Developing the Bias Blind Spot: Increasing Skepticism towards Others

<div><p>Two experiments with eighty-eight 7- to 10-year-olds examined the bias blind spot in children. Both younger and older children rated themselves as less likely than a specific other (Experiment 1) or an average child (Experiment 2) to commit various biases. These self-other differences were also more extreme for biased behaviors than for other behaviors. At times, older children demonstrated stronger self-other differences than younger children, which seemed primarily driven by older children’s judgments about bias in others. These findings suggest that, although the bias blind spot exists as soon as children recognize other-committed biases, what changes over development is how skeptical children are towards others.</p></div

Means (standard deviations) for the self- and other-rating scores for each bias in Experiment 1.

<p>Scores ranged from 1 to 3, with higher scores indicating similarity with the characters demonstrating the bias and lower scores indicating dissimilarity with the characters demonstrating the bias. Stars indicate self- and other- rating score comparisons.</p><p>* p < .05,</p><p>** p < .01,</p><p>*** p < .001,</p><p>^† = .083.</p><p>Means (standard deviations) for the self- and other-rating scores for each bias in Experiment 1.</p

Means of the self- and other-ratings for younger and older children in Experiment 2.

<p>The error bars represent the standard error. * <i>p <</i> .05, *** <i>p</i> < .001.</p

Means of the self- and other-rating scores for the bias and control stories in Experiment 1.

<p>The error bars represent the standard error. <b>*** <i>p</i> < .001</b>.</p