- #1
HJ Farnsworth
- 128
- 1
Greetings everyone,
When someone discusses a given topic, people often perceive that the speaker's view on the topic is opposite theirs, even if no opinion on the topic was given. I know that there is a technical term for this (I read it in an obscure magazine, like Alaska Airlines magazine or something, years ago), but I don't know what it is.
Does anyone know the term I'm looking for?
Just to be as clear as possible, I will give the example that was given in the magazine (or at least, my distorted recollection of it).
The author was a technology reviewer, who often compared Microsoft and Apple products. He mentioned that regardless of whether he favored one or the other in his articles, he would inevitably get angry responses to his article from the opposing viewpoint. During one article he decided not to actually compare them, but simply to dedicate one half of his article to the merits of a Microsoft product, and the other half to the merits of the corresponding Apple product (I think he was just reviewing operating systems) - and he said this resulted in him getting twice as many angry responses as he usually did, and that these responses indicated that the people who were angry had barely seemed to notice the half of the article that promoted their viewpoint. He then said he discussed this experience with people he knew and eventually learned the name of this phenomenon, which he mentioned in the article I read and which I have since forgotten.
Thanks for any help you can give.
-HJ Farnsworth
When someone discusses a given topic, people often perceive that the speaker's view on the topic is opposite theirs, even if no opinion on the topic was given. I know that there is a technical term for this (I read it in an obscure magazine, like Alaska Airlines magazine or something, years ago), but I don't know what it is.
Does anyone know the term I'm looking for?
Just to be as clear as possible, I will give the example that was given in the magazine (or at least, my distorted recollection of it).
The author was a technology reviewer, who often compared Microsoft and Apple products. He mentioned that regardless of whether he favored one or the other in his articles, he would inevitably get angry responses to his article from the opposing viewpoint. During one article he decided not to actually compare them, but simply to dedicate one half of his article to the merits of a Microsoft product, and the other half to the merits of the corresponding Apple product (I think he was just reviewing operating systems) - and he said this resulted in him getting twice as many angry responses as he usually did, and that these responses indicated that the people who were angry had barely seemed to notice the half of the article that promoted their viewpoint. He then said he discussed this experience with people he knew and eventually learned the name of this phenomenon, which he mentioned in the article I read and which I have since forgotten.
Thanks for any help you can give.
-HJ Farnsworth