The headwinds/tailwinds asymmetry: An availability bias in assessments of barriers and blessings.
Abstract
Seven studies provide evidence of an availability bias in people's assessments of the benefits they've enjoyed and the barriers they've faced. Barriers and hindrances command attention because they have to be overcome; benefits and resources can often be simply enjoyed and largely ignored. As a result of this "headwind/tailwind" asymmetry, Democrats and Republicans both claim that the electoral map works against them (Study 1), football fans take disproportionate note of the challenging games on their team's schedules (Study 2), people tend to believe that their parents have been harder on them than their siblings are willing to grant (Study 3), and academics think that they have a harder time with journal reviewers, grant panels, and tenure committees than members of other subdisciplines (Study 7). We show that these effects are the result of the enhanced availability of people's challenges and difficulties (Studies 4 and 5) and are not simply the result of self-serving attribution management (Studies 6 and 7). We also show that the greater salience of a person's headwinds can lead people to believe they have been treated unfairly and, as a consequence, more inclined to endorse morally questionable behavior (Study 7). Our discussion focuses on the implications of the headwind/tailwind asymmetry for a variety of ill-conceived policy decisions. (PsycINFO Database Record
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
People have a tendency to focus more on challenges than successes.
“These can often be overlooked as people have a tendency to focus more on challenges than successes [57].”
From Faculty online learning communities: A model for sustained teaching transformation (2019) · cites this paper as [57]
Cites
Prospect theory: An analysis of decision under risk
Kahneman, D. J., & Tversky, A. (1988) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511609220.014 · Cited by 32,700 · see citing works
The norm of reciprocity: A preliminary statement
Gouldner, A. W. (1960) · American Sociological Review · doi:10.2307/2092623 · Cited by 12,001 · see citing works
Availability: A heuristic for judging frequency and probability
Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1973) · Cognitive Psychology · doi:10.1016/0010-0285(73)90033-9 · Cited by 9,984 · see citing works
Kruger, J., & Dunning, D. (1999) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.77.6.1121 · Cited by 7,731 · see citing works
Baumeister, R. F., Bratslavsky, E., Finkenauer, C., & Vohs, K. D. (2001) · Review of General Psychology · doi:10.1037/1089-2680.5.4.323 · Cited by 7,678 · see citing works
Shiffrin, R. M., & Schneider, W. (1977) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.84.2.127 · Cited by 7,335 · see citing works
Confirmation Bias: A Ubiquitous Phenomenon in Many Guises
Nickerson, R. S. (1998) · Review of General Psychology · doi:10.1037/1089-2680.2.2.175 · Cited by 7,267 · see citing works
Globalization and Its Discontents
Bögenhold, D. (2015) · Sage eBooks · doi:10.4135/9781452206905.n316 · Cited by 5,476 · see citing works
Unrealistic optimism about future life events
Weinstein, N. D. (1980) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.39.5.806 · Cited by 4,999 · see citing works
Some Experiments on the Recognition of Speech, with One and with Two Ears
Cherry, E. C. (1953) · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · doi:10.1121/1.1907229 · Cited by 4,554 · see citing works
Negativity Bias, Negativity Dominance, and Contagion
Rozin, P., & Royzman, E. B. (2001) · Personality and Social Psychology Review · doi:10.1207/s15327957pspr0504_2 · Cited by 4,342 · see citing works
Pursuing Happiness: The Architecture of Sustainable Change
Lyubomirsky, S., Sheldon, K. M., & Schkade, D. (2005) · Review of General Psychology · doi:10.1037/1089-2680.9.2.111 · Cited by 3,203 · see citing works
Self-esteem as an interpersonal monitor: The sociometer hypothesis
Leary, M. R., Tambor, E. S., Terdal, S. K., & Downs, D. L. (1995) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.68.3.518 · Cited by 2,519 · see citing works
Asymmetrical effects of positive and negative events – the mobilization minimization hypothesis.
Taylor, S. E. (1991) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037//0033-2909.110.1.67 · Cited by 2,387 · see citing works
Gratitude and well-being: A review and theoretical integration
Wood, A. M., Froh, J. J., & Geraghty, A. W. A. (2010) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2010.03.005 · Cited by 2,217 · see citing works
FORMING IMPRESSIONS OF PERSONALITY
Asch, S. E. (1961) · University of California Press eBooks · doi:10.1525/9780520313514-018 · Cited by 2,100 · see citing works
Confirmation, disconfirmation, and information in hypothesis testing
Klayman, J., & Ha, Y.-W. (1987) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.94.2.211 · Cited by 2,094 · see citing works
(2013) · Cited by 1,704 · see citing works
McCullough, M. E., Kilpatrick, S. D., Emmons, R. A., & Larson, D. B. (2001) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.127.2.249 · Cited by 1,698 · see citing works
Negativity and extremity biases in impression formation: A review of explanations.
