Why do we miss the bigger picture?

[sweden01]

Hi Everyone,

I have a psychology presentation in a week and I really need some help concerning my project. My question is "Why do we miss the bigger picture?" (For example if someones a petty theif, everyone dispises her, whereas Wall-Street people rob millions of dollars right under our noses but we are too blind to see it.)

Has there been any experiments conducted on this? Any research? I Would really appreciate a good answer Thank you.

[sweden01]

help is really appreciated

[sakoz]

This may not be the 'good' answer you want.
You know the saying; " Can't see the forest for the trees"? We operate from frames of reference. While on the floor of the forest is a 1st order frame of reference. Hovering above in a helicopter, would be 2nd order frame of reference (big picture).
We 'can' shift perspectives, but it's not as easy as getting into a helicopter. Mostly, we're 'locked into' our current frame of reference.
Examples of 'jump/shift' out is insight/epiphany; paradigm shift.