Ten years of research on the false-consensus effect: an empirical and theoretical review

Ten years of research on the false-consensus effect (Ross, Greene, & House, 1977) and related biases in social perception (e.g., assumed similarity and overestimation of consensus) are examined in the light of four general theoretical perspectives: (a) selective exposure and cognitive availability,

[1]  T. Schatzki.  The Nature of Social Reality , 1988 .

[2]  G. Marks,et al.  Assumed Similarity of Attitudes About AIDS Among Gay and Heterosexual Physicians , 1988 .

[3]  N. Miller,et al.  Perceptions of Attitude Similarity: Effect of Anchored Versus Unanchored Positions. , 1988, Personality & social psychology bulletin.

[4]  Jerry Suls,et al.  False Consensus and False Uniqueness in Estimating the Prevalence of Health‐Protective Behaviors , 1988 .

[5]  E. E. Jones.  Attribution: Perceiving the Causes of Behavior , 1987 .

[6]  J. Suls,et al.  In search of the false-uniqueness phenomenon: fear and estimates of social consensus. , 1987, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[7]  Milton E. Rosenbaum,et al.  The repulsion hypothesis: On the nondevelopment of relationships. , 1986 .

[8]  Melvin Manis,et al.  Can the availability heuristic explain vividness effects , 1986 .

[9]  J. Kulik,et al.  Self-confirmatory attribution, egocentrism, and the perpetuation of self-beliefs , 1986 .

[10]  L. Perloff,et al.  Self–other judgments and perceived vulnerability to victimization. , 1986 .

[11]  J. D. Campbell.  Similarity and uniqueness: the effects of attribute type, relevance, and individual differences in self-esteem and depression. , 1986, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[12]  David A. Wilder,et al.  Social Categorization: Implications for Creation and Reduction of Intergroup Bias , 1986, Advances in Experimental Social Psychology.

[13]  M. Alicke.  Global self-evaluation as determined by the desirability and controllability of trait adjectives. , 1985 .

[14]  C. Wetzel,et al.  Developing biased social judgments: The false-consensus effect. , 1985 .

[15]  J. Crocker,et al.  Comparing the self with others in depressed and nondepressed college students: Reply to McCauley. , 1985 .

[16]  Norman Miller,et al.  The Effect of Certainty on Consensus Judgments , 1985 .

[17]  C. McCauley.  Depression and the false consensus effect: A note concerning the study by Tabachnik, Crocker, and Alloy. , 1985 .

[18]  Brian Mullen,et al.  The false consensus effect: A meta-analysis of 115 hypothesis tests , 1985 .

[19]  Norman Miller,et al.  Assumed Similarity and Opinion Certainty , 1985 .

[20]  R. Nisbett,et al.  Perception of social distributions. , 1985, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[21]  Steven J. Sherman,et al.  The role of the evaluation and similarity principles in the false consensus effect , 1984 .

[22]  D. A. Wilder,et al.  Empirical contributions: Predictions of belief homogeneity and similarity following social categorization , 1984 .

[23]  M. Kernis,et al.  Need for uniqueness, self-schemas, and thought as moderators of the false-consensus effect , 1984 .

[24]  Gary Marks,et al.  Thinking One's Abilities Are Unique and One's Opinions Are Common , 1984 .

[25]  Steven J. Sherman,et al.  Mechanisms Underlying the False Consensus Effect , 1984 .

[26]  A. Tesser.  11 – Self-Evaluation Maintenance Processes: Implications for Relationships and for Development* , 1984 .

[27]  J. Pligt.  Attributions, false consensus and valence: two field studies , 1984 .

[28]  R. Hastie.  Causes and effects of causal attribution , 1984 .

[29]  W. Crano.  Assumed Consensus of Attitudes , 1983 .

[30]  A. Tesser,et al.  Reactions to Unexpected Events , 1983 .

[31]  B. Mullen.  Egocentric Bias in Estimates of Consensus , 1983 .

[32]  J. Pligt,et al.  Attitude extremity, consensus and diagnosticity , 1983 .

[33]  Thomas Gilovich,et al.  Causal focus and estimates of consensus: An examination of the false-consensus effect. , 1983 .

[34]  J. Crocker,et al.  Depression, social comparison, and the false-consensus effect. , 1983, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[35]  Richard W. Olshavsky,et al.  The False Consensus Effect in Estimates of Smoking Prevalence , 1983 .

[36]  D. A. Kenny,et al.  Judging the positions of political candidates: Models of assimilation and contrast. , 1983 .

[37]  D. Paulhus,et al.  The definition of self: Private and public self-evaluation management strategies. , 1983 .

[38]  G. S. Sanders,et al.  Accuracy in perceptions of consensus: Differential tendencies of people with majority and minority positions. , 1983 .

