If you’ve ever relaxed on the grass on a warm day and watched the clouds float lazily by, you may have played a game to see what you could “see” in their shapes. Have you ever seen a cloud bunny or cloud elephant? Or maybe you’ve seen the face of a woman or the shape of the Alamo? If so, you have already experienced a pareidolia.
Without going too deeply into a study of psychology, pareidolia [ ˌper-ˌī-ˈdōl-ē-ə ] is the “tendency to perceive a specific, often meaningful, image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern,” according to the etymologists at www.merriam-webster.com
For instance, in the photo of the post accompanying this post (pun intended), what do you see? Do you see a face? I know I do! The green piece of wood at the top is a hat. The white circles are eyes, and the green, metal piece is the mouth. To me, this post looks like it’s singing.
Whether it’s seeing faces in clouds, or signposts, tree trunks or even in flour tortillas, the phenomenon of pareidolia is intriguing.
I once interviewed an emergency services dispatcher who showed me “angel wings” in the wood grain of her office door. (Yes, I did see angel wings!) She took comfort in knowing those angel wings were there, especially during stressful emergency calls.
How about you? If you’ve experienced a pareidolia, let me know in the comments below. I’d love to know what you’ve “seen.”
“Pareidolia.” Merriam-Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/pareidolia. Accessed 13 Feb. 2022.
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