10-10-2009, 12:46 AM
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-robert-...15715.html
Dr. Robert Epstein, Author, editor, radio talk-show host, and longtime psychology researcher
Posted: October 9, 2009 03:13 PM
"This isn't what it seems. It's not really a Nobel Prize. It's a "Thank-God-You're-Not-Bush" Prize. We're witnessing what research psychologists call a "contrast" effect, occurring in a grand way in an unlikely place.
Yes, many of us at home have mixed feelings about Obama because our economy is still sinking (although more slowly, of course!) and because our young men and women are still dying almost every day in Afghanistan and Iraq. But to people in other countries, such as some dowdy old folks sitting in a posh drawing room in Stockholm, Obama is the greatest thing since Saab introduced the heated driver's seat in 1972.
Even though, unlike Nobel laureate Mother Teresa -- who toiled helping the poor of India for 30 years before getting the prize -- Obama hasn't actually accomplished anything yet, he is, following George Bush, a Great Relief to the World, especially the Bush-bashed world outside the U.S.
The contrast effect is a real and powerful phenomenon that has fascinated psychologists for more than a century. The basic idea is simple: a prolonged experience with a stimulus that has strong negative or strong positive value distorts the way we view new stimuli of the same sort.
...
The contrast effect works in many domains, including the political. And yes, it can even cause intelligent, well meaning people to confuse bringing peace to people with giving inspirational speeches about bringing peace to people.
It's not a Nobel Prize. But now that he has it, maybe he'll live up to it."
[Bold emphasis mine.]
Dr. Robert Epstein, Author, editor, radio talk-show host, and longtime psychology researcher
Posted: October 9, 2009 03:13 PM
"This isn't what it seems. It's not really a Nobel Prize. It's a "Thank-God-You're-Not-Bush" Prize. We're witnessing what research psychologists call a "contrast" effect, occurring in a grand way in an unlikely place.
Yes, many of us at home have mixed feelings about Obama because our economy is still sinking (although more slowly, of course!) and because our young men and women are still dying almost every day in Afghanistan and Iraq. But to people in other countries, such as some dowdy old folks sitting in a posh drawing room in Stockholm, Obama is the greatest thing since Saab introduced the heated driver's seat in 1972.
Even though, unlike Nobel laureate Mother Teresa -- who toiled helping the poor of India for 30 years before getting the prize -- Obama hasn't actually accomplished anything yet, he is, following George Bush, a Great Relief to the World, especially the Bush-bashed world outside the U.S.
The contrast effect is a real and powerful phenomenon that has fascinated psychologists for more than a century. The basic idea is simple: a prolonged experience with a stimulus that has strong negative or strong positive value distorts the way we view new stimuli of the same sort.
...
The contrast effect works in many domains, including the political. And yes, it can even cause intelligent, well meaning people to confuse bringing peace to people with giving inspirational speeches about bringing peace to people.
It's not a Nobel Prize. But now that he has it, maybe he'll live up to it."
[Bold emphasis mine.]