An object that is considered in isolation e¨okes a comparison set of similar
objects. The ¨aluation of the object is relati¨e to the set that it e¨oked. Features that are
common to the e¨oked set play no role in relati¨e judgments and ¨aluations. For an
illustration of the relativity of judgment to an evoked set, consider the following two questions: ‘‘Is a subcompact car BIG or SMALL?’’, ‘‘Is a bald eagle BIG or
SMALL?’’ The plausible answers are that a subcompact is small and a bald eagle is
big. The categories of cars and birds are spontaneously evoked by the mere
mention of their members, and these categories provide the norm for a relative
judgment of size. The conventions of language allow the entire range of size
adjectives, from ‘tiny’ to ‘enormous’ to be applied to cars and to birds, to countries
and to bacteria.