People underestimate how widely their desirable traits and abilities are shared, while overestimating how widely their opinions are.
The asymmetry is informative. Believing one's opinions are common validates them; believing one's abilities are rare distinguishes one. Both serve self-regard, which is why the same person can hold that everybody thinks as they do and that few could do what they do.
In practice
- A team where each member believes their own care is exceptional is a team of people all being careful.
- A survey in which most drivers rate themselves above average is the same mechanism at work.
- Standing
- The mirror of the false consensus effect: consensus is overestimated for beliefs and underestimated for competencies.
- Subject
- Psychology & Behavior
- Essay
- A century and a half of measuring the mind