Our local Sainsbury’s, though admirable in every other way, has a slightly inflated estimate of the disabled population of Seven-oaks, with all the plum parking spaces near the entrance reserved for blue badge holders. Every time I drive in, a voice from my inner bastard says: ‘Jeez, if it weren’t for all these bloody disabled spaces, I’d be able to park right next to the door.’ This of course is rubbish, because if those spaces were not designated as disabled, other people would have parked in them first.
It is a perfect example of asymmetry of perception. In fact, next time you go shopping, it might pay to adopt the trademark Sutherland method of superstore parking, which is to park as close as possible to one of the trolley return points in the car park. You’ve never done this? That’s asymmetry of perception again: your mind was focused on minimising the first journey you had to make while completely neglecting the second.
It paid us in evolutionary terms to notice unusual phenomena more than everyday events
It is vital to understand these hidden asymmetries precisely because we are blind to their effects.
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