Emma Richey - Mindwise by Nicholas Epley

In my past honors class, I read Mindwise by Nicholas Epley where he examined how humans are overconfident in their ability to know others’ minds and their thinking. This confidence extends to understanding the thoughts and answers of friends, coworkers, and romantic partners—a confidence that also increases in proportion to the length of time knowing one another. In an experiment described by Epley, the gap that was apparent existed between “how much partners actually knew about each other and how much they believed about each other.”


In our class discussions we have explored interior versus exterior journeys—journeys that separate the spiritual and emotional. With this, Epley exemplifies how interiority is truly separate from exteriority, especially concerning beliefs; what we internally believe is not really what is externally true. Additionally, knowing oneself and personal journeys can make us feel overconfident about our perception and knowledge of those around us. This inappropriate extension of our beliefs is how we exacerbate our overconfidence in our mindreading abilities.

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