We tend to think that other people are not as deep as us
Summary
- We only have access to our own thoughts, so we assume that we are deeper and smarter than others
Details
- psychologist Nicholas Epley did a study asking people why they thought they were going into business vs why they thought others were going into business and they consistently assumed their fellow students had lesser motivations
References
Quotes
THE LESSER-MINDS PROBLEM. University of Chicago psychologist Nicholas Epley points out that in day-to-day life we have access to the many thoughts that run through our own minds. But we don’t have access to all the thoughts that are running through other people’s minds. We just have access to the tiny portion they speak out loud. This leads to the perception that I am much more complicated than you—deeper, more interesting, more subtle, and more high-minded. To demonstrate this phenomenon, Epley asked his business school students why they were going into business. The common answer was “I care about doing something worthwhile.” When he asked them why they thought other students at the school were going into business, they commonly replied, “For the money.” You know, because other people have lesser motivations…and lesser minds.