Role of Hindsight Bias, Ethics, and Self-Other Judgments in Students’ Evaluation of an Animal Experiment

Abstract

Does hindsight knowledge make research seem more ethical and predictable? In line with the notion of hindsight bias, students in 3 experiments knowing the outcome of an animal experiment judged the results as more foreseeable and ethical relative to students who did not know the outcome. Via self to other comparisons, students evaluate themselves more favorably compared to a peer but exhibited hindsight bias in doing so. Uniquely, the findings reveal the possibility that students deem themselves to be more skeptical and objective than their peers. Implications for teaching animal ethics and for Institutional Review Boards are discussed.

Keywords:

• hindsight bias
• animal research ethics
• self–other comparison

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Special thanks to our undergraduate research assistants and Dr. Bogdan Kostic for his assistance in preparing the manuscript.