The law of reciprocal association is a “mirror law,” which suggests that one thing may be perceived through the lens which associate it with another. The term was first coined in the year 2019 by Patrick Carpen.
The law applies to many aspects of life such as social effects, grammar rules, mechanics and even physics. It was first discovered in the year 2019 by Patrick Carpen.
The law of reciprocal association suggests that something may be given a name or character based on its location or association with something which generally associates with that name or character.
For example, we call the unit that rolls a car “a wheel.” This object is located under the car. A wheel is generally round. But let’s say we put a triangular shaped object in place of the wheel. Then one may write, “the wheels of the car were triangular in shape, therefore, it was impossible or difficult to move.”
Even though the word “wheel” itself is defined by its shape, and a triangular shaped object cannot be called a wheel, because the object was placed where the wheel belonged, the law of reciprocal association labeled the object as a “wheel.”
Another example of the law of reciprocal association may be seen in one’s reputation. If a person is reputed to be a thief and something goes missing in the neighborhood, the police, lacking a suspect, may arrest the person reputed to be a thief for questioning. This is the another example of the law of reciprocal association. The thief, albeit innocent in this case, was presupposed to be guilty because of the law of reciprocal association.
The law of reciprocal association may also be seen in grammar. For example, we say that a singular subject takes a singular verb and vice versa. But if I say, “bread and butter makes a delicious snack,” I’m using a plural subject with a plural verb. For the sentence to be correct, it must be assumed that “bread and butter” is being treated as a single combined entity. The law of reciprocal association states that, since a singular subject takes a singular verb, and the verb is singular, then the subject somehow must be singular.
We may also see the law of reciprocal association taking effect in other aspects of life. For example, if someone speaks with an American accent, they may be described as American, even though they are not.
If I say that only stupid people attend a certain institution, and it’s generally true, then if a smart person goes to the institution, they are likely to become stupid or become classified as stupid based on the law of reciprocal association.
If it is generally true that only intelligent people gets accepted into Harvard, for example, and somehow, a few people of lower intelligence gets accepted, then those of lesser intelligence is automatically classified or labeled as “intelligent” based on the law of the reciprocal association.
