This refers to the tendency among people to be courteous to those who seek their opinion. This prevents the free expression of any honest feedback that could be perceived as negative feedback by the recipient. Employees of a company, for instance, might feel hesitant to express their honest opinion about the company’s new product to their boss for the fear of offending him. While the courtesy bias can save people from uneasy situations in the short term, it can also hinder the exchange of constructive feedback that can help improve matters. Some organisations resort to anonymous feedback mechanisms to overcome the problem.
