{"id":1996,"slug":"better-than-average-concrete-targets-moderation","title":"The concrete-target moderation — the design lever against overplacement","kind":"reference","scope":"business","status":"current","audiences":["kevin","candid-team"],"topics":["entrepreneurial-overconfidence","observable-proxies-for-judgment"],"reference_body":"**Claim:** The better-than-average effect (Svenson 1981; Alicke 1995) **shrinks when comparison targets are concrete rather than abstract.** Asking \"are you above the median driver?\" pulls a strong above-average answer; asking \"are you a better driver than your specific neighbour John?\" pulls a calibrated answer.\n\n**Confidence:** Verified.\n\n**Why this matters for Candid:** The widget should NEVER ask \"how do you compare to your competitors?\" Instead: \"Pick your single biggest competitor. Open their Google profile. Do they have more reviews than you, about the same, or fewer?\" — a concrete, named target. Same construct, far smaller bias.","rationale_body":null,"metadata":null,"links":{"outgoing":[],"incoming":[{"slug":"research-brief-smb-widget-capture-layer-june-2026","title":"Research brief: SMB widget capture layer — what owners can vs cannot self-report (June 2026)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"rule-r1-convert-judgment-to-observation","title":"R1 — Convert every judgment into an observation or counting task","kind":"rule","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"rule-r3-concrete-named-competitors","title":"R3 — Where comparison is unavoidable, use a concrete NAMED competitor target","kind":"rule","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"}]},"created_at":"2026-06-23T19:16:00.916Z","updated_at":"2026-06-23T19:16:00.916Z"}