Perception vs Perspective

This well-known diagram first appeared on a German postcard circa 1888 but was adapted and made more popular by a British cartoonist, William Ely Hill, under the title “My Wife and my Mother-in-Law”. It is often used in psychology classes studying perception and how we process data using pre-existing notions and constructs.

These courses delve into why some of us will immediately see a young woman and some an older, more mature individual. Interestingly, there will be some who "just can’t see" one or the other without some assistance and that’s where perception steps in.

If I add the descriptors, “a young woman, with her head turned to her right or an old woman, with a white scarf over her head looking down to the bottom left corner” most of us will now see both.

So why am I interested in this? Well, when the American political strategist, Lee Atwater, said “Perception is Reality” he was talking about using certain statements and positions to make the general public believe something to be true about his candidate or his opponent. And he did an outstanding job of it!?

In the business world, most, if not all businesses aim to do something similar with their products and services at some time through marketing slogans, billboards, advertising etc. So great, say something often enough and it will become the truth (except, “I am a billionaire, I am a billionaire” which hasn’t worked for me yet) It seem, by and large, that perception IS reality.

But, as always, I’m not convinced. I have an annoying habit of always considering the other side of the argument, the other point of view. And I’ve realised this is a fantastic secret weapon. If I am faced with an unwinnable argument, an unpleasant situation, an impasse, I have learned to put myself in someone else’s shoes - look at things from their perspective until I see the holes in their position, until I understand their motivations or fears etc. By actively changing my perspective, by willfully ignoring my perspective, I can formulate a different opinion which, ultimately, DOES change my perception of my own situation. In other words, now I can see both the young or the old woman, separately or simultaneously as the situation dictates.

Now think about that in terms of your current situation. How useful would that be? My most recent experience has been a rather unexpected redundancy. It is far too easy to let negativity take hold and lay all of that at the feet of various individuals and let it fester. But by putting myself in the virtual shoes of a imaginary company strategist, I can see the logic in the decision and understand what lead to that situation and what I could have done differently (and hence what I WILL do differently going forward)?

This is not admitting defeat, not acknowleding any fault on either side, it is about opening up new pathways to knowledge. Maybe I couldn’t have changed anything, maybe it was my fate, my time but even with that fatalistic attitude, I can and have improved my perception of myself by considering others’ perspective of me.?

And in my opinion, real self-perception, warts and all is possibly the most important psychological construct of all.

#motivation #selfperception #humancentricseller