“There are no rules of architecture for a Castle in the Clouds”

Gilbert K. Chesterton

I wasn’t the most imaginative kid and the idea of looking for things in the sky was the last thing on my agenda. However within the same day, I’d occupy myself watching people, their behavior, and pondering why they acted the way they did. The queries of an 8 year old were along the lines of “Why is that man shouting for no reason” or “How come that teacher has a strange Affinity for that student” but nonetheless that has evolved into a casual interest in behavioural science.

Through the rite of passage known as puberty, it wasn’t long before my microscope was pointing at the mirror in a search for why I behaved the way I did.

Skip a few years and the link between the two became extremely apparent.

Understanding the strengths (and flaws) of human perception has become an ace up my sleeve for the good part of half a decade. Due to dabbling in the world of behavioural economics and behavioural science as a whole, I can now provide some method to this possibly perceived madness. Of course my explanation is not original but see this as an easy to digest personification.

When you look at a cloud you will pick out creatures and characters whether you wish to or not

The following show our human cloud spotting in action and how it can be influenced:

• Stereotyping People
• Seeing someone in a positive light if they have done a positive action
• A feeling of familiarity if an individual displays familiar characteristics

For those interested in the formal mechanics at work here give these phrases a spin into Google or your friendly local AI Chatbot : The Halo Effect , Recency Bias and Priming.

And for those above such mundane thought processes and perhaps even self aware to acknowledge and dismiss them here’s a sequence inspired by one of my favourite books Thinking Fast & Slow by Daniel Kahneman.

1. The Obvious Perception Flaw

Ah the classic.. the beauty of such a simple illusion is that it offers key insight regardless whether you are familiar with the misperception or not [Both lines are the same length despite the bottom line looking longer.]

Beyond the “Haha very funny, you got me” is a poignant acknowledgment which is I know my perception is wrong but my perception cannot be changed. Being able to admit that what you see is incorrect but you cannot perceive it otherwise is a key admission that we carry inherent flaws. The caveat being if we can understand and work with this notion we can become more self aware and become better decision makers in the process.

2. Hmmm… Interesting

If you haven’t been conditioned to be skeptical after number 1 you definitely will after this. Like myself you’d likely read – ABC, Ann Approached the Bank and 12 13 14.

Okay and? Some might’ve clocked that the B and 13 look strangely familiar and for the others, well, you’ve just been primed. (Sounds like something Bezos would say.)

But why has Ann been dragged into all of this? Besides the avid Kayaker, chances are you imagined Ann approaching a building containing money and ATM’s despite no further context verifying this assumption. Here you might realise that your perception isn’t just visual but also subconscious.

3. Okay wtf?

Okay sweet, now you know to double check what you read and perhaps even contemplated on the other presumptions your brain makes when you aren’t looking..

Here is where it gets a bit mad..

Coined a classic by many Psychologists a study by Bargh found that our perception is not only the funny visual illusions or limited to subconscious shortcuts but also physically.

This ideomotor link was demonstrated by challenging a group of students to create a 4 word sentence from a selection of 5 words. Half of the students were shown words such as grey, bald and forgetful. The actual crux of the experiment was to see how long it would take the students to walk down the hallway after they’d finished the task. Funnily enough the group of students exposed to the aforementioned words walked down the hallway significantly slower despite the word old never being mentioned.

Just your regular Sunday dome provokers, roll safe..