Participants in an experiment were told that they were particularly good at a task requiring social skills. Later, they were told that this information was utterly bogus and that all participants had received the same feedback. Then, at the end of the experiment, the participants were asked just how good they thought their social skills really were. On the basis of other studies, we should predict that, in this final self-assessment, participants will:

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

This is an example of the belief perseverance phenomenon, where people tend to hold on to their initial belief even when evidence suggests otherwise. The participants were initially told that they were good at a task requiring social skills, and even though they were later told that this feedback was bogus and that everyone received the same feedback, they still continued to believe in their initial assessment. Therefore, they would overestimate their social skills in the final self-assessment.

Participants in an Experiment Were Told That They Were Particularly