Perception is Interpretation

intermediate2 min readphilosophy · psychology

Our perception of reality is not a direct recording but an interpretation shaped by internal mental traits such as emotions, biases, and assumptions, which we are largely unaware of and which can lead us to see false patterns and form rigid beliefs.

THE IDEA

Perception and Interpretation

An episode from a biography of Georgia O’Keeffe illustrates how feelings can shape perception. The quotation appears in Bolles’s book A Second Way of Knowing: “Georgia was suddenly struck by the realization that her feelings governed the way she saw the scene. It was a moment of transformation: the entire visual world, she realized, was dependent on the emotional world.” Said Bolles:

That day she learned the artist’s secret; what you perceive depends on who you are. Analytical thinkers have generally assumed that we perceive reality as it is; they then use a process of abstract reasoning to interpret that perception. O’Keeffe realized that the perception is the interpretation. It rests on an internal reality that governs the meaning we find in our sensations.

The internal reality Bolles describes includes emotions, biases, and assumptions. These influences help shape the meaning we find in sensory information, often without our noticing them.

When we consider these influences acting in combination, is it any wonder that we humans, as Alexander Pope observed over two centuries ago, are prone to err? We view the world through a dense veil of burdensome, thought-warping emotions, biases, and mind-sets. Through this veil we sometimes perceive cause-and-effect and other “patterns” where there are none. We are prone to grace these nonexistent patterns with self-satisfying explanations with whose validity we are instinctively unconcerned. Finally, we convert these explanations into rock-hard beliefs that we defend in the face of incontrovertible contradictory evidence. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you … Homo sapiens!

* Biases and assumptions enjoy a mutually dependent relationship: assumptions beget biases, biases beget assumptions. Although assumptions and biases are distinctly different in nature, their effects on our thinking are nearly identical. Therefore, my use of the term “bias” subsumes the concept of “assumptions.”

* A quotation from German psychologist Johannes Müller’s two-volume Handbook of Human Psychology, published in the 1830s.

Source Boundary

The excerpt ends with the heading 2 Insights into Problem Solving and an introduction to five insights. Those insights are not included here.

When to use it

When making a high-stakes decision, consciously examine how your assumptions and emotions might be coloring your perception of options.
In data analysis, be wary of seeing patterns that confirm your expectations; consider alternative interpretations.
During conflicts, recognize that each person's perception is a subjective interpretation, not an objective fact, to foster empathy and communication.
When learning a new skill, question your initial perceptions and be open to the idea that they may be biased by past experiences.

FROM THEORY TO EVERYDAY LIFE

In practice

Georgia O'Keeffe's Realization

Georgia O'Keeffe was struck by the realization that her feelings governed the way she saw a scene, leading to the insight that the entire visual world is dependent on the emotional world. This is a concrete example of how perception is an interpretation rather than a direct recording of reality.

✳

A MOMENT TO REFLECT

Put it to work.

How might your current emotional state be influencing your interpretation of a recent event or problem?
Think of a belief you hold strongly. What underlying assumptions might be shaping your perception of evidence that contradicts it?
When you identify a cause-and-effect relationship, what biases could be leading you to see a pattern that might not exist?