„‚ CONDITIONS THAT HINDER EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

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ANYBODY WITH EYES CAN SEE THE FACTS!
Aharon Kuperman
Disagreements between individuals, especially those who depend on each other in order
to “see” facts, are almost inevitable. Nevertheless, there is a common belief that “facts
are facts.” When a dispute occurs, it should be possible to unearth the “real” facts,
accept them, act accordingly, and thus settle any differences. Stagner, who for many
years was involved in studying industrial conflicts, related how a known labor mediator
liked to say, “There cannot be disagreement about facts, there can only be ignorance of
them” (1956, p. 15). It is questionable, however, whether this belief rests on a firm
foundation. The “facts” are not always that simple.
THE CASE OF “MR. RAT”
Figure 1 will give us a glimpse of what may be entailed in attempting to establish facts
that can plainly be accepted by all who look. If the drawing in Figure 1 is shown to a
group of people and each person is asked to describe what he or she sees, some
individuals, without any trace of doubt or hesitation, will say, “A profile of a bald man
with eyeglasses and a hooked nose.” Other observers, with no less confidence, will
promptly respond, “A rat!” One might wonder how both responses could be right—or
whether anybody needed an eye examination or one group was lying. It is easy to
imagine the arguments between the two groups of observers after the picture is
withdrawn.
Situations such as that illustrated by “Mr. Rat” are not as infrequent as they may
appear. Stagner claims that many industrial conflicts revolve around the differences that
management and labor see in the facts. If this is so, we might well wonder how facts can
be established. It is not a new problem. The thorny question of the relationship between
the “real” world and the world as it appears in our experiences has concerned the human
race throughout history. Answers to such questions are prerequisites for gaining reliable
and valid knowledge about the world in general.
PERCEPTION
In modern psychology, issues of this kind are dealt with under the heading of
“perception,” a field that deals with the processes by which human beings establish and
maintain contact with their environment. Since Locke (An Essay Concerning Human
Originally published in The 1979 Annual Handbook for Group Facilitators by John E. Jones and J. William Pfeiffer (Eds.), San Diego,
CA: Pfeffer & Company.
The Pfeiffer Library Volume 6, 2nd Edition. Copyright © 1998 Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer ❚❘ 75