Explain with an example the contrast effect.
Evaluation of a person's characteristics that is affected by comparisons with other people recently encountered who rank higher or lower on the same characteristics is known as the contrast effect. We don't evaluate a person in isolation. Our reaction is influenced by other persons we have recently encountered. For example, in a series of job interviews, interviewers can make distortions in any given candidate's evaluation as a result of his or her place in the interview schedule. A candidate is likely to receive a more favorable evaluation if preceded by mediocre applicants and a less favorable evaluation if preceded by strong applicants.