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The Average Person Doesn’t Know What Average Means…
Illusory Superiority, and Why a Little Bit of Knowledge is Dangerous
This piece first appeared in my email newsletter on July 27, 2020. If you’d like to receive pieces like this weeks before I publish them, as well as book recommendations and my latest updates, sign up here. If you’re into human behaviour, psychology, philosophy and the millennial experience, I’d love you to join me.
Would you consider yourself an above-average driver?
If you answered yes to that question, you’re not alone. In fact, one study found 93% of American drivers considered themselves more skilful than the average driver.
Think about that for a moment.
Of course, this is statistically impossible. And yet, this strange demonstration of overconfidence — known by many names including the Better Than Average Effect, or Illusory Superiority — comes up time and time again in behavioural science.
In a similar vein, we also tend to assume we’re more attractive than we actually are. One study from 2008 found that when people were given a line up of different versions of their face, they were fastest to recognise a version that was enhanced to look more attractive. (The enhancement bias also applied when they assessed…
