Are images created when the person is absent?

Hello, this is Masataka.

When do you think a person's image is created?

Is it when you are talking to the person themselves?
Is it when you are watching them work?

Of course, that is part of it!

But I believe that a person's image is surprisingly created in places where they are not present.

For example, restaurants.

Even if the shop sign says,
“Supervised by a chef who trained at a famous restaurant!”
“We are thoroughly committed to our ingredients!”

not many people will believe it is “definitely delicious” just from that.

However, when a close friend says,
“The restaurant I went to yesterday was really delicious,”

you start to want to go there a little bit.

To put it more extremely, no matter how wonderful a background a restaurant boasts, if the review section is filled with posts saying “it wasn't as good as I expected,” you might even be swayed by that.

Even though people's tastes and preferences are actually quite different.

The phenomenon where information from a third party is more easily trusted than information from the person involved is sometimes calledthe “Windsor effect”in Japanese marketing and similar fields.

It might be better to view this name as a term to explain the power of word-of-mouth and third-party evaluations rather than treating it as a strict effect name in academic psychology.

On the other hand, the fact that “who the information came from” influences the receiver's judgment and that the reliability of word-of-mouth is related to purchase intention has been repeatedly confirmed in research on source credibility and electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM).

And I find it very interesting that this is not just a story about products or restaurants.

For example, what if someone you just met says,
“I am actually really kind.”
“I am quite capable at work.”

Of course, that might be true.

But don't you feel just a little bit guarded?
However, if you hear from a trusted friend or colleague,

“Apparently, that person succeeded in several projects on their own.”
“They don't show it, but they were entrusted with being a business manager in their 20s and led the organization.”

the way you receive the same information changes significantly.

Even though you haven't even met them yet, you start to get interested, thinking,

“Huh, I wonder what kind of person they are.”
What's interesting here is that the protagonist of this scene is not “that person” being praised.
Actually, it is the third party who is saying,

“Apparently, that person is...”

There are people who raise your value in “places where you are not present”

When you think about it, it's an incredible power.

After someone leaves a room, there is someone who raises their value in their absence, saying,
“Man, that person is amazing.”
“Just the other day, they were doing this when no one was watching.”

The person themselves is not conscious of anything yet.

They aren't doing any self-promotion.
They aren't handing out business cards.
Even so, their reputation walks ahead of them.

In the world of research, people who don't know the person directly judging whether “this person seems trustworthy” or “how they are as a partner to act with” based on reputation information passed on by a third party is studied as one of the important forms of information transmission in human society.

That is why it is natural for companies to want word-of-mouth.

However, precisely because it is so powerful, there is a boundary here.

If a company involves a third party in posts through requests or rewards, and presents it in a form that is difficult for consumers to identify as an advertisement even though it is essentially an advertisement by the business operator, it can become a problem under the Act against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations in Japan as stealth marketing. Since October 2023, such representations have been officially subject to regulation.

That is how much power the appearance of “a third party is saying it” has.

But there is a world in human relationships that is completely different from advertising.

They aren't being asked to do it.

They aren't being paid for it.
Even so, there are people who naturally find the good points in others and can put them into words even when the person is not there, saying,

“That person's way of doing this is really amazing.”
“Actually, they even did this for me.”
I think these people are incredibly valuable.

Because just by having one such person, the quality of information flowing between people changes.

People who carry others' reputations are also carrying their own

Of course, I don't mean to say that you should never complain or talk about bad things.

We are human, so we have frustrations.

There are times when it is necessary to share with a third party about someone's problematic behavior.

In fact, it has been researched that “gossip,” which talks about someone in their absence, has functions that support information gathering, relationship building, identifying dangerous people, and cooperation within a group, not just simple bad-mouthing.

So the problem is not just “did you say something bad?”

What I think is more important is
which direction that person usually moves other people's impressions.
Every time someone leaves, if it is a habit to bring up negative information, saying “That person is...”, and gather the interest of the room by doing so, everyone might nod along in that moment.

However, another piece of information remains in the minds of those listening.
The information that “this is the kind of person who talks like this when the person is not there.”
And it quickly leads to the inference that “that means when I am not there, they are probably talking about me like this too.”

Conversely, the same thing happens to people who convey the good qualities of others in their absence.

The evaluation of that person themselves, that “this is a person who properly evaluates others even when they are not there,” gradually accumulates.
I think this is the most interesting part of this story.

While you think you are creating someone's reputation as a third party, you are simultaneously creating your own reputation.
Words that carry people's evaluations do not seem to be a one-way street.
Of course, not all information heard from a third party is correct.

Rumors are wrong, and people have likes and dislikes.

It is also dangerous to decide that one person's “that person seems to be this kind of person” is the truth about that person themselves.
Even so, when you don't know the person well yet, humans have no choice but to infer who they are from the information at hand.

That is why



our image is not created only in the places where we are present.



Rather, it may be that after you leave your seat, your image is gradually given shape by what words are exchanged in that room.

And at the same time.

After someone leaves their seat, what do you say about that person?

What is being created there is not just that person's image.
The image of what kind of person you yourself are is also being quietly created among the people who are listening to your words.

This was Masataka.