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Emily Pronin
Much of my research concerns asymmetries and biases in the way people perceive themselves versus others, with a focus on how these can foster misunderstanding and conflict. An example of such an asymmetry involves the tendency for people to perceive bias in others’ judgments — while adhering to a strong belief in the objectivity of their own judgments. Experimental studies related to this topic take two different approaches, aiming to identify its psychological underpinnings and also to explore its role in fueling the spiral of conflict between individuals, groups, and societies. My work also examines people’s beliefs about the relative unimportance of considering others’ motives and intentions in assessing their actions, and people’s beliefs about the heightened role of free will in guiding their own behavior versus that of others. In investigating these topics, research studies aim to develop psychological theory while also illuminating our understanding of significant social problems involving politics, law, and social conflict. Visit WebsitePublications Pronin, E., Berger, J., & Molouki, S. (2007). "Alone in a crowd of sheep: Asymmetric perceptions of conformity and their roots in an introspection illusion". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95, 585-595. Five studies show that people see others as more conforming than themselves. This asymmetry is documented in domains ranging from consumer purchases to political views. Participants claimed to be less susceptible than their average peers to broad descriptions of social influences, and they also claimed to be less susceptible than specific peers to specific instances of conformity. This asymmetry is not simply the result of social desirability, but it is also rooted in people's attention to introspective vs. behavioral information when making conformity assessments. Implications for self—other asymmetries, implicit social influence, and interpersonal conflict are also discussed. 
Pronin, E., Wegner, D. M., McCarthy, K., & Rodriguez, S. (2006). "Everyday magical powers: The role of apparent mental causation in the overestimation of personal influence." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 218-231.
These studies examined whether having thoughts related to an event before it occurs leads people to infer that they caused the event—even when such causation might otherwise seem magical. In Study 1, people perceived that they had harmed another person via a voodoo hex. These perceptions were more likely to arise among those who had first been induced to harbor evil thoughts about their victim. In Study 2, spectators of a peer’s basketball-shooting performance were more likely to perceive that they had influenced his success if they had first generated positive visualizations consistent with that success. These results occur even when the thought-about outcome is viewed as unwanted by the thinker and even in field settings where the relevant outcome is occurring as part of a live athletic competition 
Pronin, E., & Ross, L. (2006). “Temporal differences in trait self ascription: When the self is seen as an Other.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90, 197-209.
Seven studies exploring people's tendency to make observer-like attributions about their past and future selves are presented. The first two showed temporal differences in trait assessments that paralleled the classic actor-observer difference, while the third provided evidence against a motivational account of these differences. Studies 4-7 explored underlying mechanisms involving differences in the focus of attention of the sort linked to the classic actor-observer difference. |
