Biased Blind Spot (2nd Semester Final)

The biased blind spot is, to me, one of the most interesting social psychological concepts that we learned about in class. Of all the social psychological concepts that we learned about in Global, I could relate this one to my life the most. The biased blind spot is the cognitive bias of failing to compensate for one's own cognitive biases. An example of a biased blind spot is a student being sure that they got into a college solely based on their merit, when there may have been other reasons, such as demographic and legacy. We as individuals create biased blind spots to protect ourselves from disappointment and rejection. For example in the case of the example listed above, the student is choosing to ignore the other reasons why he or she could have gotten into college, and is just focusing on his or merit as the primary reason. All students would like to think that they have gotten into a good college based on only there merit and ability, but this is not the only truth. Admission officers look at so many different factors when assessing you as an applicant. In the example I gave, the student is blocking out the other "truths" because if he or she accepts those truths, he or she is then challenging his or her own ideas and values.