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Bias Blind Spot: Structure, Measurement, and Consequences

Author

Listed:
  • Irene Scopelliti

    (Cass Business School, City University London, London EC1Y 8TZ, United Kingdom)

  • Carey K. Morewedge

    (Questrom School of Business, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215)

  • Erin McCormick

    (Dietrich School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213)

  • H. Lauren Min

    (Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309)

  • Sophie Lebrecht

    (Dietrich School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213)

  • Karim S. Kassam

    (Dietrich School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213)

Abstract

People exhibit a bias blind spot : they are less likely to detect bias in themselves than in others. We report the development and validation of an instrument to measure individual differences in the propensity to exhibit the bias blind spot that is unidimensional, internally consistent, has high test-retest reliability, and is discriminated from measures of intelligence, decision-making ability, and personality traits related to self-esteem, self-enhancement, and self-presentation. The scale is predictive of the extent to which people judge their abilities to be better than average for easy tasks and worse than average for difficult tasks, ignore the advice of others, and are responsive to an intervention designed to mitigate a different judgmental bias. These results suggest that the bias blind spot is a distinct metabias resulting from naïve realism rather than other forms of egocentric cognition, and has unique effects on judgment and behavior. This paper was accepted by Yuval Rottenstreich, judgment and decision making .

Suggested Citation

  • Irene Scopelliti & Carey K. Morewedge & Erin McCormick & H. Lauren Min & Sophie Lebrecht & Karim S. Kassam, 2015. "Bias Blind Spot: Structure, Measurement, and Consequences," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(10), pages 2468-2486, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:61:y:2015:i:10:p:2468-2486
    DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2014.2096
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