How We Know What Isn't So by Thomas Gilovich

Author:Thomas Gilovich
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Free Press
Published: 1991-10-06T04:00:00+00:00

7

The Imagined Agreement

of Others

Exaggerated Impressions of Social Support

My opinion, my conviction, gains infinitely in strength and success, the moment a second mind has adopted it.

Novalis

What we believe is heavily influenced by what we think others believe. We favor or oppose experimentation with sex, drugs, and various other “lifestyle” practices in part because of what we think other people think, or do, about these matters. We consider a theater production to be worthy or unworthy of our attendance partly by the number of people who line up to see it. When asked at the office to donate money for a “going-away” gift for someone, we usually try to find out how much others have given and then decide our own contribution accordingly.

Within limits, this tendency to let the beliefs of others influence our own beliefs is perfectly justified. What other people think and how other people behave are important sources of information about what is correct, valid, or appropriate. Other things being equal, the greater the number of people who believe something, the more likely it is to be true; the more people who do something, the more we are well-advised to do the same.

Unfortunately, our ability to utilize effectively the opinions of others as an important source of indirect information about the wisdom of our actions, or the validity of our beliefs, is compromised by a systematic defect in our ability to estimate the beliefs and attitudes of others. We often exaggerate the extent to which other people hold the same beliefs that we do. Because our beliefs appear to enjoy more social support than is actually the case, they are more resistant to change than they would be otherwise. Thus, our difficulty in accurately estimating what other people think represents an important determinant of the maintenance of erroneous beliefs.*

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