Context is king

The Walnut Unlimited ‘Understanding the Nation’ tracker shows the UK’s mood reached the highest positive point we have on record in May – with figures tracking the general mood of the country at 43%, up 8% from the previous month.

However, most of us would argue that we aren’t in a better mood than we were during the 2018 football World Cup, for example, which is the nearest positivity high since the measurement began 3 years ago ( 33%). Cast your mind back to this era. The weather was scorching hot, England was flourishing in the World Cup and Corona was simply a beverage.

Is it possible that we really are in a better mood now? As shocking as it may be, perhaps the current context and what we know about how our brain frames situations actually means that, yes, these perceptions and attitudes are an accurate reflection.

Why do we perceive ourselves to be happier?
Right now, the feeling of simply sitting down inside a pub or restaurant has brought such relief and excitement to the nation. If someone told you in 2018 that you could walk inside a pub and sit down, and then asked you how that would make you feel, most people would be pretty confused at your question.

Take that question into today’s context and it provides many with sheer joy, as seen in the positivity of mood recorded this month. But why does this happen? It’s all about context. It isn’t just the feeling of being able to order a drink or dinner, it’s the human element of how these scenarios bring out the interactions we have.

We are social animals, the current context means being out and about, chatting to people affects us on an emotional level and brings all the elements we need as social beings. Our mood is led by these feelings, which are a result of the context.

‘Context is everything,’ as sociologist Alvin Gouldner once said. Thinking about this from the perspective of the brain, the most basic way our brain will operate is to process each input in relation to the context in which it occurs.

We judge situations based on our surroundings, our most recent feelings and anything else that can help us gauge the situation. 

Take this further considering our current mood. The last year of being in lockdown has completely shot our positivity. However, recent lockdown releases have changed this and, as the saying goes, right now we are all simply appreciating the little things in life.

How context impacts us 
Context can also impact how we feel about things from a physiological point of view.

A recent study found that context can alter us from a neurological perspective, even as far as impacting our senses, for instance our sense of taste. A study by Schmidt et al. ( 2017 ) found the price of wine triggers expectations about taste quality (setting up the context) and therefore modulates the sensory experience on a neurological level.

By the same logic, it’s not just that we are reporting record positivity and we’ve forgotten how we felt before, but these studies show we might actually be in a better mood because of our current context.

We know that context impacts mood, and in turn mood impacts behaviour. Brands can leverage this and use the current context to their advantage. When our mood is affected, our behaviour is affected, and so audiences have better capacity to make behavioural changes.

What does it mean for us as researchers? Many of us in the research industry are guilty of being too rooted in what we see here and now; the story contained in present-day data. But there is clear evidence that the wider context when interpreting results should never be neglected.

When comparing results to legacy data or benchmarks, we need to consider all contextual factors of influence – both at the current and comparison point in time – to fully understand any shifts. In doing this, you can be confident in the story behind your data and ultimately provide richer insights with sounder guidance that are grounded in contextually conscious evidence.

Nick Saxby is research manager at Walnut Unlimited.