The Effect of Knowing the Answer on the Illusion of Transparency

This study examined theeffect of knowing the answer as a factor affecting the illusion of transparency. Previous studies showed that people have the illusion of transparency, or a tendency to believe that their internal states are more discernible to others than they actually are. Meanwhile, previous studies showed that people have a tendency to overestimate the extent of easiness of presented tasks when they know the answers. We divided 70 subjects into 3 groups; actors (n=12), observers being taught the answer (n=29) and observers not being taught the answer (n=29). Actors drank five cups of soft drink, including a vinegar-mixed one while pretending to be impassive in front of a video camera, and estimated the number of correct identifiers for the vinegar-mixed one out of 10 observers. Observers being taught the answer estimated the same thing as actors after watching each actors' video. Observers not being taught the answer tried to identify the number of the vinegar-mixed one correctly after watching each actors' video. As compared to the actual number of correct identifiers, actors and observers being taught the answer estimated more correct identifiers. The result implied that knowing the answer is one of the factors affecting the illusion of transparency. Furthermore, the result showed that the magnitude of illusion caused by knowing the answers is approximately 10 percent and the magnitude of illusion caused by subjective experience of this experimental task (“drink vinegar-mixed soft drink”) is approximately 11 percent.