I’m ok, you’re ok (to the extent that I say so)
According to social psychologists, calibrating the cognitive instruments we use to interpret the world is easy and fun. Step One: establish yourself as the definition of normal. Step Two: judge others.
When we perform Step Two, the thumb of the ego presses hard on the scales of judgment, producing what those in the field call “egocentric contrast effects.” Garden-variety contrast effects occur when we perceive something differently because we are comparing it to something else that is fresh in our minds or senses. A toaster feels very light if you have just lifted an anvil. Compared to a bag of rice cakes, the same toaster seems to weigh more.
Egocentric contrast effects occur because our judgments of others are skewed by our own characteristics and expectations. We are the anvil. We are the rice cakes. Because it is standard cognitive procedure to situate ourselves at the centre of the universe and assess others according to how like or unlike us they are, we often overestimate the extent to which other people differ from us. [1] Moreover, we are prone to seeing these differences not as blooms in the blessed garden of humanity but as—what else?—evidence of other people’s inferiority. More… »