Are You Ugly Or Are Your Friends Just Beautiful?

Contrast Bias

Do you ever think about why shopping malls always have multiple great deals? Or why, when you’re looking at travel packages, there are always a bunch of tempting offers you just can’t pass on? All-inclusive Turkey, Paris with a nice view, and a South of France getaway with everything covered and a view to die for?

no?

Perhaps you have swiped on a dating app. Swipe right on a few “10s” and suddenly that solid “7” doesn’t seem so appealing anymore.

still no?

Well, there is a point to this..

Contrast bias

Contrast bias is a form of cognitive bias in which you evaluate someone's abilities, work performance, or characteristics by comparing them to others you've recently evaluated instead of using an objective standard or criteria.

So this basically means that instead of judging something on its own, we judge it based on what we just saw before. If the last person you saw was really impressive, the next person might seem worse than they actually are—just because you’re comparing them, not because they did anything wrong. And if the first thing was really bad, the next one might seem better than it actually is. 

It’s like when food tastes better after something bland, or when a movie seems boring because the last one you watched was amazing. Your brain uses the contrast, not the actual quality.

Why? How?

Contrast bias occurs because the human brain is wired to evaluate information relatively rather than absolutely—a tendency deeply explored in the work of psychologist Daniel Kahneman.

 His research into cognitive biases and heuristics explains that when people are faced with a judgment, they often substitute that judgment with an easier comparison, typically with something they just saw. This shortcut is efficient but often leads to errors, especially in settings where objectivity is required.

In his work with Amos Tversky, Kahneman introduced the concept of attribute substitution, where individuals unknowingly replace a complex evaluation ( how skilled is this person?) with a simpler one (how do they compare to the last person I saw?). This process is automatic and unconscious, making contrast-based distortions difficult to detect.

Kahneman also emphasizes that perception itself is contrast-based. In Thinking, Fast and Slow , he explains that we exaggerate differences between stimuli presented in sequence, whether it’s two shades of color or two job candidates. This natural tendency toward contrast extends from visual perception to decision-making and underpins many cognitive errors, including contrast bias.

Moreover, Kahneman notes that such biases have evolutionary roots: our ancestors benefited from being able to quickly detect differences in the environment—like spotting a predator or identifying spoiled food. However, in modern decision-making contexts, this tendency can distort judgments in harmful ways.

Ultimately, contrast bias arises from the brain’s preference for context-sensitive, energy-saving strategies, which—while useful in some settings—can lead to significant errors in judgment when objectivity is required.

Examples

Job interviews.

There are a few ways this could show itself.   One of these ways being Job interviews.

Imagine you are super excited for your interview, you are ready, prepared  and eager to get this role.

Suppose the hiring manager interviewed a very weak candidate right before you. Now, when you come in and perform at an average or decent level, you might appear exceptionally strong just by comparison. And are guaranteed that role.

 But flip the order: if the person before you absolutely crushed it — charismatic, overqualified, impressive — your same performance could seem underwhelming.

And all that self hyping and 2 weeks of thinking you are getting this job is crushed right under your nose.

And all  because their performance reframed how yours was perceived. 

Grading Student Work

Something that I still think about now and then happened back when I was still in school.

Since I was a little girl, I’ve always loved writing. I wouldn’t say I was the best writer in the class — not by a long shot. But I had this thing for words. Writing never felt like a chore to me. In fact, while other students were staring at a blank page, struggling to come up with a decent introduction, I’d already be halfway through my essay. Words just flowed. Ideas came naturally. And I genuinely enjoyed putting them down.

But here’s the thing — no matter how confident I felt, no matter how much effort I put in, I kept getting bad grades on my essays. Not terrible, but always lower than I expected. And it hurt. I’d read over my work and think, “This isn’t that bad… why does it feel like the teacher’s seeing something I’m not?”

Now, years later,  suddenly, it all started to make sense.

So maybe my essays were just unlucky in timing. Maybe they came after someone else’s standout piece — you know, that one student whose writing sounded like it belonged in a novel.

 And honestly, it kind of tracks — I always wrote fast, which meant I was usually one of the first to hand mine in. And who else finished early? Yep… the “brilliant” kids

And compared to that, mine — though thoughtful and solid — felt underwhelming. 

orrr… 

This could just mean that I sucked :) 

Friend Groups & Attractiveness

Here’s another one — and this one’s a little painful.

Let’s talk about going out with friends. 

You’re dressed up, feeling cute, hyping yourself up in the mirror, and ready for a fun night out. But then you get to the bar, and suddenly… you feel invisible.

You look around, and it hits you — you came with your beautiful friends. The ones who don’t even try but still look like they walked out of a magazine shoot. And next to them, you start to feel like you’re fading into the background.

In that moment, you have to remember, the “beauty standard” isn’t about society’s norm anymore. Your most attractive friend becomes the reference point. And everyone else? Well… we’re just being judged against them. 

So what does this mean? Should you ditch your hot friends and start hanging out with the trolls?

No.

But… if you’re going out with the intention of catching someone’s eye…

maybe, just maybe, bring the “okay-looking” friends for backup. You’ll shine just a little brighter. 

The Ugly Duckling Was a Victim of Contrast Bias Too

Let’s take it back to a story we all know

 The Ugly Duckling.

You remember it, right? That poor little duckling was constantly rejected, teased, and made to feel worthless—not because there was anything wrong with him, but because he didn’t look like the rest of his duck siblings.

He wasn’t small and yellow and fluffy. He was bigger, awkward, and gray. Compared to the adorable ducklings around him, he looked like a mess.  But he wasn't actually ugly, he just didn’t match the reference point. 

The duckling wasn’t judged on his own terms. He was judged based on who came before him and who stood next to him. He was different, and in that moment, “different” meant “less than.”

But fast forward and surprise! He grows up into a swan. A literal embodiment of elegance and beauty.

What Can You Actually Do About It?

Contrast bias isn’t just some party trick. It's the way we see others and the world around us. You might think, “But what can I do? It’s not like I can stop my brain from comparing.”

 And true, you can’t exactly flip a switch and turn it off. Comparison is automatic. It’s how we’re wired.

But what you can do is pause. The next time you find yourself being irrational about someone’s talent, that beautiful dress you saw at the mall, someone’s attractiveness, or even your own self-worth, stop and ask yourself: Am I seeing this clearly? Or do I just think this dress is beautiful because all the others sucked?

Once you recognize contrast bias for what it is, you give yourself the power to step outside the distortion. You begin to see things not just in comparison to what came before, but for what they actually are. And that, in a world full of noise and illusion, is a superpower.