Real Reality

One day a 20 year old boy was travelling with his dad in a train by peeping outside through the window. There was a couple sitting just in front of them. Suddenly he started shouting, dad look at the trees are going behind us. The dad smiled. But the couple was excited. In a couple of minutes he again shouted dad look at the clouds, they are running with us. With the curiosity the couple approached the dad and asked “why don’t you take your son to a good doctor?”

The dad smiled and responded. Yes I took him to a doctor and we are just coming from the hospital. From the birth my son couldn’t see the world. He got the eyesight after an eye operation and we are returning after the operation.

If you looked at the incident as the couple that will be the way you would have behaved. This is one of thousands of stories around us where we look the things in the wrong angle.

Now I am going to show some images to you. Let’s check them out. What do you all see here?  

Only a tree? A monkey? A tiger? Two fishes ? A butterfly? A fog? So many animals and things are there, but we tend to see this as a tree right? 

Second, what do you see here? 

How many of you can see a rabbit there? How many of you can see a goose there? 

Third picture. What is here? 

Is it “Evil’ written in white? Or “Good” written in black? 

In psychology we call this as “Perception” which means how people select, organize and interpret the information about their environment. Another way to describe perception is the lens through which we view reality. The story that I mentioned at the beginning is coming under “interpersonal perception” which is the process of gathering sensory information about people and assigning meaning to their actions. There are three basic steps in the perceptional process; Selection, organization & interpretation.

We usually perceive and remember things selectively. When it comes to selection, there are so many factors involved in selection. Intensity, think about a person who speaks loudly or a person who wears a colorful dress. You will be attracted towards that person right. Repetition; When you are exposed to a similar thing again and again, you will move more towards it. This is very well used by the marketers. That is why they repetitively telecast the same advertisement.

Our brain takes the information our senses have selected and arranges it in a meaningful way. There are few principles govern the organization process. Proximity, Similarity, continuity, closure & etc. are few principles of organizing. Similarity means seeing columns of different colors. When it comes to closure you tend to complete the incomplete things with your previous experiences. That is why it is said human brain can read the words when the first and last parts are correct regardless of the middle part.

In interpretation you draw conclusions and evaluate. Let's say your spouse opens a letter addressed to you. If you are feeling good about your relationship you might interpret this as helping you out. However if you feel dissatisfied or unsure of your relationship that same behavior would be interpreted much more negatively.

Now just recall the story that I narrated at the beginning. The couple perceived the boy is unconscious and he needs a better treatment from a psychiatrist. They came to the conclusion because of their previous experiences. But that was not the reality.

So next time when you judge someone or something with their action, just make sure you are looking with the right pair of lenses. Because the lens you choose can change the whole picture that you see.