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Saturday 27 May 2017

Ebbinghaus Illusion : Philosophical and Human Factors thoughts










The Orange Circles, both of them are exactly the same size. However, at a quick glance, it is very obvious that one looks bigger than the other.



Philosophical questions


The first question is which orange circle would you like to be? Small fish in a big pond or big fish in a small pond? Why? If you are the fish, do you realise that the fish is the same irrespective of the pond. Are you living in hope? Are you living in false hope? Do you think the big pond means that you have a great opportunity etc? The size of the pond does not allow the fish to become bigger or smaller.  Is it a protection mechanism that you are using? Small fish in a big pond, are you trying to hide to protect yourself? Are you trying to be insignificant? Do you fear that you might be attacked by predators? Big fish in a small pond, are you the predator? Are you trying to show off and dominate? If you are, what impact is that having on your eco-system?



Political questions



If you are surrounded by ‘small’ people it may make you seem/feel big and if you are surrounded by ‘big’ people it may make you seem/feel small – would you be aware of that? How comfortable would you be with that? What would upset you? How can you use it to your advantage?



Human Factors perspective



What goes on around you can distort your perception. We also know that our perception is our reality. We face adverse effects for ourselves and create adverse effects for others by distorted reality.



Let us say you are selecting someone for a job or a promotion and you faced this distortion and always picked what you thought was a bigger orange circle, you would be causing chaos and confusion. Let us say both the orange circles are urgent medical conditions and you constantly chose the ‘larger’ one you would continuously disadvantage one particular group of patients.



Similarly, when gearing up for tasks, you could be under prepared or over prepared depending on how you perceive. You could then face surprises, nasty surprises that could harm. It is this kind of illusion that results in over estimating our strengths and underestimating our weaknesses.



It is okay for poets to talk about the moon being larger and closer or smaller and farther but when it comes to operations of any kind but especially in healthcare - Measurement and objectivity are important, they become even more important in complex situations.



©M HEMADRI


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