There seems to be an awfully long list of cognitive biases out there and I’ve wondered whether what I’ve recently observed is on that list.¹ I did some searching and I couldn’t really find anything that fit the bill.

What is a cognitive bias, anyway? It seems that whenever people exhibit a pattern of unexpected or irrational behavior, it can be called a bias. In any case, this is about an interesting phenomenon I discovered and try to be aware of.

Cognitive biases seem to be backed by at least some science. Well, there’s no science here I’m afraid. But I’ve noticed enough peculiarities to give a description.

I enjoy watching product reviews on YouTube and observing a reviewer’s take on certain products. I particularly enjoy watching reviews on sports cars from sports car enthusiasts, colloquially known as petrolheads. Some of these reviews are very well done. The result is like a film; riveting music, dramatic voice-overs, dynamic aerial shots, and so on.

What I’ve noticed is this: such reviewers tend to be more positive about the product than usual.

Take sports cars, for instance. Modern sports cars. Oh, my god, they are hideous. If not outright hideous, the exterior design is, at best, passable. I’m especially aghast at how ugly modern Ferraris are.

But I’ve noticed when enthusiasts do reviews, they seem to be generally positive about exterior designs.

Here’s an example: video review of the Ferrari 296 GTB @ 1:13.

Stunning, isn’t it?

What!? I thought nothing of the sort when I saw first saw this car. The design of the front makes a silly face, the rear tail light design is neither here nor there, and worst of all is the side intake design with that topsy-turvy bulge. That last part is possibly an attempt to harken back to the design of the Dino 206/246 GT. Whatever it is, it’s not successful.

A Strangely Glowing Review

I’ve thought about how my feelings regularly seemed to deviate from that of the reviewer. What seems to be going on here is actually kind of obvious. Enthusiasts are generally more positive, or at least express themselves more positively, than average. Doing the kind of work that’s needed for making such reviews takes considerable effort. If someone who thinks modern cars look nasty were to do such work, they might eventually quit. Inevitably, the kind of people that regularly do high-effort reviews of a particular category of product, believe that the products in that category are worth the effort, and therefore do not think too negatively of the products. The result: unexpectedly positive commentary.

This sounds a lot like self-selection bias. Perhaps enthusiast bias can be thought of as a specific kind of self-selection bias.

It’s not just sports car reviews. For years I’ve wondered why video game journalists give out such high scores when it seems the scores are a bit… undeserved. Again, doing the work needed for a full review of a modern game takes serious effort. This kind of work is done by reviewers again and again. The people that think modern games kind of suck are not going to be the ones that put in this kind of work. That means the people willing to do the work are people who… *shudder* think that modern games are actually kind of awesome.

After having realized such a bias exists, it’s something I try to keep in mind when reading or watching a ‘professional’ review. User reviews are less affected by this phenomenon, for obvious reasons. But then again, those reviews could involve another sort of bias.