The solution described is designed only to counter the attentional bias caused by loss aversion.
If there are other causes contributing to a similar effect, I wouldn’t expect the included solution to address them also just by luck.
Is there any research on the “first person” view that you mention? As I’m no scientist, I’ve only dealt with the already firmly established findings like loss aversion.
Is there any research on the “first person” view that you mention? As I’m no scientist, I’ve only dealt with the already firmly established findings like loss aversion.
I do not know of any research on this directly. However, there is strong support for people’s reported opinions being influenced by sitting in front of a mirror. So I just do educated guesses from the tangentially related research.
I’ve only dealt with the already firmly established findings like loss aversion.
Yup—you are playing it safe. However, this does not satisfy my curiosity.
You quote negativity/loss aversion bias as an explanation, but do you think it is the most accurate explanation?
But what I’ve got in mind is: if someone were suddenly to acquire an extra 100 flaws, this would indeed be a loss; they would feel worse walking down the street as people glance at them, they would lose social status, people would judge them as less honest, kind, intelligent, etc.
So they are losing social status and they’re losing other people thinking well of their appearance, and like any other loss will tend to fear it more than they would value gains of equal size.
And that’s what people DO experience, in a less dramatic way. You could say, perhaps, that it’s because we have the ability to alter our appearance that the problem exists, because sometimes we look better than at other times, and we’ll tend to focus on the flaws that make the difference.
The solution described is designed only to counter the attentional bias caused by loss aversion.
If there are other causes contributing to a similar effect, I wouldn’t expect the included solution to address them also just by luck.
Is there any research on the “first person” view that you mention? As I’m no scientist, I’ve only dealt with the already firmly established findings like loss aversion.
I do not know of any research on this directly. However, there is strong support for people’s reported opinions being influenced by sitting in front of a mirror. So I just do educated guesses from the tangentially related research.
Yup—you are playing it safe. However, this does not satisfy my curiosity.
You quote negativity/loss aversion bias as an explanation, but do you think it is the most accurate explanation?
Hmm...I would be open to an alternative.
But what I’ve got in mind is: if someone were suddenly to acquire an extra 100 flaws, this would indeed be a loss; they would feel worse walking down the street as people glance at them, they would lose social status, people would judge them as less honest, kind, intelligent, etc.
So they are losing social status and they’re losing other people thinking well of their appearance, and like any other loss will tend to fear it more than they would value gains of equal size.
And that’s what people DO experience, in a less dramatic way. You could say, perhaps, that it’s because we have the ability to alter our appearance that the problem exists, because sometimes we look better than at other times, and we’ll tend to focus on the flaws that make the difference.