Abstract
Two studies were designed to examine the impact of the false consensus effect on behavior (FCE; Ross, Greene, & House, 1977). False consensus is a form of social projection whereby individuals overestimate the degree to which others share their characteristics or beliefs. In a modified test of the theory of reasoned action, Study 1 demonstrated that the FCE independently predicts behavioral intentions regarding important social issues in a sample comprised of 205 college students. Further, results indicated that self-monitoring moderates the extent to which the FCE predicts behavioral intentions (specifically, as hypothesized, the FCE is a stronger predictor of behavior for high self-monitors). Because of the prevalence of the FCE among college students regarding potentially harmful social behaviors, Study 2 was designed to eliminate the FCE by differentially presenting students (N = 280) with alternative viewpoints regarding various issues. Presenting both sides of an argument using video-based stimuli effectively reduced the FCE. Recommendations for interventions that effectively promote beneficial social norms are discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Asch, S.E. (1955). Opinions and social pressure. Scientific American, 193, 31–35.
Ajzen, I. (1988). Attitudes, personality, and behavior. Chicago, IL: Dorsey Press.
Ajzen, I., & Fishbein, M. (1980). Understanding attitudes and predicting social behavior. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Botvin, G.J., Botvin, E.M., Baker, E., Dusenbury, L., & Goldberg, C.J. (1992). The false consensus effect: Predicting adolescents' tobacco use from normative expectations. Psychological Reports, 70, 171–178.
Chan, D.K., & Fishbein, M. (1993). Determinants of college women's intentions to tell their partners to use condoms. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 23, 1455–1470.
Chassin, L., Presson, C.C., Sherman, S.J., Corty, E., & Olshavsky, R.W. (1984). Predicting the onset of cigarette smoking in adolescents: A longitudinal study. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 14, 224–243.
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Crowne, D.P. & Marlowe, D. (1960). A new scale of social desirability independent of psychopathology. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 24, 349–354.
Deutsch, F. (1987). When friends lead us astray: Evidence for the selective exposure hypothesis. Journal of Social Psychology, 128 (2), 271–273.
Dielman, T.E., Campanelli, P.C., Shope, J.T., & Butchart, A.T. (1987). Susceptibility to peer pressure, self-esteem, and health locus of control as correlates of adolescent substance abuse. Health Education Quarterly, 14, 207–221.
Festinger, L. (1954). A theory of social comparison. Human Relations, 7, 117–140.
Fishbein, M. (1979). A theory of reasoned action: Some applications and implications. In H. Howe and M. Page (Eds.), Nebraska Symposium on Motivation. Lincoln, NE: University of New Hampshire Press.
Fishbein, M., & Ajzen, I. (1975). Belief, attitude, intention, and behavior: An introduction to theory and research. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Funder, D.C. (1987). Errors and mistakes: Evaluating the accuracy of social judgment. Psychological Bulletin, 101, 75–90.
Helmreich, R., & Stapp, J. (1974). Short forms of the Texas Social Behavior Inventory (TSBI): An objective measure of self-esteem. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 4, 473–475.
Holmes, D.S. (1968). Dimensions of projection. Psychological Bulletin, 69, 248–268.
Kelly, J.A., Lawrence, J.S., Diaz, Y.E., Stevenson, L.Y., Hauth, A.C., Brasfield, T.L., Kalichman, S.C., Smith, J.E., & Andrew, M.E. (1991). HIV risk behavior reduction following intervention with key opinion leaders of population: An experimental analysis. American Journal of Public Health, 81, 168–171.
Kelly, J.A., Lawrence, J.S., Stevenson, L.Y., Hauth, A.C., Kalichman, S.C., Diaz, Y.E., Brasfield, T.L., Koob, J.J., & Morgan, M.G. (1992). Community AIDS/HIV risk reduction: The effects of endorsements by popular people in three cities. American Journal of Public Health, 82, 1483–1489.
