Here’s a great article: Teaching Cops to See, from the Smithsonian Institute. The article describes how Amy Herman uses Art History is used to teach policemen better observation skills!
No, really!
It demonstrates how difficult it is to make sense of a scene because our model of the world tells us what it means.
She says:
The officers, all captains or higher in rank, were attending “The Art of Perception,” a course designed to fine-tune their attention to visual details, some of which might prove critical in solving or preventing a crime. Herman laid out the ground rules. “First, there are two words that are not allowed—’obviously’ and ‘clearly’—since what’s obvious to you may not be obvious to someone else.
Amen to that.
The officers offer their interpretations of what they are seeing in each picture.
A Caravaggio appeared on the screen. In it, five men in 17th-century dress are seated around a table. Two others stand nearby, and one of them, barely discernible in shadow, points a finger—accusingly?—at a young man at the table with some coins.
Among the officers a discussion arose about who robbed whom, but they soon learned there could be no verdict. No one was being accused or arrested, Herman said. The painting was The Calling of St. Matthew, and the man in the shadow was Jesus Christ. The cops fell silent.
Later, Deputy Inspector Donna Allen said, “I can see where this would be useful in sizing up the big picture.”
We spend lots of time in our NLP Practitioner trainings emphasising observation over interpretation, even so our own models of the world are so persuasive it’s easy to fall for what we think rather than what we see (hear, feel, taste and smell).
Tip of the hat to Mike DeBusk and the nlphilia blog for discovering the article.
