Neural Correlates of the False Consensus Effect: Evidence for Motivated Projection and Regulatory Restraint

Abstract

The false consensus effect (FCE), the tendency to project our attitudes and opinions on to others, is a pervasive bias in social reasoning with a range of ramifications for individuals and society. Research in social psychology has suggested that numerous factors (anchoring and adjustment, accessibility, motivated projection, etc.) may contribute to the FCE. In this study, we examine the neural correlates of the FCE and provide evidence that motivated projection plays a significant role. Activity in reward regions (ventromedial pFC and bilateral nucleus accumbens) during consensus estimation was positively associated with bias, whereas activity in right ventrolateral pFC (implicated in emotion regulation) was inversely associated with bias. Activity in reward and regulatory regions accounted for half of the total variation in consensus bias across participants (R = .503). This research complements models of the FCE in social psychology, providing a glimpse into the neural mechanisms underlying this important phenomenon.

Experimental Philosophy and the Incentivisation Challenge: a Proposed Application of the Bayesian Truth Serum

“…This effect has also been directly replicated crossculturally by Liebrand et al (1986) and is still widely found in variety of contexts long after it has first been studied in the 1980s (e.g. Coleman 2018;Welborn et al 2017). The Bayesian Truth Serum relies on a Bayesian interpretation of this phenomenon, i.e.…”

Disconfirmation modulates the neural correlates of the false consensus effect: A parametric modulation approach

“…The methods employed in the conduct of this research have previously been described in Welborn, Gunter, Vezich, & Lieberman (2017). They are reproduced here for convenience, with minor changes to explain the models used in assessing parametric modulation of neural activity by consensus bias.…”

“…Moreover, in Welborn, Gunter, Vezich, & Lieberman (2017), between-subjects variation in observed consensus bias was associated with the recruitment of reward regions such as the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. That is, individuals who exhibited greater activation in these regions, on average, tended to show greater bias in their consensus estimates.…”

“…Data and results from this sample of participants have been presented elsewhere (Welborn, Gunter, Vezich, & Lieberman, 2017), focusing on between-subjects differences in the activation of areas underlying consensus bias. Here, rather than considering individual differences, we focus instead on common processes that are associated with within-subjects variation in consensus bias across issues (or attitude items).…”

“…Here, rather than considering individual differences, we focus instead on common processes that are associated with within-subjects variation in consensus bias across issues (or attitude items). Some of the regions queried in the present study overlap with those interrogated in Welborn, Gunter, Vezich, & Lieberman (2017), insofar as the valuation regions include the NAcc and portions of the VMPFC (see ROI definition in Methods below), but the analysis performed is independent. In the Results section below, prior to discussing parametric modulation analysis, we address several aspects of the behavioral data that are relevant to parametric modulation analyses: 1) differences in reaction times across conditions.…”