Illusory Superiority is most of us think we're above average. Statistically, we can't be. It sits in the Identity dimension (IDN) of the Human Behavior Taxonomy™ as element HBT-IDN-0015, within the Self Bias family. The core principle: most of us think we're above average. Statistically, we can't be. In incentive terms, it matters because it changes the payoff people perceive before they choose — which means it can be designed for, or exploited.
Scientific Definition
Most of us think we're above average. Statistically, we can't be.
Plain-English Definition
Most of us think we're above average. Statistically, we can't be.
Feynman Explanation
93% of drivers and 100% of executives believe they're above average.
Core Principle
Most of us think we're above average. Statistically, we can't be.
Mechanisms
Most of us think we're above average. Statistically, we can't be.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
93% of drivers and 100% of executives believe they're above average.
Examples
- Performance reviews where everyone rates themselves top quartile.
- Calibration broken because nobody is willing to be the middle.
Pending editorial review.
Original analysis from The Incentives Lab — how this element behaves inside real payoff structures.
Why this element matters to incentive design
This element is common enough to feel like human nature and specific enough to be engineered around. The mechanism underneath it is straightforward: most of us think we're above average. Statistically, we can't be. You can recognize it in the field by its signature: 93% of drivers and 100% of executives believe they're above average. Every element in the Identity dimension changes the perceived payoff of an action before the action happens, which is exactly where incentive design has leverage.
How it gets exploited
Left undesigned, 'Our AI strategy is more advanced than peers' — said by every CEO at the same conference. It is amplified whenever calibration broken because nobody is willing to be the middle. Inside organizations that shows up as calibration broken because nobody is willing to be the middle. The pattern is the same one Goodhart's Law describes: the measurable proxy attracts the effort, and the purpose behind it quietly loses funding.
How the Lab designs around it
The redesign move is to external benchmarking. Anonymous peer reviews. Design against it the way you would design against a known failure mode — assume it will appear, and price the exploit before someone finds it.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- External benchmarking. Anonymous peer reviews.
Measurement Approaches
Pending editorial review.
Evidence
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
The Perverse Incentive Lens™
How this behavior is exploited — and how to redesign around it.
- External benchmarking. Anonymous peer reviews.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Interactive Mini Network
Click any neighbor to re-center the graph and follow the threads of connection.
Knowledge Graph Neighbors
Auto-linked to the rest of the Human Behavior Taxonomy by family, domain, dimension, and shared keywords.
We see bias in others more easily than in ourselves.
Low ability paired with high confidence.
Cold-state decisions don't survive hot-state moments.
Believing we influence outcomes that are largely random.
Confidence in predictions outruns their actual accuracy.
Avoiding information that might be unpleasant.
Confidence routinely outruns calibration.
We assume our current state will persist into the future.
Overestimating our ability to control future impulses.
Wins are ours; losses are circumstantial.
We assume others notice us more than they do.
A story repeats until it becomes obviously true.
Where Illusory Superiority is cited in the corpus
Essays, field guides, and diagnostics from The Incentives Lab that apply this element.
- EssayCulture Is the Residue of Incentives
Identity as an outcome of what gets rewarded.
- EssayIncentive Intelligence
The six dimensions of reading a payoff structure.
- CourseIncentives 101
The free ten-part primer on reading a payoff structure.
- ReferenceThe Periodic Table of Human Behavior
The full 1,267-element map this page belongs to.
Questions about Illusory Superiority
- What is Illusory Superiority?
- Illusory Superiority is most of us think we're above average. Statistically, we can't be. It sits in the Identity dimension (IDN) of the Human Behavior Taxonomy™ as element HBT-IDN-0015, within the Self Bias family. The core principle: most of us think we're above average. Statistically, we can't be. In incentive terms, it matters because it changes the payoff people perceive before they choose — which means it can be designed for, or exploited.
- What is an example of Illusory Superiority?
- Calibration broken because nobody is willing to be the middle. The Incentives Lab catalogs everyday, organizational, and historical instances of this element on its Human Behavior Taxonomy™ page (HBT-IDN-0015).
- How is Illusory Superiority exploited?
- 'Our AI strategy is more advanced than peers' — said by every CEO at the same conference.
- How do you design around Illusory Superiority?
- External benchmarking. Anonymous peer reviews.
- Which behavioral dimension does Illusory Superiority belong to?
- Illusory Superiority is classified in the Identity dimension (IDN) of the Human Behavior Taxonomy™, family "Self Bias", class "Cognitive Bias". Its permanent identifier is HBT-IDN-0015 and its evidence grade is B.