Zero-sum bias, or zero-sum thinking, is the tendency to perceive a situation as a zero-sum game, in which one person's gain is assumed to come at another person's loss. It is a psychological construct describing a person's subjective interpretation of a social situation rather than an actual zero-sum game in the game-theory sense, captured in the idea that success, especially economic success, is believed to be possible only at other people's expense.
Facts
Core ClaimZero-sum bias is a cognitive bias toward zero-sum thinking: the tendency to intuitively judge a situation as zero-sum (one side's gain requires another's loss) even when it is not. 1 First Described Year Classification
Type of Phenomenon Connections
In Branch
Source Wikipedia: Zero-sum Thinking
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Zero-sum Thinking
Wikimedia Foundationlead section
Zero-sum bias is a cognitive bias towards zero-sum thinking; it is people's tendency to intuitively judge that a situation is zero-sum,
lead section, defining quotation
Rozycka-Tran et al. (2015) defined zero-sum thinking as:
lead section, phenomenon-kind classification
Zero-sum bias is a cognitive bias towards zero-sum thinking; it is people's tendency to intuitively judge that a situation is zero-sum, even when this is not the case.
In Branch: Cognitive Psychology, Categories
Wikipedia article 'Zero-sum thinking' is filed under Category:Cognitive biases.
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