Survey researchers call this kind of behavior satisficing – it happens when people taking a survey use cognitive shortcuts to answer questions. In the case of questions about personal behaviors that we’re not used to quantifying (like the time we spend online), we tend to shape our responses based on what we perceive as “normal.” If you don’t know what normal is in advance, you define it based on the midpoint of the answer range.
—Aaron Shaw, writing for Dolores Labs
Related:
- Acquiescence Response Bias
the tendency to agree with any assertion, regardless of its content