Section: AP Psychology

3) Jay, who is opposed to gun control, was extremely surprised to learn that the results of a survey indicated that the majority of the population approved of increased background checks prior to gun purchases. Jay's surprise best illustrates the power of:

1. the false consensus effect.
2. the placebo effect.
3. random assignment.
4. the double-blind procedure.
5. the hindsight bias.

In psychology, the false-consensus effect or false-consensus bias is a cognitive bias whereby a person tends to overestimate the extent to which their beliefs or opinions are typical of those of others.