Cambridgeshire Consumer Analytics – journal

Perspective Taking: Seeing the World Through Others’ Eyes.

At Cambridgeshire Consumer Analytics (C.C.A.), we know that effective analysis begins with understanding why people make their choices— these include our clients, competitors, consumers, and even domestic or foreign political leaders. To do this well, we must possess the skills to adopt their perspectives, shaped by unique values, cultures, and often flawed assumptions.

Without the benefit of perspective taking, it is safe to say that analysing others’ actions risks devolving into mere guesswork. What may appear irrational or unreasonable to us often makes perfect sense when seen through the right lens. But when we rely solely on our worldview, we misinterpret intentions, underestimate motives, and overlook crucial insights.

The cost of perceptual errors is high and has impacted:

Predicting Armed Conflicts (2021) – The UK Government and Academic experts incorrectly perceived that a Russian invasion of Ukraine was unlikely. Experts relied on utility-based reasoning and were blindsided by the Russian regime’s appetite for risk acceptance.[1]

Terrorism (2023) – The New York Times reported evidence that Israeli decision makers dismissed warning intelligence of a pending Hamas attack on 07 October 2023, claiming the likelihood of an attack was “aspirational,” “totally imaginative,” and beyond Hamas’ capabilities.[2]

Preventable Crimes (2018) – The police authorities were unable to perceive that a serving officer, Wayne Couzens, a serial sex offender with a pathological history of violence, would be capable of abusing his position of authority to execute a plan to abduct and murder a member of the public, Sarah Everard.[3]

Missed Opportunities (1975) – The Police perceived that Peter Sutcliffe, aka The Yorkshire Ripper, would only attack female sex workers. This focused immense police resources on a single female demographic, which resulted in multiple missed opportunities to broaden the scope of the investigation and prevent a continuation of his egregious crimes.[4]

Lost Elections (2016)– Pollsters failed to perceive the extent of the positive influence of the simple rhetorical language used by President Donald Trump, his familiarity with US citizens due to his appearances on the TV show, The Apprentice, and more localised trustworthy personality endorsements as opposed to big brand celebrities would help drive his presidential election.[5]

Failed Marketing and PR Campaigns (1981) – The perceptual failures of the marketing campaign to launch a new VW luxury car model.  A costly misperception by marketers for failing to consider how consumers categorise VW cars as functionally reliable (Informational Alpha Marketing) and not a luxury brand (Sentiment Omega Marketing).[6]

The few examples above make for uncomfortable reading, and there is no doubt that other contributing factors were acting in concert along with the perceptual flaws. These factors will not be discussed further as they are outside the scope of this post. The main point here is to emphasise the importance of perception a priori when analysing information and projecting unknowable future outcomes of events. Throughout history, perceptual errors have tarnished reputations and cost millions in lost revenue, time, and resources.

We recommend reading Finklestein’s Think Again book if you are new to the subject and interested in exploring failures attributed to human perceptual biases.[7]

Understanding Human Perception.

This series of posts begins by exploring the foundation of all interpretation: perception. C.C.A. researchers approach perception with a focus on role-based interpretation—how different people view the world based on their positions as consumers, analysts, academics, creatives, or political leaders.

At the core, perception is built on our five senses: touch, sight, hearing, smell, and taste. But these inputs are far from objective—they are filtered through complex cognitive processes that determine:

• What we notice.
• What we ignore.
• How do we categorise and assign meaning?

What we perceive is deeply influenced by:

• Personal experience.
• Education.
• Cultural values.
• Social roles.
• Contextual details.

We all perceive reality through a perceptual lens—a subconscious filter that emphasises certain details while minimising or discarding others incongruent with our assumptions and mindset. Think about how many times you have studied in depth the opposing views or grievances of a contentious, polarised political or religious issue that you are emotionally invested in and fundamentally disagree with? It’s impossible to have an open mind, which is why at C.C.A., we embed several cognitive tools into our planning processes to recognise and mitigate any distortion of information not consciously recognisable.

The Importance of Self-Awareness in Analysis.

