Is this the start of an alien invasion?
Or just a picture of an innocent insect made to look more menacing than it is?
This is a photography technique called Forced Perspective
It tricks our minds into thinking the subject in the foreground is bigger than it is, especially when there are other objects in the distant background to compare it to.
It got me thinking though. What if this mind trick isn’t just about pictures?
Many of us tend to use forced perspective when it comes to how we view life in general.
Those problems that are right in front of us, or just ahead, often appear much larger and more menacing, especially when compared to the more distant images of challenges we’ve already overcome.
I’m sure there’s probably a good evolutionary reason behind this. Our ancient ancestors almost certainly didn’t have the luxury of downplaying the potential danger of menacing looking things that appeared right in front of them.
But in our modern world, let’s be honest, we probably do … have that luxury.
When presented with something that seems overwhelming, rather than run and hide right away, we might benefit from asking the simple question …
Is my mind playing tricks on me?
Is the problem really this big and overwhelming?
Our rational minds can usually deduce that there is no such thing as giant praying mantis, so the air traffic control tower is probably not in any danger of being knocked over. Sometimes even in pictures though, or rational minds have a little harder time
Who remembers seeing these pictures of *giant* camel “spiders” posted by soldiers in Iraq during the gulf war?
This was another case of forced perspective. These are neither spiders, nor giant. Note: these same solifugae often run around my office here in Arizona. There’s nothing to be scared about.
But it’s funny how so many people have a much easier time believing that this really was a huge scary bug to be avoided at all costs, as opposed to how most people will recognize my obvious attempt to trick them into worrying about a “giant” preying mantis that just doesn’t exist.
Unfortunately …
We currently live in a world where a lot of people have a vested interest in trying to trick our minds into thinking things they’re telling us about are huge and scary.
Don’t get me wrong, there are certainly some things that do demand our immediate attention.
But for the most part, we almost always have time to look at the surroundings, examine the background, and put what’s being most prominently presented in proper perspective.
There are no such thing as Giant Praying Mantis.
Just as much of what we find most menacing and scary today likely won’t look nearly so bad when it’s sitting a little further back in the picture that our mind is able to paint with the benefit of hindsight.
I’m not positive that this is the greatest analogy, but I think it sort of works.
Do you have any stories you’re willing to share about things that seemed huge and scary at the time, but then weren’t so bad once time put them in a little better perspective?
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A great read and excellent point Todd. Cyndi never went to Iraq, but she did get deployed to Jordan for a bit. According to her, the camel spiders are even bigger than that. She hates all insects. She still won't forgive me for the time we lived in Nebraska and I found a giant praying mantis on my truck (it was at least five inches long), picked it up and it flew off my hand directly at her.
I actually came here for the mantis: my toddler is obsessed with them, so I’ve ended up learning more about these insects than I ever thought I would. But I stayed for your amazing perspective.
The forced perspective analogy really works: so many things that feel enormous in the moment shrink once we step back. Moving countries, becoming a mom, even just surviving certain flights back when I was cabin crew – all felt like giant mantises at the time. With distance, most of them turned out to be much smaller bugs. Thanks for the reminder to check the angle before panicking.