When
Jonathan G Tullis
Associate Professor
Educational Psychology
University of Arizona
The Mind Reader’s Dilemma: How We Misjudge What Others Know
Abstract: Accurately estimating others’ knowledge is vital when navigating social environments. For example, teachers must anticipate their students’ understanding to plan lessons and communicate effectively. Yet, research consistently shows we have systematic biases in our estimates about what other people know. One’s own knowledge, for example, has been labeled a “curse” because it can bias estimates of what others know. In this talk, I will examine situational factors and individual differences that exacerbate or reduce biases in estimates about what others know. Within a cue-utilization framework of social metacognition, I propose that predictions of others’ knowledge are dynamically generated by estimators who weigh available and salient cues. I argue that the availability of diagnostic cues and the failure to appropriately shift among relevant cues causes systematic impairments in predictions.