Whether you’re a foreign service intelligence analyst or a product marketing manager, your effectiveness hinges on the clarity of the image you form of a market, consumer group, political actor, or country. But clarity isn’t just about gathering data. It also depends on how well you understand your perceptual lens.

For example, therapists often undergo personal analysis to better understand how their own personality affects their perception of clients. Similarly, analysts and strategists must examine their own assumptions, biases, and blind spots.

Our mindset—the sum of everything we think we know—can both empower and limit us. In a rapidly changing world, even seasoned professionals can miss critical developments if they remain tethered to outdated or rigid ways of thinking. When confronted with knowledge gaps when tackling a problem, we tend to draw on a previous experience or schema to fill those gaps. The historical schema we drew may differ in critical ways from the current problem, or it may fail to account for a completely changed environment. The world 20, 10, even 5 years ago is very different from it is today. History never repeats itself; we create representations of history to understand and help find solutions to current problems.

Perception is Not Passive.

Contrary to common belief, perception is not about seeing what’s there—it’s about constructing a version of reality based on expectations.

Humans tend to perceive what they expect, not necessarily what they want. This principle can be surprising in action: try looking quickly at an unfamiliar illustration in red below.

First glance often reveals what you expect is there; if you’re observant, a second look should reveal something unexpected.

How Perception Shapes Our Judgments and Decisions.

Our perceptions don’t emerge in a vacuum. They’re shaped by a mix of past experiences, cultural influences, professional training, and the changing expectations of the people around us. Whether we’re analysts, marketers, or political decision-makers, these influences act as mental filters—guiding what we notice, what we filter out, how we interpret data, and ultimately, what we believe is important.

At C.C.A., we recognise that these perceptual expectations are not flaws to be eliminated but realities to be understood. They form subconscious patterns that direct our attention, telling us what to look for, what to prioritise, and how to make sense of what we see. Ignoring these mental frameworks doesn’t make us more objective; it just makes us blind to our own biases and leads to poor decision-making.

Instead, our approach to objectivity is built on transparency. Our researchers work in teams to make their assumptions explicit, laying out the reasoning behind their interpretations. Once those assumptions are out in the open, they can be critically examined, questioned, and refined. That’s where true insight emerges—not from pretending to be unbiased, but from rigorously testing our thinking. The empirical evidence shows that this approach contributes to successful outcomes for clients.

Wrapping Up

We hope this post sparked your curiosity about how perception shapes the way we think, judge, solve problems, and even respond to marketing. What we covered today is just the beginning — we haven’t even gotten into the fascinating roles of neurotransmitters, emotions, and feelings yet!

Next week, we’ll dive into perspective taking and explore why it can be so tough to change our minds, even when the facts say otherwise. We’ll also share some practical tips to help overcome the cognitive errors that come from perceptual biases.

So, stay tuned!

And if you’d like to chat more about these ideas, feel free to reach out on our social channels. We welcome thoughtful discussions — in the spirit of Socratic dialogue: open, respectful, and aimed at learning, not winning.

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[1] CONTEMPORARY SECURITY POLICY 2023, VOL. 44, NO. 4, 544–560 https://doi.org/10.1080/13523260.2023.2259153

[2] According to Yonah Jeremy Bob, “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu essentially presented to the Knesset State Control Committee in 2017 the threat of a Hamas invasion along the lines of the terrorist group’s ‘Walls of Jericho’ battle plan, which Israel later intercepted.” See Yonah Jeremy Bob, “Ex-IDF intel. chief: These are the failures that led to October 7,” Jerusalem Post, April 2, 2024.

[3] See the Angiolini report at: https://www.angiolini.independent-inquiry.uk/

[4] See revisiting the Yorkshire Ripper Murders at: https://research.tees.ac.uk/files/4181494/605022.pdf

[5] Trump Appeal – https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/trump-rsquo-s-appeal-what-psychology-tells-us/

[6] VW refuses to give up luxury car. See: https://www.businessinsider.com/r-cost-cutting-vw-bets-big-to-revamp-loss-making-luxury-phaeton-2015-1

[7] https://www.amazon.co.uk/Think-Again-Decisions-Happeining-Finkelstein/dp/B002A7LJRO/ref=monarch_sidesheet_title