[39]  W. Wagner,et al.  Similarity of comparison group, opinions about facts and values and social projection. , 1983, Archiv fur Psychologie.

[40]  N. Miller,et al.  Target Attractiveness as a Mediator of Assumed Attitude Similarity , 1982 .

[41]  Clifford E. Brown.  A False Consensus Bias in 1980 Presidential PReferences , 1982 .

[42]  Richard L. Moreland,et al.  Exposure effects in person perception: Familiarity, similarity, and attraction , 1982 .

[43]  Norman Miller,et al.  Assumed similarity between self and other: Effect of expectation of future interaction with that other. , 1982 .

[44]  Frank J. Bernieri,et al.  Determinants of consensus estimates: Attribution, salience, and representativeness , 1982 .

[45]  Shelley E. Taylor,et al.  Stalking the elusive "vividness" effect. , 1982 .

[46]  D. Granberg,et al.  Subjective agreement with the presidential candidates of 1976 and 1980. , 1982 .

[47]  A. Manstead.  Perceived social support for opinions: A test of the magnitude and diversity hypotheses , 1982 .

[48]  P. Tetlock,et al.  Attribution bias: On the inconclusiveness of the cognition-motivation debate , 1982 .

[49]  G. G. Sherwood,et al.  Self-serving biases in person perception: A reexamination of projection as a mechanism of defense. , 1981 .

[50]  Jennifer Crocker,et al.  Judgment of Covariation by Social Perceivers , 1981 .

[51]  E. E. Jones,et al.  Perceived Variability of Personal Characteristics in In-Groups and Out-Groups , 1981 .

[52]  James T. Tedeschi,et al.  Self-Serving Attributions: Biased Private Perceptions and Distorted Public Descriptions , 1981 .

[53]  Wayne M. Harris,et al.  Assimilation but Little Contrast in the 1976 U.S. Presidential Election , 1981 .

[54]  Norman Miller,et al.  Effect of targets' physical attractiveness on assumptions of similarity , 1981 .

[55]  C. Judd,et al.  Attitudes, polarization, and diagnosticity: Exploring the effect of affect. , 1981 .

[56]  D. Granberg,et al.  Membership group, reference group, and the attribution of attitudes to groups. , 1981 .

[57]  Paul T. P. Wong,et al.  When people ask "why" questions, and the heuristics of attributional search. , 1981 .

[58]  Tom Pyszczynski,et al.  Role of disconfirmed expectancies in the instigation of attributional processing. , 1981 .

[59]  D. Granberg,et al.  Cross-lagged panel analysis of the relation between attraction and perceived similarity , 1980 .

[60]  A. Tesser,et al.  Self-definition: The impact of the relative performance and similarity of others. , 1980 .

[61]  A. Tesser,et al.  Self-esteem maintenance in family dynamics. , 1980 .

[62]  James A. Kulik,et al.  Premature Consensus on Consensus? Effects of Sample-Based Versus Self-Based Consensus Information , 1980 .

[63]  J. Harvey,et al.  Unsolicited interpretation and recall of interpersonal events. , 1980 .

[64]  E. E. Jones,et al.  The perception of variability within in-groups and out-groups: Implications for the law of small numbers. , 1980 .

[65]  Howard L. Fromkin,et al.  Uniqueness, the human pursuit of difference , 1980 .

[66]  D. Ruble,et al.  Locus of causality and the use of information in the development of causal attributions1 , 1979 .

[67]  R. Mann,et al.  The other way around: Effects of causal attributions on estimates of consensus, distinctiveness, and consistency , 1979 .

[68]  G. Goethals,et al.  Perceptions of the magnitude and diversity of social support , 1979 .

[69]  J. Sivacek,et al.  Predictions of others' responses in a mixed-motive game: Self-justification or false consensus? , 1979 .

[70]  David A. Wilder,et al.  Group Categorization and Attribution of Belief Similarity , 1979 .

[71]  Robert C Mashman.  The Effect of Physical Attractiveness on the Perception of Attitude Similarity. , 1978, The Journal of social psychology.

[72]  D. Kinder,et al.  Political person perception: The asymmetrical influence of sentiment and choice on perceptions of presidential candidates. , 1978 .

[73]  D. S. Holmes,et al.  Projection as a defense mechanism. , 1978 .

[74]  Andrew J. DuBrin,et al.  6 – Small Group Behavior , 1977 .

[75]  G. W. Bradley.  Self-serving biases in the attribution process: A reexamination of the fact or fiction question. , 1978 .

[76]  A. Tesser.  Self-Generated Attitude Change , 1978 .

[77]  Shelley E. Taylor,et al.  Salience, Attention, and Attribution: Top of the Head Phenomena , 1978 .

