{
  "id": 15039523,
  "title": "Judging strangers' preferences may actually be easier when they're less like our own",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/16/judging-strangers-preferences-may-actually-be-easier-when-theyre-less",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-10-16T20:40:02.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Phys.org",
    "slug": "phys-org",
    "url": "https://phys.org/news/2026-10-strangers-easier-theyre.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Recent research published in Royal Society Open Science reveals that people tend to rely on their own preferences when trying to understand others' opinions. Scientists from the University of California, Berkeley, conducted two experiments with 118 participants to investigate how this egocentric anchoring affects judgment accuracy. The findings suggest that when a stranger's inferred preferences deviate more from one's own, participants are more accurate in their judgments. The study implies that people create a social map using their own preferences as a starting point, then adjust based on the similarities or differences they observe in others. The researchers believe this self-related influence persists even when comparing individuals or groups, indicating that egocentric anchoring is a fundamental aspect of flexible social comparisons.",
  "summary": "Researchers already know that humans have a tendency to use egocentric anchoring—a cognitive bias in which people use their own preferences, beliefs and perspectives as a mental starting point (or anchor) to understand or predict what another person thinks, feels or prefers. This is not necessarily a sign of selfishness or self-importance, but a way for us to better understand others.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}