The failure gap

People are systematically unaware of the mishaps, problems, and failures around them, a phenomenon we dub the failure gap . People underestimate tens of thousands, and in some cases, millions of failures at the individual, national, and international level across 30+ life domains (Study 1). For every three species that go extinct, the public knows of one; for every five weapons undetected by airport security, people think one sneaks by. Why are people unaware of the problems around them? Failure is underreported relative to success (Studies 2-5). The failure gap had policy implications for key decision makers. Closing the failure gap reduced support for harsh punishment (e.g., school suspensions) among educators, lowered support for mass incarceration among voters, led managers to extend paid parental leave to new mothers, and shrank social stigma in the workplace (Studies 6 and 7). Taken together, the failure gap is common, crippling, and encouragingly correctable. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved)

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