The Possible Biases in the Mind of a Crewmate 

Like most people, I have recently been playing Among Us! Yes, part of it is because I'm always looking for new ways to procrastinate but also, a big reason is that it's a super fun game! I'm sure we all love murder mysteries - at least, I know I do. Anyway, regardless of how awesome and addicting the game is, there are so many things that absolutely frustrate me about it. Currently, I am taking a social psychology course where I learned about the curse of knowledge and hindsight bias. I wanted to share this theory with you guys because I think that it is a very cool and very possible explanation for my frustration and can help explain some of the emotions you may feel when playing the game as well.

Disclaimer: I am not a social psychologist lol I can't confirm that this phenomenon can be absolutely explained using these theories like I have deciphered in this post but it's just something interesting to think about and consider. Also, I'm sorry the graphics are low quality. When I drew it, it looked better but transporting and stuff, you know?

First, a short rundown of what Among Us is!

Among Us is like a remote version of the game "Mafia". You can choose a certain number of people to be imposters - for our purposes, we will say that there is one imposter. When the game starts, it randomly selects someone to be the imposter while everyone else is a crewmate and must complete certain tasks throughout the game while the imposter tries to kill everyone. If the imposter kills everyone before the crewmates finish all of their tasks, the Imposter wins the game. However, once a dead body is found, it can be reported, and everyone will have to discuss and try to figure out who the imposter is while the imposter tries to blend in as a crewmate. Discussions can also take place if someone calls an emergency meeting if and when they detect suspicious activity such as venting (using vents to get to places faster), which only the imposter can do. If the imposter is voted out at one of the discussions, the crewmates will win the game.

I hope that cleared things up a little but if you are still confused, there are LOTS of videos of people playing the game on YouTube. You can watch a short clip of a game to get a better idea of it.

Note: I would like to add that if you did not know what the game was and had to read that, I truly respect you so much for not getting sucked into this game (all love for the game though but maybe just check it out after you're done your exams:)).

Now, let's learn some terms!

I'd like to start by talking about the theory of mind for a second. The theory of mind is basically our ability to consider and understand the mental states of not only ourselves but those around us as well.  On the contrary, we are also subject to the curse of knowledge which outlines one of many human cognitive biases. The curse of knowledge is our bias to think that others have the same knowledge that we do. Stemming from this, we have hindsight bias. This is our tendency to think that we knew what was going to happen after it already has. For example, have you ever heard someone say "I knew that was going to happen"? Hindsight bias is more commonly known as the "I knew it all along" phenomenon.

Summary:

Theory of mind - ability to consider and understand the mental states of ourselves and others

Curse of knowledge - bias that others have the same knowledge that we do

Hindsight bias - tendency to think that we knew what was going to happen after it already has

So how does this all tie together?

Ok so of course throughout the game people are going to see things, people are going to report things, and... their crewmates will not believe them. Why? Because the point of the game is to deceive. Essentially, the moral of the game: trust no one (until you can confirm it for yourself or they have a really good alibi).

This is where the curse of knowledge might come into play and to be honest, I have probably rage quit because of this too. Let me set the scenario up for you:

Now let's think. What's happening here? Red might be experiencing - drum roll please... the curse of knowledge! Red saw pink kill cyan and knows that pink is the imposter so she expects everyone to believe her because she's telling the truth. But, everyone else did not see pink kill cyan. They can equally consider that red might be the imposter, killed cyan, and is blaming it on pink before pink accuses red. Again, it may be the curse of knowledge causing red to be angry in this situation. Then, we can also think about whether red may be failing to apply the theory of mind here because she does not consider that no one else knows what she knows!

So now for hindsight bias. I'm sure you can tell where I'm going with this because I feel like this is the case in almost every game of this nature.

Did you really though orange? Here, now knowing who is the imposter, orange may think that they in fact did think it was pink. But, what if the imposter was actually blue? They could probably then say the same for blue. Hindsight bias can lead to overconfidence - and if you know anything about Among Us, you know that that would be a very easy way to get yourself voted out. For example, orange insists that blue is the imposter and somehow convinces everyone to vote blue out only to realize that blue was not the imposter. Orange looks super suspicious now. Why are they falsely accusing blue? Could they be the imposter and is trying to cover it up? Nope, not in this case. Here, orange is just overconfident leading to faulty judgement.

Key Takeaways

So what did we learn today? I don't know about you but I'm definitely going to play this game with a clearer mind and try to use the theory of mind as much as possible while trying to avoid falling prey to the curse of knowledge and hindsight bias. Although, I'm sure we can all agree that biases are a lot more prevalent in our minds than we imagine. Regardless, this may be a better playing strategy as well.

Lastly, I have one request for you. Next time, when you play Among Us, please try not to rage. I will try the same. I've had so many people yell (i.e. type in caps) at us during the discussions but how am I to be sure in a game of deceiving? Be nice to your crewmates for we're all on the same boat... or should I say... ship?

Things to Think About

1. Can you think of any other situations where these theories could apply?

2. Why do you think it's so hard for us to consider such biases even when we are aware of them?

Citations

• Eşanu, E. (2019, October 07). The Curse of Knowledge Bias. Retrieved November 28, 2020, from https://uxplanet.org/the-curse-of-knowledge-d0d5ce26bd20

• Bernstein, D., Atance, C., Meltzoff, A., & Loftus, G. (2007). Hindsight bias and developing theories of mind. Retrieved November 28, 2020, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3649066/

• Bernstein, D., Erdfelder, E., Meltzoff, A., Peria, W., & Loftus, G. (2011, March). Hindsight bias from 3 to 95 years of age. Retrieved November 28, 2020, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3084020/

• Cherry, K. (2020, May 06). How Hindsight Bias Affects How We View the Past. Retrieved November 28, 2020, from https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-a-hindsight-bias-2795236