There is a saying by an internationally acclaimed philosopher that people do not see things the way the things are, but see things because of who they are as people.
This seems to be convincingly true enough as many people would agree that they all have different opinions of how things are, depending on their experiences, expectations and motivation etc.
One could also accede to the notion that beauty depends on the eye of the beholder.
Perceptual errors cannot be associated with the physical or the tangible only but also with the spiritual, soul and the mind.
What exactly is a perceptual error?
According to scientific research, a perceptual error is the inability to judge humans, things or situations fairly and accurately. Examples could include such things as bias, prejudice, stereotyping, which have always caused human beings to err in different aspects of their lives.
Perceptual errors have always led to bad habits such as racism, tribalism, xenophobia and prejudice, which continue to harm the livelihood of people worldwide.
Different communities and individuals across the world do have such weakness but they may not be aware of them and always overlook them.
The habit continues to influence people in their judgment of situations, be it in job environments during decision making or even in the academic fields.
Mastering perception is the key to human relations and requires awareness of both the physical and social. It requires one to be conscious at all times when making decisions; not to be influenced by perceptual errors or illusions.
For years, perceptual errors have affected decision makings in different places, be it at school, business, courts and even government.
A clear example is the situation whereby foreigners in South Africa were exposed to xenophobic attacks.
Innocent lives were claimed by this madness just because some of the native South Africans perceived the foreigners as aliens who invaded their land to take their opportunities, while, in actual fact, they may have been in the country for some other reasons.
Another clear example is the long South African freedom struggle, in which black people were persecuted and massacred as the white racist government perceived them with the perceptual error of hatred, prejudice and attitude just because of the colour of their skin.
All these are repercussions of the perceptual errors.
“I think in Botswana we do have a problem of some people hating foreigners, collectively associating them with bad and criminal activities,” said Nsiiwa Nsiiwa of Tati. “But I do not think it is fair because people are different and people need to take that into consideration.”
He added that there is need for people to judge situations in a fair and balanced manner before they make decisions. He gave the example of many people associating Nigerians with drug smuggling and fraud, crimes which he said can be committed by any person, regardless of race, religion or gender.
Etsile Muzola of Minestone location in Francistown said that judging things collectively can bring negative effects, as people seem to conclude without first understanding the person, thing or the situation. He also gave the example of people of Arabic extraction are always regarded as terrorists.
“Just because Osama Bin Laden is among the most wanted terrorists, does not mean that all Arabs are like that,” he said.
He maintained that a lot of people miss a lot of opportunities by judging people, things and situations quickly without first analyzing and taking time to understand fully.
Judging other people with wrong perceptions can create tensions, animosity and cause havoc, leading to wars and injustice. It may affect businesses, governments, social lives and make the world a sad place to live in.
