Capstone (Or, the Hatred Egotism Brings (also THRIFT SHOP))

One of the reasons I am able to fully enjoy this social psychology class is that my workload this semester is comparability light compared to last semester. One of the most arduous tasks of last semester was completing my business capstone. The capstone for business is easier than psychology capstone in that is only requires one semester However, this benefit is completely nullified by the fact that the entire semester is a group project. I am sure that many fellow students will echo the sentiment of begrudging as I trudged to class on the first week and was forced to integrate myself into a team of four. Luckily, I was close friends with another person in the class, Geddy*, and as such had a sure partner for the group. Another member of our class was a loose acquaintance (Demon Harlot Spawn III**) and we huddled together in a group and asked a semi-stranger (Kitty Cat Adorable Pants*) to join us. Blinded by optimism, we began our semester-long project.

Majorer of business, conjurer of peppers, and possessor
of unwarranted optimism.

Over the course of the class, our group was responsible for turning in several lengthy memos. The memo content was divided into sections, which we divided among the four individuals. Two nights before each memo was due, we each sent our parts to Geddy who was in charge of assembling them into a cohesive memo. However, the work of Demon Harlot Spawn III was aggravatingly sub-par and Geddy and I would have to spend the day and night before the assignment was due slaving away over her unsubmittable work. There were at least four large projects due over the semester, so both Geddy and I spent a good amount of our time fixing Demon Harlot Spawn III's errors and endlessly kvetching about how we were both having to do essentially double our workloads. [/rant]

At the end of the semester, our group was asked to rate each other's performance and contribution to the group's work as a whole. In addition to rating each other, we had to rate our own performance in relation to the group. It was in the midst of this rating process that I began to fully embody the egocentric bias. The egocentric bias is an attribution bias in which an individual overestimates their contribution to something they are a part of (Ross, M. & Sicoly, F., 1979). In my specific case, this was caused by two things: extensive knowledge of my own efforts and the lack of insight to Demon Harlot Spawn III's efforts. My painfully awareness of the late nights and massive amounts of editing I had undergone made me more prone to overestimate my efforts in relation to the other members of my team. Similarly, I was basing my self-ratings on incomplete knowledge; that is, I had not the knowledge of how much effort my teammates had put in so was limited in my perception of their work. It is entirely possible (and outstandingly probable) that I was judging Demon Harlot Spawn III all too harshly on incomplete information. It could be the case that she had spent immense amounts of time and effort researching and drafting her portion of the memos! Unfortunately, I was not wielding the sword of the science of social psychology at the time of the peer review and, not considering this as an option, rated my effort in relation to the group high (perhaps to an unwarranted degree). The most important effect of the egocentric bias, however, is that EVERYONE in my group was, in all likelihood, prey to it. That is, each individual in the group probably overestimated their effort because, like me, they were operating under egocentric and biased information.

NO, CAT, YOU ARE JUST NOT THINKING OF OTHERS!!!

I am running over on length due to my vainglorious (EGOCENTRIC???) indulgences in personal detail, but I also wanted to write about another attribution bias: the false uniqueness effect, a corollary to the false consensus effect. The false consensus effect states that people are more likely to believe that other people share the same beliefs that they do (Ross, L. 1977). However, this typically only occurs for important matters such as beliefs and important thoughts. For arguable less important traits, many people conform to the false uniqueness effect, which is where they believe themselves to be incredibly distinct from the general populace and maintain a "one-of-a-kind" self perception (Ross, L. 1977). Southwestern University students provide a very salient example of both of these biases. While most students at SU share common (mostly liberal) beliefs, they struggle vainly to distinguish themselves from other students through eccentric styles and music from bands "you have probably never heard of before." Below is an example of a band I listen to that makes me feel distinguished from the rest of the general masses.

So next time you look at the SU students and wonder why their style deviates from general norms, just know that their oddly-fitting pants and thrift shop wonders are part of a grand bias (delusion?) that allows them to feel like an individual that is entirely separate and unique from everyone else. (THERE IS A REASON THE THRIFT SHOP SONG IS SO POPULAR AND RELEVANT TO OUR LIVES.)

*Names have been changed
**Name has been changed to utilize a literary technique known as foreshadowing(!!!)

(Word count: 878)

Ross, L. (1977). The" False Consensus Effect": An egocentric bias in social perception and attribution processes. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 13(3), 279-301.

Ross, M. & Sicoly, F. (1979). Egocentric biases in availability and attribution. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 41, 469-477.