I think this might better be framed as a “relativity bias”, or perhaps the “relativity heuristic”
We don’t assume that someone else winning means we have to lose, we just estimate things based on relative rather than absolute reference level. The status game would be one obvious example of this, and Yvain wrote a great post on how judgments based on relativity power thought processes all the way down to the level of perception.
You can also see it in the somewhat famous studies that show someone will drive across town to save 5 bucks on a 10 dollar calculator, but not a 100 dollar jacket, the fact that we judge gifts based on their expense relative to their class rather than their absolute expense, and probably about 100 other studies that I’m forgetting at the moment.
I like this remark. Quite possibly the “relativity heuristic” explains everything that I have in mind when I refer to “zero-sum bias.” I will have to think about this some more.
Regardless, I think that it’s worthwhile to isolate instances where the relativity heuristic pushes people in the direction of zero-sum thinking. From the point of view of people like myself who subscribe to utilitarian ethical principles, irrational zero-sum thinking is worse than some forms of irrational thinking, because when somebody engages in irrational zero-sum thinking, this has negative effects both on his or herself and on others, whereas some other forms of irrational thinking may not have systematic negative effects on others.
Here when I say “irrational” I’m referring to failure to exhibit “instrumental rationality” as opposed to failure to exhibit “epistemic rationality.”
I think this might better be framed as a “relativity bias”, or perhaps the “relativity heuristic”
We don’t assume that someone else winning means we have to lose, we just estimate things based on relative rather than absolute reference level. The status game would be one obvious example of this, and Yvain wrote a great post on how judgments based on relativity power thought processes all the way down to the level of perception.
You can also see it in the somewhat famous studies that show someone will drive across town to save 5 bucks on a 10 dollar calculator, but not a 100 dollar jacket, the fact that we judge gifts based on their expense relative to their class rather than their absolute expense, and probably about 100 other studies that I’m forgetting at the moment.
I like this remark. Quite possibly the “relativity heuristic” explains everything that I have in mind when I refer to “zero-sum bias.” I will have to think about this some more.
Regardless, I think that it’s worthwhile to isolate instances where the relativity heuristic pushes people in the direction of zero-sum thinking. From the point of view of people like myself who subscribe to utilitarian ethical principles, irrational zero-sum thinking is worse than some forms of irrational thinking, because when somebody engages in irrational zero-sum thinking, this has negative effects both on his or herself and on others, whereas some other forms of irrational thinking may not have systematic negative effects on others.
Here when I say “irrational” I’m referring to failure to exhibit “instrumental rationality” as opposed to failure to exhibit “epistemic rationality.”