A study in 1977 ‘found’ that more than 90% of educators consider themselves above-average teachers. As per the study by Swedish psychologist Ola Svenson (1981), 88% of the Americans and 77% of the Swedes were in the ‘top half’ for driving safely. In another study conducted in 2017, experts agreed (71%) that cognitive bias is a concern in forensics, but only 26% thought that it affected their judgement!
The accounts mentioned above are examples of the illusion of objectivity. It arises from the belief that one understands the world better by their perceptions. You see a lot of it in politics, art and sports. Two prominent examples are the heavy influence of political partisanship in the actions of public policy experts and economics.
Expert sports analysts, especially those coming from the sports after retirement or those who regularly associate with the superstars, often lose their objectivity by being gravitated by the stardom. Remember those heated discussions between Steven A and Max Kellerman – the eternal tussle of adulation versus statistics?
[1] Patricia Cross, New Directions for Higher Education, 17, Spring 1977
[2] O. Svenson, Acta Psychologica 47 (1981) 143-148
[3] Kukucka et al., Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 2017
