Projection Bias in Social Learning Leads to Misinformed Societal Choices.
The article explores how people make mistakes when learning from others in social situations and markets. It focuses on two common errors: overestimating how similar others' tastes are to their own, and neglecting to consider that previous actions also influence current decisions. These errors can lead to incorrect beliefs and behaviors, such as everyone thinking the same action is best or constantly changing opinions. In auctions, people may wrongly assume that popular items are of higher quality. Overall, these mistakes can create a false consensus where everyone believes their own preferences are the most common.