humans we will always be victims of cognitive and motivational biases. It is an inevitable part of the way we see and understand the world and it is basically what makes people have diversity of opinions. Even if two people have received exactly the same information, their way of interpreting it and the opinions it generates will be different. We must understand that all people, with their beliefs and basic ideas, constitute many worlds. different and that no one is going to think in the same way, something that does not have to be more good or more right.

Absolutely accusing everyone of impartiality, denying that we ourselves cannot stop being subjective, leads to misunderstandings., generates mistrust and causes interpersonal problems. Thinking that the only valid opinion is one's own makes it even more difficult to find common ground to reach an agreement, something essential to be able to live in a society.

Naturally, people want to be able to see the world as it is, in a completely impartial and objective way, but it is that really this vision, promoted by rationalist perspectives, does not stop being an illusion utopian. We do not stop being subjective beings that, as a result of our experiences, experiences, personality and other factors, our way of perceiving reality varies significantly from individual to individual.

If we want to know what the world is really like, instead of proclaiming our way of seeing reality as the only true vision, we must get in touch with what other people see and think. The more subjectivities there will be, the broader our vision of the world will be and, therefore, the closer we will be to that unattainable idea of ​​true reality.

Bibliographic references

• Room, C. (2016) Everyone Thinks They're More Moral Than Everyone Else. In: The Cut.
• Scopelliti, I. et. Al. (2015) Bias blind spot: Structure, measurement, and consequences. management science; 61(10): 2468-2486.
• Pronon, E. et. Al. (2002) The Bias Blind Spot: Perceptions of Bias in Self Versus Others. PSPB; 28(3): 369-381.
• West, R. F., Meserve, R. J., & Stanovich, K. AND. (2012). Cognitive sophistication does not attenuate the bias blind spot. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 103(3), 506–519. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0028857