Thursday, September 11, 2008
TV Shows
Looking back at the readings we've had this week I see that I have an example of a concept to share that I have encountered in my life. It is the false-consensus effect, where it is easy for you to overestimate how many people think the things you think, do the things you do, believe the things you believe (Kreuger, 1998). Oddly enough, I think of Firefly the television show. Why? Well, have you ever been in the position of having a favorite television show, and learning to your dismay that not enough people are watching it so it's taken off the air? You might be left wondering why everyone isn't watching this amazing show. Surely there are plenty more people watching it out there, right? I find it a classic example of the false-consensus effect.
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Oh my gosh Marcos.. I completely understand what you mean about the false-consensus effect and television shows!
At first I had a hard time applying this concept to myself, because I fancy myself quite the individual and - according to the text - people don't exhibit this effect when they predict traits about other people for which they think they're unique (Karniol, 2003). That is, if I think it's unique that I like cows and someone were to ask me to estimate how many other people like cows, I wouldn't exaggerate the number of people who like cows the way I would if I thought it were a typical thing to like.
But, your television example makes so much sense! I love the TV show "Veronica Mars" (to the extent that its fictional main character is my idol), but it was cancelled after three seasons. Just like with you and Firefly, I couldn't believe that there weren't enough people loving the show to keep the ratings up.
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