Mechanisms Underlying the False Consensus Effect

The current studies investigated the role of self-serving motivations in the False Consensus Effect (FCE). There were two major goals. First, the studies tested whether consensus estimates would be increased when judges receive threats to self in the form of failure feedback about their performance on an experimental task. The second goal of the studies was to investigate whether self-knowledge plays a special role in the FCE beyond the use of the self as simply a single available case in memory. The current findings indicated that judges indeed use the behavior of an available case (whether the self or an other) in making inferences about a target group. Moreover, under success conditions, the available case information was sufficient to account for the extent of perceived consensus. However, under failure feedback, a judge's own behavior increased estimates above and beyond the effect of information about an available individual When the self is threatened, perceptions of consensus may be increased by a motivation to seek normalization and support for one's own behavior.