People apply established procedures without re-evaluating marginally different situations
Evidence
The set effect (Einstellung) could be seen as underlying what might be termed the ‘small increment effect’. Stated simply, in repeated runs of the Trucking Game, the participants do not bother to re-evaluate a procedure established in one circumstance when applying it to another which is only marginally different. If on one occasion I lent you £100, and you paid it back as you said you would, then I am quite likely to see a loan of £125 as essentially the same transaction. — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 696
Categorization
Category: Definitional Content
- DEFINE: Defines the ‘small increment effect’ as an application of Einstellung/set effect.
- XREF: The ‘small increment effect’ parallels the gradual normalization of broken trust in Saramago’s Blindness — each tiny erosion looks familiar until catastrophic.