Understanding Pattern Recognition and Storylines
On his weblog Scott Rosenberg talks about pattern recognition and how people and reporters tend to follow an established story line. A few excerpts:
Our minds fall into existing patterns like wheels in a rut; we "see" words spelled right even when they're misspelled, and we "see" events unfold according to the sequence we expect, even when the information parading across our eyeballs tells us otherwise.
For an astonishingly high percentage of professional journalists, the news they recognize is the news that fits the pattern they have already selected as the template for their coverage.
Hmmm…. ‘according to the sequence we expect’… and not what actually happens. The point of Scott’s post was to open up the awareness and spend the time and effort to look for new patterns emerging. As trial lawyers, this just highlights how people construct stories (pattern recognition) and how we should make certain that our themes, evidence and story lines fall into the jurors existing patterns ‘like wheels in a rut’ as Scott so eloquently puts it.
Don’t fight how people think, understand it and use the thought process to your client’s advantage. Scott’s whole article is worth a read.
