Perceptual Errors In 'The Blind Men And The Elephant'

188 Words1 Pages
In John Godfrey Saxes “The Blind men and the Elephant”, each man is describing one aspect of the elephant, which in turn distorts the entirety of the image. This often transpires in everyday life when a person judges someone based on a particular trait, as opposed to acquiring all of the facts. Essentially, stereotyping, perceptual defense, and the halo/horn effect, are three facets of perceptual errors that occur on a regular basis. (OB or BO?, 2012). To illustrate, a person that rides a motorcycle and has a borage of tattoos, may be classified as a “bad” person or a “trouble maker”(horn effect). In contrast, a person that is deemed “nice” may be categorized as a “good person” (halo effect). These are prime examples of a skewed perception