years old -- very lovely, rather fashionable with a petite nose and demure
presence. If you were a single man you might like to take her out. If you were in
retailing, you might hire her as a fashion model.
But what if I were to tell you that you're wrong? What if I said this picture is
of a woman in her 60s or 70s who looks sad, has a huge nose, and certainly is no
model. She's someone you probably would help cross the street.
Who's right? Look at the picture again. Can you see the old woman? If you
can't, keep trying. Can you see her big hook nose? Her shawl?
If you and I were talking face to face, we could discuss the picture. You
could describe what you see to me, and I could talk to you about what I see. We
could continue to communicate until you clearly showed me what you see in the
picture and I clearly showed you what I see.
Because we can't do that, turn to page 45 and study the picture there and then
look at this picture again. Can you see the old woman now? It's important that
you see her before you continue reading.
I first encountered this exercise many years ago at the Harvard Business
School. The instructor was using it to demonstrate clearly and eloquently that
two people can see the same thing, disagree, and yet both be right. It's not
logical; it's psychological.
He brought into the room a stack of large cards, half of which had the image
of the young woman you saw on page 25, and the other half of which had the old
woman on page 45.
He passed them out to the class, the picture of the young woman to one side
of the room and the picture of the old woman to the other. He asked us to look at
the cards, concentrate on them for about 10 seconds and then pass them back in.
He then projected upon the screen the picture you saw on page 26 combining
both images and asked the class to describe what they saw. Almost every person
in that class who had first seen the young woman's image on a card saw the
young woman in the picture. And almost every person in that class who had first
seen the old woman's image on a card saw an old woman in the picture.
The professor then asked one student to explain what he saw to a student on
the opposite side of the room. As they talked back and forth, communication
problems flared up.
"What do you mean, 'old lady'? She couldn't be more than 20 or 22 years old!
“Oh, come on. You have to be joking. She's 70 -- could be pushing 80!”
“What's the matter with you? Are you blind? This lady is young, good
looking. I'd like to take her out. She's lovely.”
"Lovely? She's an old hag.
The arguments went back and forth, each person sure of, and adamant in, his
joyce
(Joyce)
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