[78]  M. King.  Assimilation and Contrast of Presidential Candidates'Issue Positions, 1972 , 1977 .

[79]  D. Granberg,et al.  Assimilation and Contrast Effects in the 1972 Election , 1977 .

[80]  R. D. Hansen,et al.  The power of consensus: Information derived from one's own and others' behavior. , 1977 .

[81]  L. Ross,et al.  The “false consensus effect”: An egocentric bias in social perception and attribution processes , 1977 .

[82]  L. Ross,et al.  The intuitive psychologist and his shortcomings: Distortions in the attribution process”, in Ed), Advances in Experimental Social New York, pp. . , 1977 .

[83]  C. R. Snyder,et al.  Abnormality as a positive characteristic: The development and validation of a scale measuring need for uniqueness. , 1977 .

[84]  Robyn M. Dawes,et al.  Behavior, communication, and assumptions about other people's behavior in a commons dilemma situation. , 1977 .

[85]  L. Ross.  The Intuitive Psychologist And His Shortcomings: Distortions in the Attribution Process1 , 1977 .

[86]  J. Harvey,et al.  New Directions in Attribution Research , 2018 .

[87]  James M. Fields,et al.  Public Beliefs About the Beliefs of the Public , 1976 .

[88]  E. Berscheid,et al.  Outcome dependency: Attention, attribution, and attraction. , 1976 .

[89]  S. Harkins,et al.  Cognitive tuning and the attribution of causality. , 1976 .

[90]  D. Granberg,et al.  Social Judgments of the Urban and Vietnam Issues in 1968 and 1972 , 1976 .

[91]  M. L. Snyder,et al.  Egotism and attribution. , 1976, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[92]  Dale T. Miller,et al.  Self-serving biases in the attribution of causality: Fact or fiction? , 1975 .

[93]  Daniel Kahneman,et al.  Availability: A heuristic for judging frequency and probability , 1973 .

[94]  C. Korte.  Pluralistic ignorance about student radicalism. , 1972 .

[95]  E. Berscheid,et al.  What is beautiful is good. , 1972, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[96]  L. A. McArthur.  The how and what of why: Some determinants and consequences of causal attribution. , 1972 .

[97]  E. E. Jones,et al.  The actor and the observer: Divergent perceptions of the causes of behavior. , 1972 .

[98]  D. S. Holmes,et al.  Dimensions of projection. , 1968, Psychological bulletin.

[99]  A. Beck.  Depression : clinical, experimental, and theoretical aspects , 1967 .

[100]  V. A. Harris,et al.  The Attribution of Attitudes , 1967 .

[101]  D. Campbell,et al.  Varieties of projection in trait attribution. , 1964 .

[102]  Norman H. Anderson,et al.  Effects of concomitant verbal recall on order effects in personality impression formation , 1963 .

[103]  T. Newcomb.  The acquaintance process , 1961 .

[104]  D. Kipnis.  Changes in self concepts in relation to perceptions of others. , 1961, Journal of personality.

[105]  B. I. Murstein,et al.  The concept of projection: A review. , 1959 .

[106]  A. Calvin,et al.  An Experimental Investigation of the “Pull” Effect , 1959 .

[107]  R. Tagiuri,et al.  Person perception and interpersonal behavior , 1959 .

[108]  R. Lundy.  Self-Perceptions Regarding Masculinity-Femininity and Descriptions of Same and Opposite Sex Sociometric Choices , 1958 .

[109]  F. Heider.  The psychology of interpersonal relations , 1958 .

[110]  R. Lundy.  Self perceptions and descriptions of opposite sex sociometric choices. , 1956 .

[111]  L. Cronbach,et al.  Conceptual and methodological problems in interpersonal perception. , 1955, Psychological review.

[112]  D. Shoemaker,et al.  Self acceptability and descriptions of sociometric choices. , 1955, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[113]  L. Cronbach.  Processes affecting scores on understanding of others and assumed similarity. , 1955, Psychological bulletin.

[114]  L. Festinger.  A Theory of Social Comparison Processes , 1954 .

[115]  L. Cronbach,et al.  Assessing similarity between profiles. , 1953, Psychological bulletin.

[116]  F. Fiedler,et al.  Unconscious attitudes as correlates of sociometric choice in a social group. , 1952, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[117]  David B. Gleicher,et al.  Determinants of Voting Behavior: A Progress Report on the Elmira Election Study , 1950 .

[118]  L. Festinger.  Informal social communication. , 1950, Psychological review.

[119]  F. Heider.  Attitudes and cognitive organization. , 1946, The Journal of psychology.

[120]  R. Wallen.  Some testing needs in military clinical psychology. , 1944 .

[121]  R. Wallen.  Individuals' Estimates of Group Opinion , 1943 .