Eat at Joe's

About this video

Imagine a researcher asks you to walk around your school or workplace for half an hour wearing a big sign that says "Eat at Joe's". Would you do it? Now guess: if ten other people were asked, how many would answer the same as you? Whatever you chose, you probably guessed that most would choose the same. That feels like common sense. The trouble is that the people who chose the other answer feel just as sure.

In 1977 the psychologists Lee Ross, David Greene and Pamela House asked university students in the United States to do exactly this. Some agreed to wear the sign and some refused, and then each guessed what other students would do. Students who agreed guessed that about 6 in 10 others would agree too. Students who refused guessed that about 2 in 3 would refuse. Both groups thought they were the majority, and both can't be right. They also judged the people who chose differently as a bit unusual.

Thinking that our own choices, tastes and opinions are more common than they really are is called the false consensus effect. Three things push us there: our own choice feels like the obvious answer, we spend our time with friends who share our tastes, and our own view is the one that comes to mind first. It often works well enough, because other people are like us in many ways. It misfires when we plan for others using only ourselves as the guide, like the host who fills a party with their own favourite music.

The habit that helps: ask, don't assume. Before deciding what everyone thinks, ask a few people and count the answers. This short video shows it on Knaph.

Transcript

1. 0:00Would you wear an Eat at Joe's sign for half an hour?
2. 0:05Now guess how many of ten others would answer the same as you.
3. 0:11Yes-sayers thought most would say yes. No-sayers thought most would say no.
4. 0:17Our own view comes to mind first, and our friends mostly agree.
5. 0:23So ask a few people, and count, before deciding what everyone thinks.
6. 0:29Our view feels like everyone's. Ask, and count.