Illusory superiority

Illusory superiority is the tendency to overestimate our own desirable qualities and underestimate our undesirable ones compared with other people. We think we are above average on positive traits and below average on negative ones. Statistically, everyone cannot be above average, so this bias is widespread and can lead to overconfidence and poor teamwork. Related: Dunning–Kruger effect, Bias blind spot.

Examples

• Most people rate themselves as better-than-average drivers, which is statistically impossible for everyone to be true.

• In workplace surveys, a large majority rate their performance above average, even when the distribution cannot support that.

• People rate themselves as more honest, fair, and kind than the average person, while rating others as closer to average.

• Students often predict they will do better than their peers in a course, even when past results suggest otherwise.

• People believe they are less susceptible to bias than others, which is itself a bias.