Egocentric Bias
Egocentric bias turns your current position on a spectrum into the presumed standard. Differences on either side then feel like defects in other people rather than distances from an arbitrary reference point.
On the road, the driver below your preferred speed is an idiot; the one above it is a maniac. Your own speed alone escapes judgment—not because it is objectively correct, but because you are the person setting the scale.
E1The ruler moves with you
First, you treat your present position as the natural midpoint. Then you measure everyone else by their distance and direction from it. Finally, you translate that relative difference into character: slower becomes incompetent, faster becomes reckless. The hidden move is not comparison itself; it is forgetting that the ruler is anchored to you. Move your own position and the categories of “idiot” and “maniac” move with it.
E1Not every midpoint is arbitrary
Recognizing a self-centered reference point does not mean every speed is equally sensible or that judgment is never warranted. The model applies when your own position is doing the work of proof. An independent constraint could still make one choice safer or more appropriate; your preference alone cannot.
E1Move the reference point
The next time you label someone excessive or deficient, rewrite the judgment as a relative statement: “They are faster than me,” not “They are a maniac.” Then name the external standard—if any—that turns the difference into an actual fault.
E1Episodes that teach this
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Why Do Poor People Love Loud Colours? Future IQ
· explained at 1:00
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The bumper sticker example: 'Everybody slower than me is an idiot and everybody faster than me is a maniac.'