18.10: The Contrast Effect

Consider Figure 18.10.1. The two inside circles are the same size, but the one on the right looks larger because of the size of the six circles surrounding it. In these two examples, the context influences how we perceive things.

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Circles in Context

Context can also influence how we think about things. The way that we think about or evaluate something often depends on what’s around it. The alternatives, the points of comparisons, can strongly affect our perceptions, memories, judgments, inferences, and decisions.

The contrast effect occurs when our evaluations of, or judgments about, a thing are influenced by the contrast between it and the things around it. Many of our everyday judgments and inferences are affected by contrasts. George Bush would look short standing next to Shaquille O’Neal (a tall basketball player), but tall standing next to Shannon Miller (a short gymnast). The contrast effect is typically stronger the more similar the stimuli are to each other. For example, the effect is stronger when we compare Bush to two other people than when we have him stand beside two tractors of different heights.

When one thing is compared to something similar that is not as good as the first, the first thing is judged to be better than it would be without the comparison. In some cases, both things are present at the same time, but the contrast effect also works when temporal contexts are involved. If the job applicant interviewed right before Wilbur does a terrible job, Wilbur is likely to seem better just by comparison. When a professor teaches two section of the same course in the same semester, if one class is a ‘dud,’ it can make the professor think of the other class as exceptionally strong, even if they are in fact strictly average. The contrast with the first section will made them seem better.

We can exploit the contrast effect to make something look better (than it would have otherwise) by placing it in a context with something that looks worse. For example, a real estate agent might show buyers an overpriced or dilapidated home before showing them the home he wants them to buy. We can also make something look worse (than it would have otherwise) by placing it in a context with something that looks better. For example, the agent might discourage a person from buying a house by showing them a much better house first. And if you are in the market for a house, it is usually unwise to look at houses you know you can’t afford. This will set up a contrast effect so that the houses you can afford won’t look all that good.

Other Context Effects

The wording of questions can affect our answers in many ways. Earlier we learned about a study where half the people in a group were asked, “How frequently do you have headaches?” and the other half were asked, “If you occasionally have headaches, how often?” The average response of the first group was 2.2 headaches a week, while that of the second group was 0.7 headaches a week. Similarly, if you survey the people coming out of a movie and ask half of them, “How long was the movie?” and the other half, “How short was the movie?” those asked the first question will think the movie was longer.

The way options or possibilities are worded also influences people’s responses to polls and public opinion surveys. For example, the results of polls to determine attitudes toward abortion vary depending on how the questions are worded. The questions in polls and surveys also often require you to select from a restricted set of alternatives (e.g., should we increase defense spending or should we lower it?), which again tends to frame things in certain ways.

Surveys are often remarkably reliable, and if several surveys by different organizations converge on the same results, then we have good reason to believe them. But the wording effects we have encountered in this section should lead you to take any single survey with a grain of salt. This is especially true of surveys conducted by groups with a vested interest in the outcome. They can often make it more likely that they will find the response patterns they are looking for by framing their questions in ways that are likely to elicit the response that they want.

The Compromise Effect

A good deal of research shows that many of us are reluctant to buy either the highest or the lowest priced item. We prefer to “compromise” on a price somewhere in between. Businesses sometimes exploit this effect to sell more of one of their products.

For example, if Wilbur’s factory has been selling two models of car stereos, one for $200 and one for $300, they may be able to increase the sales of the $300 model by bringing out a $400 model. The point isn’t merely hypothetical. Researchers have argued, for example, that Williams-Sonoma was able to sell more of their $275 bread machines when they began producing a $400 bread machine.