We are all above average

Countless studies (summarized by Laura Schenck) have shown that people overestimate themselves:

• Professional Competence: The vast majority of business managers (90%) rate their performance as superior to their peers, and most surgeons believe the mortality rate of their patients is lower than average. 
• Driving: The majority of drivers (including those who have been hospitalized for car accidents) perceive themselves to be safer drivers than the average driver.
• Intelligence: Most people consider themselves to be more intelligent, more attractive, and less prejudiced than most people. Almost comically, when outperformed, most people consider the other person to be a “genius.”
• Insight: Most of us tend to believe that we understand others better than they understand us. We also tend to believe than we understand ourselves better than other people understand themselves. 
• Freedom from Bias: People tend to see themselves as freer from the effects of bias than most other people.

One formal name for this bias is "illusory superiority." And one implication is that doing direct consumer surveys is probably a dumb idea, since clearly people are not good judges of themselves.

But not you and me. We're much more insightful and self-aware than the average bear.