Skowronski, J. J., & Carlston, D. E. (1989) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.105.1.131 · Cited by 1,550 · see citing works
Attention in Dichotic Listening: Affective Cues and the Influence of Instructions
Moray, N. P. (1959) · Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology · doi:10.1080/17470215908416289 · Cited by 1,398 · see citing works
Gratitude and Prosocial Behavior: Helping When It Costs You
Bartlett, M. Y., & DeSteno, D. (2006) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01705.x · Cited by 1,161 · see citing works
The effects of divided attention on encoding and retrieval processes in human memory.
Craik, F. I. M., Govoni, R., Naveh-Benjamin, M., & Anderson, N. D. (1996) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: General · doi:10.1037/0096-3445.125.2.159 · Cited by 1,024 · see citing works
Sheldon, K. M., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2006) · The Journal of Positive Psychology · doi:10.1080/17439760500510676 · Cited by 925 · see citing works
JONES, E. E., & Berglas, S. (1978) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/014616727800400205 · Cited by 833 · see citing works
Objectivity in the eye of the beholder: Divergent perceptions of bias in self versus others
Pronin, E., Gilovich, T., & Ross, L. (2004) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.111.3.781 · Cited by 771 · see citing works
Self-citationLeveling up and down: The experiences of benign and malicious envy.
van de Ven, N., Zeelenberg, M., & Pieters, R. G. M. (2009) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/a0015669 · Cited by 732 · see citing works
Emmons, R. A., & McCullough, M. E. (2003) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037//0022-3514.84.2.377 · Cited by 716 · see citing works
Why the unskilled are unaware: Further explorations of (absent) self-insight among the incompetent
Ehrlinger, J., Johnson, K., Banner, M., Dunning, D., & Kruger, J. (2008) · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2007.05.002 · Cited by 707 · see citing works
Dunning, D. A., Meyerowitz, J. A., & Holzberg, A. D. (2002) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511808098.020 · Cited by 688 · see citing works
Egocentric Biases in Availability and Attribution
Ross, M., & Sicoly, F. (2004) · Psychology Press eBooks · doi:10.4324/9780203496398-12 · Cited by 660 · see citing works
Neural mechanisms mediating optimism bias
Sharot, T., Riccardi, A. M., Raio, C. M., & Phelps, E. A. (2007) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature06280 · Cited by 659 · see citing works
See what you want to see: Motivational influences on visual perception
Balcetis, E., & Dunning, D. (2006) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.91.4.612 · Cited by 649 · see citing works
Visual-motor recalibration in geographical slant perception.
Bhalla, M., & Proffítt, D. R. (1999) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception & Performance · doi:10.1037//0096-1523.25.4.1076 · Cited by 647 · see citing works
Helweg‐Larsen, M., & Shepperd, J. A. (2001) · Personality and Social Psychology Review · doi:10.1207/s15327957pspr0501_5 · Cited by 544 · see citing works
McCullough, M. E., Kimeldorf, M. B., & Cohen, A. D. (2008) · Current Directions in Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8721.2008.00590.x · Cited by 488 · see citing works
Kanouse, D. E., & Hanson, L. R. (1987) · Cited by 483 · see citing works
It's the little things: Everyday gratitude as a booster shot for romantic relationships
Algoe, S. B., Gable, S. L., & Maisel, N. C. (2010) · Personal Relationships · doi:10.1111/j.1475-6811.2010.01273.x · Cited by 452 · see citing works
The overconfidence effect in social prediction.
Dunning, D. A., Griffin, D. W., Milojkovic, J. D., & Ross, L. D. (1990) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.58.4.568 · Cited by 431 · see citing works
Zeigler‐Hill, V., & Shackelford, T. K. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-24612-3_300293 · Cited by 412 · see citing works
Happiness, pleasure, and judgment: the contextual theory and its applications
(1996) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.33-5390 · Cited by 411 · see citing works
Why Envy Outperforms Admiration
van de Ven, N., Zeelenberg, M., & Pieters, R. G. M. (2011) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167211400421 · Cited by 380 · see citing works
Success and Luck: Good Fortune and the Myth of Meritocracy
Frank, R. H. (2016) · Project Muse (Johns Hopkins University) · Cited by 343 · see citing works
Wishful Seeing: More Desired Objects Are Seen as Closer
Balcetis, E., & Dunning, D. (2010) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797609356283 · Cited by 320 · see citing works
How Many Friends Does One Person Need? Dunbar’s Number and Other Evolutionary Quirks
Dunbar, R. (2011) · Harvard University Press eBooks · doi:10.2307/j.ctvk12rgx · Cited by 258 · see citing works
An impression management interpretation of the self-handicapping strategy.
