False-consensus Effect - Applications

Applications

The false-consensus effect is an important attribution bias to take into consideration when conducting business and in everyday social interactions. Essentially, people are inclined to believe that the general population agrees with their opinions and judgments, which, true or not, gives them a feeling of more assurance and security in their decisions. This could be an important phenomenon to either exploit or avoid in business dealings. For example, if a man doubted whether he wanted to buy a new tool, breaking down his notion that others agree with his doubt would be an important step in persuading him to purchase it. By convincing the customer that other people in fact do want to buy the appliance, the seller could perhaps make a sale that he would not have made otherwise. In this way, the false-consensus effect is closely related to conformity, the effect in which an individual is influenced to match the beliefs or behaviors of a group. There are two differences between the false-consensus effect and conformity: most importantly, conformity is matching the behaviors, beliefs or attitudes of a real group, while the false-consensus effect is perceiving that others share your behaviors, beliefs or attitudes, whether they really do or not. By making the customer feel like the opinion of others (society) is to buy the appliance, he will feel more confident about his purchase and believe that other people would have made the same decision.

Similarly, any elements of society affected by public opinion—elections, advertising, publicity—are very much influenced by the false-consensus effect. This is partially due to the fact that how people develop their perceptions involves "differential processes of awareness". That is to say, while some people are motivated to reach correct conclusions, others may be motivated to reach preferred conclusions. (It is obvious that the latter category will more often result in a false consensus, because the subject is likely to search actively for like-minded supporters and may discount or ignore the opposition).