“We see do not see things as they are; we see things as we are” Talmud

The effect of perspective is such that alters events in the mind of people. Talmud joins Einstein in asserting that relative positions (whether real, political or the like) affect our ability to perceive things. However, whereas Einstein’s discovery about Relativity has implications for the universe and motion, Talmud’s assertion relates to people. Certainly, people see things as they believe them, however, this statement ignores the existence of various personality types and their ability to handle facts and information. Hence, in a broader sense, people do not always look out from their perspective to interpret facts, but view a situation from a variety of angles. This ability to deconstruct has implications in marketing right through to personal ambitions.

Human being are naturally focused inwards, generally satisfying their basic instincts before moving on to higher considerations as Maslow’s hierarchy states. Hence, we tend to see things from the way in which it affects us. This means that is impossible to relate objective facts when asked, as we always put our own angle on things. Indeed, police officers answering a scene of a car accident will take statements from several witnesses to get a clear picture of what happened. It goes deeper than this when considering human relationships. It is very hard to be objective about how we feel at any given moment with another. Instead, we are constantly watching the signs and considering the asker’s [sic] feelings and how they will respond. So, in a sense, not only do we see things as we are, we see things as other people see them as a direct consequence of what other people tell us. The bottom line is that we do not get the fully story from anything or in any situation, least of all in human interactions. Rather, there are countless considerations and concerns, memories and hurts that define us which plays out in two girlfriends denying their rear end looks big in that size 10 Lee cut! It is clear that then that although we want (and do) see things from our perspective, it is often not our opinion that matters.

A second point that relates to the ability of humans to process information and the plethora of personality type [sic]. The Myer-Briggs way of classifying people uses these classifications for how people respond to their environment which is regulated by their ability to judge and their level of intuition. Hence, some personality types may be more objective than others. There are indeed many who do not trust their own senses or emotions and prefer the relatively concrete realms of reason and logic for instance. To a degree, this results in more objective people than others. This phenomenon also plays out in the human ability to see hidden meaning behind situations or presented facts. Hence, although a hungry motorist can be attracted by the over-large signs enticing them to consume meat pies and the like, they can equally refuse on the grounds that the marketing push has exaggerated its size and that it would not be good value.

It is clear, therefore that people find it hard to be completely objective and yet there are more objective individuals than others. The ability of people to process information is also important in concluding that the variety of angles that can be adapted affect the information we receive.