Kolditz, T. A., & Arkin, R. M. (1982) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.43.3.492 · Cited by 251 · see citing works
The Makings of the Magical Mind: The Nature and Function of Sympathetic Magical Thinking
Nemeroff, C. J., & Rozin, P. N. (2000) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511571381.002 · Cited by 234 · see citing works
The role of attention during encoding in implicit and explicit memory.
Mulligan, N. W. (1998) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning Memory and Cognition · doi:10.1037/0278-7393.24.1.27 · Cited by 230 · see citing works
Effect of temporal perspective on subjective confidence.
Gilovich, T. D., Kerr, M., & Medvec, V. H. (1993) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037//0022-3514.64.4.552 · Cited by 218 · see citing works
Self-citationAre Most People Happier than their Peers, or Are They Just Happy?
Klar, Y., & Giladi, E. E. (1999) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167299025005004 · Cited by 217 · see citing works
Windschitl, P. D., Kruger, J., & Simms, E. N. (2003) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.85.3.389 · Cited by 204 · see citing works
When envy leads to schadenfreude
van de Ven, N., Hoogland, C. E., Smith, R. H., DIJK, W. W. V., Breugelmans, S. M., & Zeelenberg, M. (2014) · Cognition & Emotion · doi:10.1080/02699931.2014.961903 · Cited by 157 · see citing works
Examining the pathways between gratitude and self-rated physical health across adulthood
Hill, P. L., Allemand, M., & Roberts, B. W. (2012) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2012.08.011 · Cited by 150 · see citing works
Self-handicapping: The role of discounting and augmentation in the preservation of self-esteem.
Rhodewalt, F. T., Morf, C. C., Hazlett, S., & Fairfield, M. (1991) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.61.1.122 · Cited by 144 · see citing works
The American non-dilemma: racial inequality without racism
(2013) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.51-0571 · Cited by 137 · see citing works
Self-reported versus behavioral self-handicapping: Empirical evidence for a theoretical distinction.
Hirt, E. R., Deppe, R. K., & Gordon, L. J. (1991) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037//0022-3514.61.6.981 · Cited by 121 · see citing works
Do people really believe they are above average
Williams, E. F., & Gilovich, T. (2008) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2008.01.002 · Cited by 117 · see citing works
Self-citationThe costs and benefits of undoing egocentric responsibility assessments in groups.
Caruso, E. M., Nicholas Epley, A., & Bazerman, M. H. (2006) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.91.5.857 · Cited by 113 · see citing works
Context effects in impression formation: Changes in connotative meaning.
Hamilton, D. L., & Zanna, M. P. (1974) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0036633 · Cited by 98 · see citing works
Self-serving bias or simply serving the self? Evidence for a dimensional approach to narcissism
Tamborski, M., Brown, R. P., & Chowning, K. (2012) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2012.01.030 · Cited by 82 · see citing works
Cultivating gratitude and giving through experiential consumption.
Walker, J., Kumar, A., & Gilovich, T. D. (2016) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/emo0000242 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
Self-citationMany hands make overlooked work: Over-claiming of responsibility increases with group size.
Schroeder, J., Caruso, E. M., & Nicholas Epley, A. (2016) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Applied · doi:10.1037/xap0000080 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
On the genesis of inflated (and deflated) judgments of responsibility
Kruger, J., & Savitsky, K. (2008) · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2008.06.002 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Williams, E. F., & Gilovich, T. D. (2011) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2011.11.010 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Self-citationQuestioning the "I" in Experience: Experiential Purchases Foster Social Connection
Kumar, A., Mann, T. C., & Gilovich, T. D. (2013) · PsycEXTRA Dataset · doi:10.1037/e513702014-096 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Self-citationLiberal Democracy Promotion in Iraq: A Model for the Middle East and North Africa?
Bridoux, J., & Russell, M. B. (2012) · Foreign Policy Analysis · doi:10.1111/j.1743-8594.2012.00181.x · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Faculty online learning communities: A model for sustained teaching transformation
Dancy, M., Lau, A. C., Rundquist, A., & Henderson, C. (2019) · Physical Review Physics Education Research · doi:10.1103/physrevphyseducres.15.020147 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
- Authors
- Davidai, S., & Gilovich, T.
- Affiliations
- The New School (US)
- Cornell University (US)
- Venue
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
- Published
- 2016-12
- Volume
- 111
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 835-851
- ISSN
- 0022-3514 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1315
- OpenAlex
- W2549165840
- Cited by
- 107
- References
- 66
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 34 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 3
- FWCI
- 4.90
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › General Decision Sciences › Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social Power and Status Dynamics
- Keywords
- availability bias, benefits and barriers, self-serving bias, self-serving attribution, perceived injustice, moral judgment, electoral maps, football schedule, academic peer review, tenure, policy choice
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Emotions, Female, Humans, Male, Social Perception, Thinking
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
