Everyone I don't like is biased: Affective evaluations and the bias blind spot

People commonly exhibit a bias blind spot (BBS), judging themselves as less susceptible to bias than the “average other.” However, less is known about how people attribute bias to familiar others who evoke strong affect. We examined whether attributions of bias are sensitive to affective impressions of others. In Experiment 1, participants viewed themselves as considerably less biased than the average survey respondent and a personally-known disliked other but not less biased than a familiar individual whom they liked. Experiments 2 and 3 examined the BBS in politically polarized groups of Democrats and Republicans. While participants judged themselves as somewhat less biased than co-partisans, they viewed themselves as much less biased than political opponents. In all experiments, the effect of other target selection on the BBS was mediated by affective evaluations. We discuss the theoretical implications of people using affective evaluations as heuristic cues when attributing bias to familiar others.