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A few days ago I ran an article that asked us all to look at how we react to visual imperfections. I was puzzled because marketing experts go to great lengths to show us the “perfect” image when presenting their products. But, we seem to take greater notice of that which is less than the ideal. Has perfect become so expected in marketing that most temperaments consider it passe?

I decided to do a bit of market analysis myself. I sent out a call to some of the beast and brightest folks I know who span the spectrum of temperaments. I asked for the thoughts of folks who are high in the choleric range and those that are very sanguine as well as a generous contribution of supines, melancholies, and phlegmatics. What I got was some really fascinating and insightful observations.

I would like to share some of these reactions these reactions with you here ( in no particular order).

Bert Webb of Open Loops offer the following interpretation.

Dirty? No, not just dirty, but the negative, the nasty, the bloody, the messy — for most of us, anyway. We pass the same patch of flowers each day and hardly notice them, yet slowdown to look at an accident that occurred right in the middle of them. The entire evening news program is filled with negatively slanted stories — murder, robbery, annexation arguments — and editors/directors save one positive story with which to end the broadcast (remember “If it bleeds, it leads”?). Teachers have hundreds and thousands of students during the course of their career, but when tasked to remember them, the challenging ones rise to the forefront of our minds and we struggle to remember the good ones.

I don’t think it’s because we’re hard-wired for it. There are many people who still have that optimistic outlook, avoid the negatives in their lives and concentrate on looking at the good in every situation. They are proactive in keeping the negative out of their lives. I think the rest of us have been trained to be negative, trained by our parents, our peers, our environment and our media. When we are forced to see and hear the negative throughout most of our day, our brains then begin to filter for it. This, unfortunately, is a learned behavior.

The ever creative Tori Deaux of MindTweaks opines..

I’d say we’re hardwired to notice things that are out of place, not quite right, not as they should be, and yes, dirt. It’s keyed into survival - in less privileged times, out-of-placeness can be cues to both food sources and dangers. I also remember reading some research last year about how the brain is wired to be repelled by contamination - and that intellect doesn’t over rule that wiring. Grocery stores cannot put toilet paper in the same aisle as canned goods, because the brain marks the toilet paper as a source of contamination, and therefore, food that’s close to it is “contaminated” too. Knowing that the TP is clean, and the food is sealed, doesn’t over rule the ewww factor. It’s more primal than that.

So.. as a mind tweaker… I’d say we notice dirty things because we’re hardwired to do so. What we do with the info depends on a lot of less solid sorting factors. Or something like that. Maybe. Kinda. Sorta.

(BTW… I agree with Mother Earth.. Leave the car dirty, wash the child’s face, and I’d add in… tell him its rude to stare!)

Karen Hanrahan (aka Mother Earth) of Best Wellness Consultant offers…

my very maternal side would definitely want to wash that lovely childs face, is that caring or is it perfection - I believe the child’s view would be hey I”m fine the way I am

for me it’s my desire to care for

i had a dirty phase in my life where I tried to get as filthy as I possible could — just because it seemed fun

parallel to being sort of grungy in HS - I did that too

hmmm what does that say about my temperment

mother earthy ??

the dirty vehicle? Wastes water to wash it - let it sit in the rain instead! Gave up on that one a long time ago!

Ted Demopoulos of Blogging for Business, our ever insightful lens into the business world offers the following interpretation.

Well, part of it is that we notice different. For example a clean kid among a group of dirty ones would stand out too.

I think it’s more than just that, but that’s a big part. We been taught that clean is good, e.g. “Cleanliness is next to Godliness”

As a side note, my wife is out of commission, recovering from an operation for 6-8 week and I’m Mr Dad.

Kids are dirty than ever But their hygiene is probably improved. Stains on clothes? Who cares. Eating or snacking? Wash hands.

Finally, the Relationship Geek of Make it Great! Phil Gerbyshak provides the following interpretation.

Very interesting to think about Reg. Looking at the van, my first thought is “Dang, who owns this dirtball?” My second thought was, “That’s cute. Someone took the time to write Wash Me but didn’t take the time to actually wash the van. Nice.”

I don’t know if it’s because of, or in spite of, the imperfections, that I’m drawn to these pictures. They definitely do help the mind wander, and wonder, what’s going on.

Those were the reaction I was able to gather from some of the most insightful folks I know.

If you don’t see your interpretation here, I love to add it to the feature. So comment and let’s see if we can add your insight as well.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 27th, 2008 at 10:45 am and is filed under Elemental Truths, Reg Adkins, communication, temperament. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.