Marketing principles - The law of opinion

The law of opinion

Everyone always has an opinion about everything

Just ask and you will usually find that everyone always has an opinion about everything at the drop of a hat. If you're lucky, they will wait to tell you their opinions until you ask. The speed with which humans appear to form new opinions is an illusion. The human mind is designed for speed and efficiency, and not for deliberate rational analysis. The mind does not so much quickly form new opinions as it swiftly classifies new people or situations into already well established mental categories. This very dominant part of the mind is programmed to do a quick sort on the most superficial criteria.

It is a survival issue. The fundamental question that must quickly be answered in any new environment or encounter is this: "Is it dangerous?" That, at least, is one issue upon which everyone has an opinion about everything, and the answer we come up with is always based upon the past. Past experiences, training, and indoctrination determine the answer. That is why it is so quick. It does not require any thought.

The mind is a self-organizing adaptive information structure that is also general purpose. The fact that it is general purpose suggests the opinion-forming process that works so well for survival purposes will also be used for other non-survival purposes. Thoughtless opinions are therefor the norm, and not the exception.