Cursed by knowledge in a gambling task: A perspective taking test

The "curse of knowledge" describes instances in which our privileged knowledge leads us overestimate a naive individual's knowledge. This thesis sought to demonstrate this bias in a gambling task and to explore possible individual differences mediating it. In the gambling task, a player saw ten cards faced down and decided how many to turn knowing that nine of the cards would earn them a dollar each but one card---the disaster card---would result in bankruptcy. Dealers either knew or did not know the disaster card's true location. Subsequently, dealers reported how many cards they would turn if they were the player. Knowledgeable dealers failed to exhibit a curse of knowledge, choosing no more cards than ignorant dealers. Individual differences in inhibitory control, perspective-taking (false belief task), and hindsight bias did not relate to curse of knowledge. Limitations of this study and future directions are discussed.