What to Look out for When Making an Opinion?

Man cannot be objective. Their judgments are influenced by many factors that they do not even realize. Let’s start with expressiveness. Some objects in our field of perception are more noticeable – usually those that are more intense (e.g. loud sound), unexpected (walking on all fours in the market) or active (moving). The status of a soloist, i.e. being the only person with selected characteristics in a group, is also an important property. Expressive, then, is the only woman among men (more so than in the company of women) or a person with tattoos (provided, of course, that no one tattooed is around).

Expressive people attract more attention, which makes them better remembered. In addition, they are seen as having a much greater social impact. It seems that they are the main contributors to the results achieved by the group. This may be one of the reasons why heads of companies or important politicians sit at the top of the table. Thanks to this, they separate from their background, and the position gives them esteem and respect, even if their achievements are not adequate at all.

Is it Harmful to Admire Models?

Expressiveness indicates that an opinion depends on the presence of facts or objects other than the one judged. Other effects confirm this as well. Man needs a reference point and can use it in two ways. The assimilation effect causes the evaluation to change in the direction of the value given to the rest of the objects. In the contrast effect, the assessment takes on the opposite value. Let’s put it simply: If a person seems more attractive to us, because they are standing among nice-looking colleagues, we will be dealing with the effect of assimilation. However, if a person appears less charming in the same environment, it means that the contrast effect has occurred.

When does one effect take place and when does the other? The main role here is played by the size of the difference between the compared objects. When German students were asked in one study (Mussweiler, Rüter, Epstude, 2004) to rate their sporting ability, The score decreased when they were asked to think of Michael Jordan beforehand (contrast effect). Their self-assessment, however, increased when compared with an athlete of average ability (assimilation).

The contrast effect also explains why men are less satisfied with their partners’ looks when they make ratings shortly after viewing erotic images from magazines such as Playboy (Kenrick, Gutierres, Goldberg, 1989). The women presented there represent unrealistic standards of beauty. Even if the photos were not processed in graphics software, there are still the best photographers and the most beautiful models hired for the photo session (not to mention that the best ones are chosen from hundreds of shots). So the difference between these examples and everyday life is huge – that’s where the contrast effect comes from.

(An interesting example of the contrast effect, which some may have already seen, is to look at your teeth while brushing them. The snow-white foam from the paste will give the impression that they are more yellow than in reality).

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The Mood Speaks for Us

Research confirms that how one feels influences the decisions that one makes and, consequently, the evaluation of surrounding facts. A good mood acts like the proverbial “pink glasses” – it raises satisfaction with life or opinions about other people. Interestingly, malaise does not work symmetrically. Sometimes it makes us more critical, while at other times we want to help others and see the advantages of different solutions. Why is this happening? One theory (Isen, 1987) says that people try to stay in a positive mood and get out of a negative one. In the second case, however, it is not so easy, because automatic associations favor the formulation of negative opinions.

Mood, as opposed to emotion, is characterized by the fact that we do not feel it in relation to one object, but rather it affects everyone equally. This, of course, influences the assessments adopted. Schwarz and Clore (1983) proved this during an experiment in which they asked participants on the phone about their satisfaction with life on two different days – sunny and rainy. People assessed their lives better when the sun was shining outside. Interestingly, it was enough to ask them what the weather was like in the subject’s city (or to say outright that its effect on mood is checked) and a tendency for negative mood disappeared.

The authors explain that most likely people treat mood as a source of information about reality. With such a general issue as life satisfaction, individuals would have to analyze most of their past achievements and failures. The mind is a “cognitive miser,” so it chooses shortcuts and suggests an answer based on what is “near at hand.” That is, how someone “feels about it.”

The Body Also Has Something to Say

Embodiment is a concept that refers to how states of the body affect the processing of information by the mind. This issue particularly demonstrates the power of the terms used to describe reality. For example, when subjects were shown ambiguous faces (difficult to determine gender) more often, they classified them as male when holding a hard ball-shaped object than when holding a soft one in their hand (Slepian, Weisbuch, Rule, Ambady, 2011). The conclusion is that metaphors such as ‘masculinity means being tough’ are reflected in everyday life.

The body sends feedback to the mind, which can also be seen in the example of the assessment of self-confidence. Participants in the study (Carney, Cuddy, Yap, 2011) were advised to take different body postures for about two minutes – open and expansive (high power pose) or shy and withdrawn (low power pose). In the first group, higher levels of testosterone and a decrease in cortisol (stress hormone) were observed, which was associated with an increase in self-confidence and risk tolerance. On the other hand, participants with closed attitudes were noted with a decrease in these characteristics. Let’s not forget, therefore, that man is made up of both body and mind. The key to a good life is the balance of the two.

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Translation: Marcin Brański