False consensus

Type: Concept

As of November 2026, False consensus has been mentioned in one podcast episode on Jordan B Peterson (Aug 2025).

In psychology, the false consensus effect, also known as consensus bias, is a pervasive cognitive bias that causes people to overestimate the extent to which other people share their beliefs and views; it is the tendency to "see their own behavioral choices and judgments as relatively common and appropriate to existing circumstances". In other words, they assume that their personal qualities, characteristics, beliefs, and actions are relatively widespread through the general population.