Question your own objectivity explicitly

Ask yourself what forces might be shaping your perception before assuming you see things clearly.

Why it works

Naive realism is maintained partly by a blind spot: we apply bias-detection to others but not to ourselves. Research on bias blind spot shows that the more sophisticated someone’s knowledge of cognitive biases, the more strongly they often rate themselves as immune — because that knowledge is applied outward. Explicitly directing the bias-detection inward temporarily disrupts this.

How to do it

1. Before forming a final judgment, ask: "What stake do I have in this being true? What would I prefer to find?"
2. List one or two experiences or identities that could skew your reading of this situation.
3. Rate your confidence at 80% rather than 100% — the remaining uncertainty keeps you epistemically open.

Evidence

Pronin et al. documented the "bias blind spot": people rate themselves as less susceptible than others to the same biases they can readily describe. Greater knowledge of biases did not reliably reduce self-reported susceptibility. Lord, Ross and Lepper (1979) showed that people evaluate identical evidence as stronger when it favors their prior view, illustrating the very self-directed distortion this practice asks the reader to check for. (observational)

Sources

• Pronin, Lin & Ross (2002), "The Bias Blind Spot: Perceptions of Bias in Self versus Others," Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
• Pronin, E., Lin, D. Y., & Ross, L. (2002). The bias blind spot: Perceptions of bias in self versus others. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28(3), 369–381.
• Lord, C. G., Ross, L., & Lepper, M. R. (1979). Biased assimilation and attitude polarization: The effects of prior theories on subsequently considered evidence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37(11), 2098–2109.

Common mistake

Checking for self-bias only after the judgment is already firm — at that stage, the review tends to be cursory and confirms the original view.