“Most misunderstandings in the world could be avoided if people would simply take the time to ask, “What else could this mean?”

Shannon L. Alder

Egocentric bias describes the tendency to see ourselves at the center of events.

In other words, we’re all the main character in our own story.

Biases in general are not all bad. They’re like sometimes helpful glitches built into our evolutionary software.

But left unchecked they can distort our sense of reality and cloud our decision-making, and egocentric bias is no different.

How to recognize egocentric bias

Here’s a common example of egocentric bias.

Have you ever said something awkward in a meeting at work? The recod scratches. There is an elongated pause. You feel the momentary burn of embarrassment as your cheeks flush… but it passes. The meeting continues.

That night you lay awake, ruminating.

I can’t believe I said that.

My team probably thinks I’m incompetent.

Why can’t I just articulate my thoughts normally like everyone else?

The thing is, the chances are good that your colleagues hardly noticed or remembered your moment of awkward shame. The reason is that they were too busy centering themselves to worry about you!

Examples of egocentric bias

• Someone believing they’ve had a bigger impact on other people’s opinions than is actually true.
• Someone believes that another person’s actions were deliberately taken to help or hurt them when this is not the case (aka taking something personally).
• Someone who exaggerates their individual contributions to the outcome of a group project.

How is egocentric bias useful?

It helps us form a coherent sense of self.

According to Dr. Anthony Greenwald, the psychologist who first described egocentric bias in 1984:

“The mind is organized to perceive and store information in terms of the egocentric bias. It serves an essential cognitive function: the bias organizes our experience in a stable and consistent way so that we can later recall it.”

This means people find it easier to recall information when it involves or refers to them.

For example, if you ask someone about a significant event, like the Kennedy Assassination or 9/11, they’ll tend to have an easier time remembering where they were and what they did that day than details about the event itself.

Egocentric bias shapes both people’s perception of events as they unfold and how they recall them from memory.

It helps us feel in control

A sense of control is a basic psychological need. We need to feel like we can shape our environments and produce the outcomes that we desire in order to feel safe and secure.

It’s so important that a perceived lack of control is associated with feelings of depression and victimhood.

Egocentric bias creates a sense of control. When we see ourselves at the center of whatever is happening around us, we feel like we can have an impact, and we’re more likely to take action.

The presence of egocentric bias can therefore be a positive indicator of a healthy mental state.

How is egocentric bias harmful?

It conceals reality

Egocentric bias conceals the truth about our actions in a number of ways. It can make us feel more important than we actually are and mask the relative significance of our contributions. It makes it harder to understand perspectives that are different from our own.

This can make it more challenging to be effective, collaborate effectively, and learn and improve.

Bias and power: a dangerous combination

However, the risks are greatest for leaders and others in positions of responsibility. Often, good decision-making depends on the extent to which we’re able to perceive the reality of a situation.

Leaders are also susceptible to the corrosive effects of power. Dacher Keltner is a psychology professor at UC Berkeley who studies the influence of power on individuals.

In his 2016 book, The Power Paradox, he describes finding that, over time, power makes people more likely to:

• Act impulsively
• Lie
• Think it’s ok to break rules that everyone else should follow
• Cheat on their spouses
• One study even shows that powerful people are more to steal sweets from children

Pairing the power paradox phenomenon that Keltner describes with the effects of egocentric bias can create the conditions for truly horrible leadership.

Egocentric bias in the age of work-from-home

The effects of egocentric bias are amplified in a virtual work environment.

Take the example described earlier of making an awkward comment in a meeting.

The cues that would normally be available to more accurately gauge the sentiment in the room, like body language, are less evident over a video call. Not only are we stuck in our own heads, but we’re stuck in our rooms, staring into our own screens, too.

Ways to mitigate egocentric bias, aka “how to get out of your own head”

#1: Awareness

As with any bias, greater awareness will help.

Learn about it, and its impact, and think about the situations when it is most likely to show up for you.

Journaling can be a great way to foster awareness. It’s useful to go back and re-read previous entries after some time has gone by. Often, this makes it easier to see the ways in which we’re centering ourselves in ways that might not be aligned with reality.

#2: Read fiction

The magic of fiction is that it gets us into the (albeit fictional) heads of other people in a way that no other experience does.

Through fiction, we can imagine the private thoughts, emotions, and sensations of someone who is not us. I think this has the capacity to significantly broaden our perspective and imagination.

#3: Ask for feedback

We all have blind spots. These are things that we don’t know that we don’t know, and external feedback is often the only way to reveal them.

Understanding our blind spots enables greater self-awareness, which is associated with all kinds of goodies, including being more effective communicators, making better decisions, being stronger leaders, and building more sound relationships.

#4: Use “self-distancing”

When you want or need greater clarity in assessing an event or topic, shift from first person to third person.

This is also known as “self-distancing.” It’s a way to subconsciously trick the brain into shortcircuiting the effects of egocentric bias. It can help a person look at themselves, or an event or thing involving them, more objectively.

A few ways to do this are:

• Avoid using first-person pronouns.
  
  Shift from “I” to “he” “she” “they” or your first name when referring to yourself in the context of the situation. For example, instead of saying “Why did I do that?” I would say “Why did he do that?” or “Why did Shawn do that?” This might seem really bizarre and even more egotistical, but it will grant greater perspective by creating more psychological distance between you and the topic.
  
  
• Try “The Alien Exercise”
  
  Author Jen Sincero has an exercise called “The Alien Exercise” that is great here. In her book, You Are a Badass, she describes using the Alien Exercise to get more clarity. 

”Imagine you are an alien and you’ve just landed on Earth — into your body and life. Take notice of all the connections, opportunities, skills, possessions and people who love you and can help you. What would you do and how would you feel? I think this is great for brainstorming projects, ideas and new ways to enjoy your day-to-day life.” Though this is more general, you can adapt it to focus in on a particular situation.”

Understanding and mitigating biases is an incredible superpower. It will allow you to see around corners, perform better at work, and just generally be a better human.

Give it a try! Thanks for reading.