Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 8, 2026

Highlighting and Reducing the Impact of Negative Aging Stereotypes During Older Adults' Cognitive Testing
Published on: January 24, 2020
When debiasing backfires: accessible content and accessibility experiences in debiasing hindsight
Lawrence J Sanna1, Norbert Schwarz, Shevaun L Stocker
1Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 27599-3270, USA. sanna@unc.edu
Abstract:
Two studies demonstrated that attempts to debias hindsight by thinking about alternative outcomes may backfire and traced this to the influence of subjective accessibility experiences. Participants listed either few (2) or many (10) thoughts about how an event might have turned out otherwise. Listing many counterfactual thoughts was experienced as difficult and consistently increased the hindsight bias, presumably because the experienced difficulty suggested that there were not many ways in which the event might have turned out otherwise. No significant hindsight effects were obtained when participants listed only a few counterfactual thoughts, a task subjectively experienced as easy. The interplay of accessible content and subjective accessibility experiences in the hindsight bias is discussed.
Related Concept Videos
Confirmation Biases
Hindsight Biases
Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination
Social Facilitation
Motivational Bias
Halo Effect

