Thanks for responding (and reading so many of my pieces in one go :-))

De Bono’s Village Venus Effect is similar to WYSIATI, but I am not sure it is entirely the same. I would say that the former is more concerned with the inevitable limitations of our overall environment: our points of comparison, our norms and benchmarks, are always shaped by our history, and by that with which we are familiar.

WYSIATI to me is a more acute affair: we are influenced much more strongly by what is salient right here and now, and ignore that which is outside our field of vision.

To give an example: many people’s taste in food is strongly influenced by the food they used to eat as a child — even if they emigrate later on, and get exposed to other cuisines, it is likely that their favourite food remains a childhood favourite. That would be the Village Venus effect. If a local paper station has frequent reports on, say, the phenomenon of car-cruising, then its readers are likely to consider this a much bigger problem than those who don’t listen to it (and don’t get exposed to it in another way).