False uniqueness effect refers to
the tendency to underestimate the commonality of one's abilities and one's desirable or successful behaviors. An example will be " My neighbor is more likely to have better quality of life than our family". It is the general tendency to overestimate one's similarity to others on attitudes, behaviors, and personality traits. Unlike their unhappy neighbors , the most contented subjects are likely to underestimate their own ablities. Researchers attribute this to the fact that, in the absence of information about how others are doing, highly competent subjects assume that others are performing as well as they are.
Other definition:
False uniqueness effect in which individuals or groups believe that their own attitudes, beliefs and worldview are negatively correlated with those of a target population IT is the tendency to underestimate the commonality of one's abilities and one's desirable or successful behaviors. |
Glossary / Lexicon