Generalizability of the false consensus effect in chronic psychiatric patients

The selective exposure hypothesis argues that the false consensus effect occurs because people base their estimates about the prevalence of behaviors, beliefs, and traits on a mental sample of those around them, overrepresenting others who are similar. It was hypothesized that psychiatric patients would be less subject to the false consensus effect because they would recognize the deviance of their peers and avoid using them to make estimates. Sixty male and female college students and 32 psychiatric patients estimated the percentage of average Americans who endorsed 32 behaviors, beliefs, and self-descriptive traits. Contrary to prediction, the psychiatric patients' estimates were no less likely than the college students' to exhibit false consensus effects.