Kraus, S.J. (1995). Attitudes and the prediction of behavior: A meta-analysis of the empirical literature. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 21, 58–75.
Krueger, J., & Clement, R.W. (1994). The truly false consensus effect: An ineradicable and egocentric bias in social perception. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 596–610.
Krueger, J., & Zeiger, J.S. (1993). Social categorization and the truly false consensus effect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65(4), 670–680.
Laflin, M.T., Moore-Hirschl, S. Weis, D.L, & Hayes, B.E. (1994). Use of the theory of reasoned action to predict drug and alcohol use. The International Journal of the Addictions, 29(7), 927–940.
Marks, G., & Duval, S. (1991). Availability of alternative positions and estimates of consensus. British Journal of Social Psychology, 30, 179–183.
Marks, G., & Miller, N. (1987). Ten years of research on the false-consensus effect: An empirical and theoretical review. Psychological Bulletin, 102(1), 72–90.
Miller, N., & Marks, G. (1982). Assumed similarity between self and other: Effect of expectation of future interaction with that other. Social Psychology Quarterly, 45, 100–105.
Morrison, D.M., Gillmore, M.R., & Baker, S.A. (1995). Determinants of condom use among high-risk heterosexual adults: A test of the theory of reasoned action. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 25, 651–676.
Mullen, B., Atkins, J.L., Champion, D.S., Edwards, C., Hardy, D., Story, J.E., & Vanderklok, M. (1985). The false consensus effect: A meta-analysis of 115 hypothesis tests. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 21, 262–283.
Newcomb, T.M. (1943). Personality and social change. New York: Dryden.
Norman, N.M., & Tedeschi, J.T. (1989). Self-presentation, reasoned action, and adolescents' decisions to smoke cigarettes. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 19(1), 543–558.
Prentice, D.A., & Miller, D.T. (1993). Pluralistic ignorance and alcohol use on campus: Some consequences of misperceiving the social norm. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64(2), 243–256.
Prislin, R., & Kovrlija, N. (1992). Predicting behavior of high and low self-monitors: An application of the theory of planned behavior. Psychological Reports, 70, 1131–1138.
Ross, L., Greene, D., & House, P. (1977). The “false consensus effect”: An egocentric bias in social perception and attribution processes. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 13, 279–301.
Ross, M.W., & McLaws, M.L. (1992). Subjective norms about condoms are better predictors of use and intention to use than attitudes. Health Education Research, 7(3), 335–339.
Sharp, M.J., & Getz, J.G. (1996). Substance use as impression management. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22(1), 60–67.
Sherif, M. (1936). The psychology of social norms. New York: Harper & Row.
Sherman, S.J., Presson, C.C., Chassin, L., Corty, E., & Olshavsky, R. (1983). The false consensus effect in estimates of smoking prevalence: Underlying mechanisms. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 9, 197–207.
Snyder, M. (1974). Self-monitoring of expressive behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 30, 351.
Suls, J., & Wills, T. (Eds.). (1991). Social comparison: Contemporary theory and research. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Tashakkori, A., & Thompson, V. D. (1992). Predictors of intention to take precautions against AIDS among black college students. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 22, 736–753.
Trafimow, D. (1994). Predicting intentions to use a condom from perceptions of normative pressure and confidence in those perceptions. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 24, 2151–2163.
Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1973). Availability: A heuristic for judging frequency and probability. Cognitive Psychology, 5, 207–232.
van den Putte, B. (1991). Twenty years of the theory of reasoned action of Fishbein and Ajzen: A meta-analysis. Unpublished manuscript, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
White, K.M., Terry, D.J., & Hogg, M.A. (1994). Safer sex behavior: The role of attitudes, norms, and control factors. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 24, 2164–2192.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bauman, K.P., Geher, G. We think you agree: The detrimental impact of the false consensus effect on behavior. Curr Psychol 21, 293–318 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-002-1020-0
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-002-1020-0