The theory of social judgment: being right is not enough

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The theory of social judgment is very powerful when it comes to explaining how persuasion works. In addition, it is exploited by many marketers or politicians to gain consumers or like-minded voters.

The theory of social judgment It is an interesting proposal about people’s beliefs and the possibility that they change. All of this is associated with two fundamental factors: communication and persuasion. It could be said that this theory answers the question: what allows and what hinders a person’s change of opinion and attitude towards something?

As can be inferred, the theory of social judgment is aimed at unraveling the phenomena of persuasion. This has applicability in numerous fields, but in particular in the marketing and politics. However, it is also possible to apply it to pedagogy, psychotherapy and even directly to everyday life.

The theory of social judgment was proposed by Muzafer Sherif, a Turkish psychologist who is considered one of the pioneers of social psychology in the world. Carolyn Sherif and Carl Hovland also participated in its formulation. This theory allows us to predict the success that a message will have, based on the content of said message and the beliefs of the recipient.

“Just because something is true does not mean it is convincing, neither in life nor in art.”.

-Truman Capote-

As the name indicates, social judgment theory deals with the judgments that people make. A judgment is formed from perception and evaluation of an idea. This is contrasted with the point of view that the individual has here and now. As a result of this, the idea is located on a scale of attitude in the person’s mind; that is, a position is assumed regarding it.

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This entire process is influenced more by a person’s previous beliefs than by the logic or solidity of the idea itself. Sherif points out that this is because, in some respects, there are some beliefs pre-established beliefs that are deeply rooted, rightly or wrongly. These beliefs were called “anchors.”

Starting from this, People tend to see ideas close to their anchor as more similar than they really are.. Therefore, they accept them more easily. In social judgment theory this is called “assimilation.” At the same time, ideas that are further from your anchor will be perceived as more different and unusual than they really are. Therefore, they will be confronted and contrasted.

For example, a Catholic person sees the ideas of a Protestant or a Jew as closer than that of a Buddhist. Even so, it is possible that in some aspects there is more coincidence with Buddhism than with Calvinism, among others, but it will not be perceived this way.

The latitudes

The theory of social judgment points out that in addition to having your own opinion, People also have a range to establish what is acceptable or unacceptable in opinion of the others. This means that two people with very similar or fundamentally the same opinions may not agree.

For example, it occurs when someone is radical in some aspect and perceives someone who is not radical as having an unacceptable position.

According to this theory, this is explained by the concept of “latitude”. Sherif proposes the existence of three latitudes:

Acceptance latitude. It is the set of opinions that a person considers acceptable.Rejection latitude. The set of opinions that he considers unacceptable.Latitude of non-commitment. Opinions that do not generate acceptance or rejection.

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The theory of social judgment points out that latitudes basically have two degrees of involvement:

High involvement. The range of acceptance of different opinions is very limited. Likewise, the degree of rejection of minimal differences is higher. It corresponds to what Sherif called “knowing membership of a group.”Low involvement. The latitude of acceptance is wide and that of rejection is low. In other words, you are more open to different opinions.

The persuasion process

The theory of social judgment indicates that to achieve a change of opinion and attitude it is necessary to take into account all the aforementioned variables. Someone who wants to persuade another has a lot to gain if he knows your “anchors” and “latitudes” to know how you should approach the situation.

In this way, a very radical person or group will respond with rejection to any message that seeks to “undo” their anchors. A very contrasting message will only increase the confrontational posture. Therefore, what is indicated is to design messages that are located in the latitude of acceptance of the interlocutor or, at least, in that of non-commitment.

In addition, you cannot expect there to be an automatic change of posture. If the individual’s faith in a certain idea is very high or this is the pillar of many of his schemes, persuasion will be complicated, even if we place ourselves in the non-commitment zone.

On the other hand, these areas are dynamic; That is, our belief system changes and, therefore, so do the areas in which certain axioms can be found. In this way, an idea that is now in the non-commitment zone may, for example, be in the non-rejection zone tomorrow.

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Many strategists exploit persuasion and exploit this phenomenon.. What they do is try to move ideas that are in the non-rejection zone to the commitment zone, so that other ideas that are in the rejection zone move to the non-commitment zone and from there, influence, so that they end up moving to that of commitment.