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Generalizability of the false consensus effect in chronic psychiatric patients
1Institute for Graduate Clinical Psychology, Widener University, Chester, PA 19013.
The Journal of Social Psychology
|April 1, 1993
Summary
Psychiatric patients, contrary to predictions, showed the false consensus effect similarly to college students. This suggests that mental health status may not influence the tendency to overestimate the prevalence of one's own beliefs and behaviors.
Area of Science:
- Social Psychology
- Clinical Psychology
- Cognitive Bias
Background:
- The false consensus effect describes the tendency for individuals to overestimate the extent to which their own beliefs, values, and behaviors are typical of others.
- The selective exposure hypothesis posits that this effect arises from sampling bias, where individuals preferentially sample similar others.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether psychiatric patients, hypothesized to recognize peer deviance, would exhibit a reduced false consensus effect compared to college students.
- To test the influence of psychiatric status on cognitive biases related to social perception.
Main Methods:
- Sixty college students and 32 psychiatric patients estimated the prevalence of 32 behaviors, beliefs, and traits in the general American population.
- Estimates were analyzed to determine the presence and magnitude of the false consensus effect in both groups.
Main Results:
- Contrary to the hypothesis, psychiatric patients demonstrated the false consensus effect to a degree comparable to college students.
- No significant difference was found in the susceptibility to the false consensus effect between the two groups.
Conclusions:
- The findings do not support the hypothesis that psychiatric patients are less prone to the false consensus effect.
- This suggests that recognizing the deviance of one's peers does not necessarily mitigate the false consensus effect in psychiatric populations.