Hindsight Bias in Judgements of Dating Couples

Hindsight bias, also known as the “I knew it all along” effect, exaggerates our ability to understand our initial perceptions and predictions after something has already occurred. Although hindsight bias is a universal cognitive phenomenon, there are cultural differences in how it is exhibited. Hindsight bias has been studied in various contexts, such as clinical diagnoses, rape, and eyewitness testimonies, but has yet to be assessed in a romantic context. When considering romantic situations, individual differences, such as gender and sex, can influence how the relationship is perceived. Considering these individual differences, hindsight bias in relationships should be assessed from an outside perspective to minimize the effect of potential distortions. Introduction Hindsight bias is a phenomenon that is often discussed in the field of psychology. Hindsight bias, also known as the “I knew it all along” effect, tends to exaggerate our ability to understand our initial perceptions and predictions after something has already occurred. This phenomenon occurs in our everyday lives in various contexts, ranging from clinical diagnoses to relationship dissolutions. For instance, upon dissolution of a romantic relationship, we are able to identify red flags and we then blame ourselves for not seeing these signs earlier because they seem so obvious now that the relationship is over. As obvious as these signs may seem after the relationship is over, in reality it is actually quite difficult for us to predict how the relationship will turn out. We encounter innumerable ambiguous signals as we move through our lives, but once something happens, we are able to sort out these signals and find ourselves believing that we knew it all along or that we saw it coming. This study will incorporate and build off of previously conducted research regarding hindsight bias and will further explain this phenomenon through an assessment of hindsight bias in the context of romantic relationships.