Chapter 5 - Discovering Our Realities & The Perception Process

1. Discovering Our Realities&The Perception Process

2. What Is Reality? Reality includes everything that is (whether or not it is observable, accessible or understandable by science, philosophy, theology, or any system of analysis). Reality is the degree of agreement achieved by two ends of a communication line. What is real is only real because it is agreed upon, and for no other reason. SO… what is commonly labeled as “reality” is created in the mind.

3. Reality Isn’t….Real? Nope, reality is not what is “real,” it is what we think is real. When the realities of two people differ about the same subject, this is when conflict occurs. According to psychologist Paul Watzlawick, “the belief that one’s own view of reality is the only reality is the most dangerous of all delusions. It becomes still more dangerous if it is coupled with the missionary zeal to enlighten the rest of the world, whether the rest of the world wishes to be enlightened or not.”

4. Virtual Reality Virtual Reality can be used as an example of a reality that is not “real”. In this reality, computer technology is used to create the effect of an interactive three-dimensional world in which the objects have a sense of spatial presence. Using computer technology and equipment, an artificial environment can be created that is presented to the user in such a way that it looks and feels like a real environment.

5. Perception Perception is an individual act. For example, it is impossible for two people to have identical life experiences; similarly, there are no two people who perceive a situation in the same manner.

6. The Perception Process The Perception Process is intended to create our reality from our environment. We all create our realities of people, events and things in our environment internally using the Process of Perception: selecting, sorting, and interpreting data from our external environment.

7. The Perception Process This process comes into play as we are overwhelmed with messages from our environment. Through this method we take these environmental messages, select certain ones, attach meanings to them and finally create an image of our environment. We call this picture our reality.

8. The Perception Process (Step 1) First, we select data from the environment. This stage acts as a filtering mechanism. Most of the data we’re exposed to is filtered out, while some is selected to pass on to our awareness.

9. The Perception Process (Step 2) Second, we organize and prioritize the data we’ve become aware of. We do this so that certain information stands out over others. This prioritization is based on our own experiences, which may not be shared by others.

10. The Perception Process (Step 3) The third phase is interpreting data. This is where we manipulate the information we’ve gathered and organized to give it meaning. Here, we search our memories and appoint meaning to the data based on its similarity to our previous experiences.

11. The Process of Perception