There’s an old saying that the Queen thought the world smelled of fresh paint, because everywhere she went had just been decorated.
Business has its own version. At M&S in the 80s, the story goes, the chief executive’s store visits were announced in advance. Stores were cleaned and tidied until they were perfect, so he never saw them as they really were.
Most of us live in a version of this bubble. Attractive people may experience a friendlier world. Someone with a disfigurement may experience a harsher one. Status and race change the picture too.
I see it with my Staffordshire Bull Terrier. Walk her down the street and people tense up, shorten their dog’s lead, and sometimes cross the road. Walk a cocker spaniel and none of that happens.
So often peoples views are built on broad generalisations, but people’s experience of the world is specific. It depends on how the world reacts to them.
I am currently writing a book on the history, psychology and culture of hair. Redheads are treated differently from blondes. Afro hair is treated differently from straight European hair.
How you turn up affects how people treat you, and that shapes how you see the world.
Photo: Oast House Archive / Geograph, CC BY-SA 2.0