BIAS OF THE WEEK

Group Attribution Error

Participants were presented with public policy scenarios determined by the following : 

  • single leader with no popular vote
  • vote of over 90%
  • vote including 50% of the population
Participnts associated individual views to the group outcome in all three cases!

We often assume that group decisions align with the belief of its mebers, even when the contrary information is available. 

See the full study here :

Allison, S. T., & Messick, D. M. (1985). The group attribution error. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology21(6), 563-579, https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-1031(85)90025-3

Want to know more about biases?

Negavity Bias

Functional Fixedness

Less-is-Better Effect

Status Quo Bias