Three young men leave a Starbucks and head to the parking lot. They are wearing white shorts and colorful ties. One of the men has spilled some Cappuccino, and there is a brown spot on his shirt.
We immediately see and zoom in on the spot.
Why do I (we) focus on such a detail? Interesting question. Obviously, during the course of evolution, our brain/mind has developed a particular strength for picking up differences rather than common elements. Instead of computing the white-shirt surfaces, and concluding that two men are wearing 100% white shirts, and one is wearing a 99.8% white shirt, our mind jumps on the 0.2 % difference.
Many languages have a high degree of similarities. Yet we are focusing on differences, not on the common roots.
A trivial observation, you might say. I disagree. Recent research indicates that the human gene pool is fairly homogeneous, and so-called human ‘races’ do not exist. It is equally proven that skin color has nothing to do with the genetic pool of a person. Yet, discriminative behavior and even legal ramifications are applied to different skin-color people. Spotting difference rather than common elements harbors a dangerous potential that can lead to hatred, and racism. In a unified world, improving similarity detection skills is not only nice-to-have, but vital.
What could be done to change the way we observe? A conscious training effort will help develop the necessary skills to develop recognition of communality, but it will require a special, unusual effort.
© 2004 by Franz L Kessler
Good stuff.
Gina