The concrete-target moderation — the design lever against overplacement

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.

Confidence: Verified.

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.