278. According to Lewis, "Economists assumed that you could simply measure what people wanted from what they chose." This is the "utility theory" espoused by Utilitarian philosophers, who have argued that if you want to know what someone values, pay less attention to what they say they value and pay more attention to the choices they make. Talk is cheap, as they say.
But Kahneman and Tversky pointed out that someone's choices can vary significantly according to the way something is described to them. In this sense, "talk" is much more important than a Utilitarian might expect. As such, you can't assume that someone's choices represent deep preferences for one thing or another. Their choices might just as well represent their positive response to the way one thing or another is described to them.
Have you ever found that your attitude toward an activity or a product has been significantly altered by the way someone else has described that activity or product to you?
There have been several instances in which an event has been described to me as positive or negative. However, I have found that I perceived it the opposite way when I experienced it myself. I have been to numerous summer camps that my peers described as unenjoyable, but I had the time of my life or vice versa. I believe that the context in which an event is described greatly affects the mindset you have going into that situation. It takes most people longer to form their own opinion of an event if it has been previously described by someone whose judgment they respect.
ReplyDeleteRachel Wallis
There are many instances that have happened to me where I was told one thing but saw it in a much different way. One instance was with one of my teachers. From everything that I had heard about her, I dreaded going to the class. After about the first week she became one of my favorite teachers. I had found out that everything bad I had heard came from one or two bad instances that others had. They make it sound different than it was. I would recommend to anyone that they should get multiple opinions about things before they do something. I would also recommend that they should not expect what they hear, it might be different for them.
ReplyDelete-Joshua Myers
DeleteIn high school, there was one particular teacher that I was dreading because of all the things I had heard about her being mean and her class being hard. Going into the first day of her class, I was so nervous. However, after being in her class for a week I realized that I had built up such an expectation solely based on what I was told, when I actually ended up loving her. It taught me to not always believe the “good advice” people were giving me, because everyone’s opinion is different.
ReplyDelete278. I have had my opinions about activities and products changed significantly by a peer or leader. I once thought the cliché task of making my bed every morning after slumber to be quite contradictory since I was going to undermine my efforts that very night. My mother then explained to me that my logic behind not doing something every day because I felt like it was a waste of time even though I brush my teeth every day with intent to undo my efforts in the same manner of making my bed.
ReplyDeleteI think the way you initially view an activity or a product is based on how it is explained to you. If someone describes in a way that you can tell they don't like it you may have the same feelings towards it in the beginning. You can never know for yourself till you do it or try it. Going into it with a bias could sway your thoughts even after the activity because you went in with a mindset you wouldn't enjoy it, so you ended up not enjoying it even though you actually did and just don't know it.
ReplyDeleteEven in college classes, there have been times that I would have enjoyed a session more if I hadn’t listened to a friend’s harsh critique of said class. The same can be said for individual professors, as someone may ruin future interactions just by speaking crudely of a person that you had yet to meet. - Darian Shaw
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