Perceptual Contrast Principle
As I was walking to residence from campus, it smelled like manure because that’s what happens in Waterloo when the climate is warmer. I was walking and walking until I walked pass a cafeteria. There was a pleasant scent of pastries and I said to myself, “Oh my, this smells so good.” I was wondering why it smelled like nothing I have smelled in a long time until 5 seconds later, I remembered the perceptual contrast principle. In other words, when a comparison is available, our judgment of the difference between the two is skewed. If it was a cool day without a nasty smell of manure, then the pastries would smell good, but not extremely good. Thus, the pastries smelled extremely good because it was contrasted by the smell of manure. This principle can be applied to a huge variety of settings. For example, if you want to look good, stand or walk beside a very unattractive person. If you want to make an offer, first start off very high and then decrease by a large amount as well.
More examples:
Potluck: Get others to try the bad tasting food, then offer your own (assuming that you made better tasting food). It would seem to taste much better.
Assigning work: Assign a tough job. Once completed, assign an easy one. The second task would seem to be much easier.
As you can see, the perceptual contrast principle can be used as an exploit. However, by knowing about it, you should be able to pick out these situations.
Feel free to leave a comment with your own examples or comment about the ethics of this possible exploitation.
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