Bias Blind Spot: What Is This Psychological Phenomenon And How It Affects 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 put aside their cognitive biases.
Fortunately, this doesn’t happen to me. I am much more objective, rational and impartial than most, I have managed to put aside my prejudices and know how to distinguish between my opinion and that of the high elites who 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, identifies with this definition. Well, we regret to inform you that he is as biased as the rest. The bias blind spot is a cognitive phenomenon in which people believe themselves to be more impartial than the majority despite being as biased as anyone else.
The bias blind spot, also called blind spot prejudice, is a cognitive phenomenon that occurs when people are unable to realize that we ourselves are victims of all types of cognitive prejudices and biases and , despite this, We tend to think that we are people who are less biased than the average mortal This phenomenon was originally proposed by psychologist Emily Pronin, a researcher at Princeton University.
We tend to think that we, simply by 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 compared to how others do it and, since we attribute biased thinking to them, we tend to reject their way of seeing 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 that would be 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 “threads” that run society and that their way of seeing things is independent of the media, politicians, your loved ones or any other source of information.
Importantly, the bias blind spot occurs in all people, not just believers in conspiracy theories. We believe we are above average when it comes to the positive qualities that we value most, the most common being objectivity, rationality, justice and sincerity.
That is why, probably, We consider ourselves to be 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 thinking is free and independent of our subjectivity.
Scientific research on this phenomenon
Studies have been carried out to verify the existence of the bias blind spot. A study, conducted by Emily Pronin, Daniel Y. Lin and Lee Ross at Stanford University, revealed that the majority of people considered themselves better than average, specifically 86%.
About 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 any bias. Only 13% of them claimed to be very modest when describing themselves The researchers found that only 24% of people in the study accepted the idea of having been influenced by some type of bias or prejudice when psychologists pointed out and talked about the existence of the bias blind spot.
Why do we believe 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 examine our conscience about the form and manner in which we perceive and analyze the information that comes to us from 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, just like what happens to others, we are not immune to cognitive biases.
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 reversed. 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, the slightest discrepancy arises 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, less objective and less rational.
In this way, our mind avoids entering into cognitive dissonance, since accepting another point of view means questioning our own beliefs and value system, something that generates discomfort and requires great effort to change.
At the same time, in the same way that we think that others are not very rational, we fool 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 others, we have our limitations and only perceive a part of reality.
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. However, Not systematically recognizing that we can be victims of bias and believing that everyone is wrong except us is an almost delusional type of behavior distancing ourselves from the authentic reality that we naively believe 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 to or different from ours. We are creating an increasingly smaller comfort zone in which we only allow the only person who thinks the same as us to enter.
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 basic beliefs and ideas, constitute many different worlds and that no one is going to think in the same way, something that does not have to be better or more accurate.
Accusing absolutely all people of impartiality, denying that not even we ourselves can stop being subjective, leads to misunderstandings, generates mistrust and causes interpersonal problems. Thinking that the only valid opinion is your own makes it even more difficult to find common ground to reach an agreement, something essential to being able to live in a society.
Naturally, people want to be able to see the world as it is, in a totally impartial and objective way, but this vision, promoted by rationalist perspectives, is still a utopian illusion. We are still subjective beings who, as a result of our 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 are, the broader our vision of the world will be and, therefore, the closer we will be to that unattainable idea of true reality.
