Kahneman 1986 - Norm Theory - Comparing Reality to Its Alternatives

Google Scholar Link

Kahneman, D., & Miller, D. T. (1986). Norm theory: Comparing reality to its alternatives. Psychological review, 93(2), 136.

Summary

Upon encountering a stimulus, it is compared against a range of alternatives. This process happens unconsciously and cannot be stopped. Once an alternative is evoked, it cannot be dropped from evaluation (“traces of an induced belief persist even when its evidential basis has been discredited” - see Ross 1975). The alternatives are recruited because they represent category norms. An abnormal stimulus will evoke many alternatives. A normal stimulus will evoke alternatives that resemble it. Each alternative, or element, can be activated to a different degree. Elements consist of features, each of which is a “specific value of [an] attribute.” Norms themselves are constructed “in a backward process” that takes into account the stimulus and compares it to available evoked elements. Since norms are generated post-hoc, something can be found normal after it has been experienced.

Stimulus norms are evoked by the stimulus itself. Category norms are evoked by archetypal categories. When a stimulus is encountered, we will evoke elements that are similar or (sometimes even and) we will evoke counterfactuals. Counterfactuals are most often evoked by experienced facts of reality. The closer an alternative is to reality, the stronger the evocation. Emotional states can amplify a response, especially if the stimulus encountered is deemed abnormal.

Application

Interpretation of events can be controlled by control of references. Default values can’t be interpreted as causes (otherwise, why would it have happened).