The explanation we prefer is a fundamentally perceptual one, owing originally to Kurt Lewin but first stated clearly by Fritz Heider. . . . behavior . . . has such salient properties that it tends to engulf the field rather than be confined to its proper position as a local stimulus whose interpretation requires the additional data of a surrounding field – the situation in social perception. (Heider, 1958, p. 54)
Context is king.
