Fallacies and Cognitive Biases: Naive Cynicism ~ by Ransom

This article is part of an ongoing series that began with Fallacies and Cognitive Biases.

The above picture is a detail from "50 Cognitive Biases to be aware of so you can be the very best version of you"

"We believe that we observe objective reality and that other people have a higher egocentric bias than they actually do in their intentions/actions."

The blurb needs no elaboration.

This cognitive bias helps us survive in a social reality where others are as self-interested as we are.

Everyone has a biological impetus to survive.  The cost to you of your own death is higher than the cost to you of someone else's death (love for family is a different consideration).  Everyone else has the same calculation.

The cost to you of assuming that others are less selfish than they are is potentially much higher than the cost of assuming they are more selfish.

That is to say, being over-trusting can hurt you more than being over-mistrusting.  The calculations of The Fundamental Attribution Error apply here.

See the Spotlight Effect.