The Peak-End Rule and its Reputation Risks and Benefits
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Psychology can be a fascinating study because it can teach us what is happening in other people’s minds and actions, as well as our own. If we pay attention, we can learn invaluable insights and protect ourselves from egregious errors and harm.
Recently, I discovered the peak-end rule. I’m going to share it with you today and on top of that, tell you why it matters, reputation-wise, for your professional and personal life. You can ethically, morally benefit from it as you learn why other people and you react and more measuredly respond, to what happens in particular interactions.
So what is it? It’s “a psychological heuristic (mental shortcut our brains take) that changes the way we recall past events,” per The Decision Lab. “We remember a memory or judge an experience based on how we felt at its peak moments, as well as how we felt at the end.”
Let’s define this a little more:
“This means that when people recall past events, they don’t remember the full duration of pleasure or pain but instead focus on the most intense moment (peak) and how the experience ended.
“This distortion means that people often make future decisions based on selective, emotionally-charged memories rather than their true, overall experience.”
Take a moment (no rush) to think on that and what your life experiences and subsequent decisions have been and how other people’s decisions that involved you seemed out of alignment with what occurred.
Your experiences and mine are different yet I’m fairly confident you will “see” instances of the peak-end rule having developed in your life and that of other people when they were involved with you in some capacity.
We can create clarity and greater understanding of what was happening at the time.
People “may believe they are recalling experiences objectively, unaware that their memories are shaped by emotional peaks rather than a full, balanced recollection of the event,” according to The Decision Lab.
“This can lead to a distorted perception of past experiences, where less intense but equally significant moments are forgotten (or minimized), while the most emotionally charged moments take center stage.”
Do you look back now and see what was just described?
Have you been in or ended up in a one-down position in any type of relationship or ongoing interaction and experienced what was written above?
Intense emotions drive impulses, decisions, strong reactions and hardened responses. It conjures up the phrase, the point of no return. Or if you prefer, the tipping point.
The peak-end rule is powerful and thus, valuable to understand and remember so we can come to recognize it in other people and ourselves. This can help us to intelligently, responsibly prevent and solve problems.
To be vulnerable with you, I can look back and see how people’s perceptions and feelings eventually resulted in pain in my life that didn’t align with reality and other times where I too was in midst of the peak-end rule in my judgment, reaction and final response. It’s a double-edged sword.
In brief, know that trust, credibility, reputation and well-being can be harmed or benefit from the middle-and-end emotional experiences with other people.
Be cognizant of it, even if you don’t believe this current or next experience will be the last. Keep in mind this as well: “recency bias,” where people remember something more strongly that has happened recently. That can turn into the intense “middle” or become the “end.”
Others make bad decisions with us and have to face the consequences, fair or not. That same applies for how we are experienced by other people.
Michael Toebe is the specialist at Reputation Intelligence, helping individuals and organizations with matters of credibility, trust, decision analysis, communications, relationships and reputation.
You can DM him on Substack or contact him below for consulting, risk analysis, coaching, ongoing advisory, a variety of proactive and responsive communications and reputation (not legal) representation.
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