Hey all,
Welcome to Human Nature, the illustrated psychology newsletter.
This week we are continuing to explore cognitive biases. Today’s topic is the illusion of transparency.
Illusion of transparency
What it is: The illusion of transparency is the cognitive bias by which we overestimate other people’s ability to read our internal states. In other words, we tend to think we are more transparent than we are. Another manifestation of this bias is our tendency to overestimate how well we can read other people’s internal states.
How its was discovered: In a series of studies in 1998, participants estimated that their lies were easier to detect and their feelings of disgust more obvious than they really were.
How it works: We are highly aware of our own internal states. So although we know that people can’t read our minds, we find it hard to move far enough away from the “anchor” of our own experience when trying to estimate other people’s perception of us.
See also: The spotlight effect
Thank you for reading, see you next time!
Sources:
Cognitive biases are systematic errors in thinking that we all make and that affect our judgement and behaviours. We humans like to believe we’re rational thinkers, but our brains aren’t quite wired that way. Cognitive biases are just one of the ways in which our thinking is flawed, so it’s good to be aware of them.