With the proliferation of social media it has become increasingly difficult to not encounter at least a few opinions about current hot topics when scrolling through your newsfeed. This is especially true when it comes to the latest film releases. Over the past weekend it seemed as if every time I looked through my Twitter feed I was bombarded with preliminary reactions to currently trending movies, such as the popular horror film Hereditary or the box office hit Oceans 8. Recently, during the annual Festival of Disruption, esteemed writer and director David Lynch commented on this abundance of opinions about films on social media, stating that “Unless you’re a poet, words will fail you.”
Although that is a bold statement, it does seem that more and more people are inclined to tweet about the most current movie, placing more emphasis on posting it while it’s still popular, rather than considering whether their analysis is fair and conducive to an honest examination of the film’s merits. This raises the question of whether this expedient mentality is ideal and if critics or passionate moviegoers who are inclined to share their judgment should wait a specified period of time in order to properly reflect upon their opinion. An analysis of social psychology concepts related to attitude formation reveals that there are in fact 3 particular cognitive and emotional biases to be aware of, supporting the notion that an instant reaction without first reflecting can lead to misguided reviews.
Social psychology broadly defines an attitude as a relatively stable evaluation of an object, which expresses the individual’s degree of either liking or disliking this object or concept, or in this case a film. Although a seemingly straightforward concept, attitudes are multi-faceted as they can be further divided based upon the process by which they are formed in terms of the amount of time that is devoted to evaluating this object. Social psychologist Bobby Calder contends that when forming an opinion, the mind uses two distinct systems, with System 1 being characterized as requiring little deliberation and being rooted in unconscious processes that are based upon emotion rather than conscious thinking.
Below are the three primary biases that are rooted in this System 1 path to persuasion, which can adversely impact quick film reviews:
1. Availability Heuristic
The System 1 path to forming an attitude is applicable for reviewers who are prone to literally type a tweet on their way out of the movie theater lobby, as they have opted out of reflecting on the film in favor of a quick statement. Although this practice saves time by utilizing quick mental shortcuts, known as heuristics, to speed up the process, it is also prone to errors. The availability heuristic is one of the more well-known heuristics, and it is defined as when an individual bases their judgments on the events or facts that are most easily recalled in their mind. In other words, if an individual just saw a film they may instantly recall the major plot points, such as the poignant final scene or a resonant sequence in which a character was killed off and consequently rave about the film online. This person may, however, be neglecting several issues with how the film arrived at this point as well as possibly the first two thirds being sluggish. Thus, their review would overpraise the film by overlooking the aspects that weren’t readily salient in their mind, and the analysis is hindered by a cognitive bias as a result.
2. Brand Familiarity
Emotions also play a larger role when using the lower effort System 1 method of forming an attitude, which can also lead to inaccurate assessments of films. For instance, the phenomenon known as brand familiarity, which is linked with the mere exposure effect, contends that consumers are more likely to believe that the film they are witnessing is of higher quality due to the emotion that is generated from recognizing the brand the film belongs to. This is a very common occurrence when a fan of a long-established franchise, such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe films or Disney films, watches the latest entry in the series and quickly forms a favorable attitude towards the film purely based upon the film’s connection with past entries. Although not always the case, this tendency can lead to inaccurate judgments that over time can quickly change. Just consider the tempestuous reaction Star Wars fans have had to The Phantom Menace for an example of how influential brand familiarity can be. Upon its release, fans were generally positive about the film, however, many of these same fans have drastically revised their attitude, with most of the fandom now considering it an infamous entry for the Star Wars series. I wonder if Twitter were around, how many of these same fans who loathe the film might have raved about it immediately after seeing it thanks to the effect of brand familiarity.
3. Mood Congruence of Memory
The mood of the reviewer during the time of seeing the film is also an important consideration, as low effort attitude formation places more weight on emotional reactions over cognitive processes. This can be problematic as mood congruence of memory can impact how memory is retrieved and cause memories that match our current mood to become more salient in the mind. Studies have actually discovered that when participants were induced to feel either happy or sad by listening to different music, they were prone to relay autobiographical memories that were consistent with the mood they were induced to be in. If left unaccounted for, mood congruence can have disastrous effects on a moviegoer’s perception of a film. For instance, imagine if someone were in a depressed mood due to recently having broken up with their significant other, but they already had purchased tickets to see Solo: A Star Wars Story,so they decide to go with their friends anyway. Although the film is fun and an enjoyable popcorn movie, this individual may find that this cheerful sentiment does not resonate with their current frame of mind, and as a result the depressed individual is unable to recall any of the film’s strengths. If the depressed individual were to post their review immediately as the credits are rolling, they may be overly harsh and not even cognizant that the film had many strengths, but this individual simply wasn’t connecting with the story due to their mood.
What Happens When You Spend More Time Reflecting on Your Review?
In contrast, when more time and effort is devoted to forming a judgment it is believed to work with the System 2 process according to Calder. During this process, consumers are more conscious and deliberate with listing the reasons that support why their opinion is either positive or negative. Essentially this process involves evaluating a concept based upon a list of attributes and assessing the importance of each attribute, and whether the concept has more beneficial characteristics in its favor or not. In terms of evaluating a film, this would occur if a viewer were to reflect at length on a film they just witnessed instead of impulsively posting their gut reaction. Through this cognitive process, the reviewer would consider the attributes possessed by the film, such as the performances, costumes, and soundtrack being exceptional, but also being mindful of what didn’t work, such as possibly how the plot progressed or a disappointing resolution, and then provide a judgment based on these pros and cons. Although this process is considerably more time consuming, it is an effective way to check your biases and more thoroughly evaluate a film.
Spending additional time on an analysis and being conscious of your appraisal is undoubtedly more likely to yield a balanced and fair review of a film. That’s not to say that initial emotional reactions to films should be overlooked completely, as very often that gut reaction will remain as your final judgment even after reflecting on the film. However, your review will be that much more impactful if you counteract your biases and prioritize being thorough over expedient. It should be noted that even though after a day or two of reflecting, you will most likely arrive at a firm judgment regarding a particular film, it is always beneficial to be open to reevaluating a film, and consider if your appraisal of the film has changed over time. So the next time you see a movie and feel compelled to share your judgment with the world, consider waiting a day or at the very least a few hours before posting, as this will provide the world with the best possible version of your opinion.
References:
Calder, B.J., (2013). Branding and the Psychology of Consumer Behavior. Chapter 1. D. Evans (Ed.), Psychology of Branding (pp. 3-13). Psychology Research Progress.
Hoyer, W., MacInnis, D., & Pieters, R. (2013). Consumer Behavior (Sixth ed.) Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.
Sternberg, R. J., & Sternberg K. (2014). Cognitive Psychology, Seventh Edition. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning
