Egocentric bias
The tendency to rely too much on our own point of view, including remembering our own part in shared events as bigger or better than it was.
In everyday life
Two roommates each believe they do about two-thirds of the housework, which adds up to more than the whole.
After a group project, you tell your partner you did most of the hard work, then learn that each of your three teammates privately claimed the same.
Why your mind does this
To act at all, we need some belief that our choices matter and that we can pull them off. A bit of extra confidence gets us moving, keeps us going after setbacks, and protects our sense of self-worth and our standing in a group.
Its family, in 30 seconds: Confidence to act
How to spot it
Notice when your account of a shared effort features you far more than anyone else.
How to counter it
Before claiming credit, list in detail what each other person did, as if you were writing their review.
Same family: Confidence to act
- Overconfidence effect
- Social desirability bias
- Third-person effect
- False consensus effect
- Hard-easy effect
- Lake Wobegon effect
- Dunning-Kruger effect
- Egocentric bias
- Optimism bias
- Forer effect
- Barnum effect
- Self-serving bias
- Actor-observer bias
- Illusion of control
- Illusory superiority
- Fundamental attribution error
- Defensive attribution hypothesis
- Trait ascription bias
- Effort justification
- Risk compensation
- Peltzman effect
SourcesRoss & Sicoly (1979)·Wikipedia