Discussion.2

Valuing thoughts, ignoring behavior: The introspection illusion as a source of the bias blind spot

Authors:

Pronin, Emily ⁎ Kugler, Matthew B.

Affiliation:

Department of Psychology, Green Hall, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA

Note:

We thank Elana Jacobs, Jessica Karpay, and John Fleming for research assistance. We thank Susan Fiske, Kathleen Kennedy, and Joshua Rabinowitz for helpful comments on this research. Portions of this research were supported by a grant to Pronin from the NASD. Communicated by Fiedler

Source:

In Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 2007 43(4):565-578

Publisher:

Elsevier Inc.

People see themselves as less susceptible to bias than others. We show that a source of this bias blind spot involves the value that people place, and believe they should place, on introspective information (relative to behavioral information) when assessing bias in themselves versus others. Participants considered introspective information more than behavioral information for assessing bias in themselves, but not others. This divergence did not arise simply from differences in introspective access. The blind spot persisted when observers had access to the introspections of the actor whose bias they judged. And, participants claimed that they, but not their peers, should rely on introspections when making self-assessments of bias. Only after being educated about the importance of nonconscious processes in guiding judgment and action—and thereby about the fallibility of introspection—did participants cease denying their relative susceptibility to bias.

:

Article

ISSN:

0022-1031

DOI:

10.1016/j.jesp.2006.05.011

Ac

S0022103106000916

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Copyright @ 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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