Bias Blind Spot

Overview

Pronin, Lin & Ross (2002, PSPB): people reliably rate themselves as less biased than the average person — and crucially, being told about this asymmetry doesn't remove it. Cause: the introspection illusion. We judge others by their behavior but judge ourselves by our introspections, and bias doesn't feel like anything from the inside. Searching your mind for bias returns clean, so you conclude you're clean.

"I checked and I'm not biased" is the signature OF the bias, not evidence against it.

When to Use

• You've just diagnosed someone else's reasoning as motivated/biased
• You feel objective about a conclusion you also prefer
• Post-hoc reviewing your own work and finding it fine
• A debiasing step returned "no bias found" via introspection alone

The Procedure