At one time or another you may have been asked 'are we on the same page?'. Of course, this usually has nothing to do with reading from the same book, but rather about whether their is understanding between two or more people.
However, have you ever noticed that it is possible to be part of a conversation or situation that appeared quite clear, only to later discover that others created very different versions of what actually happened? Don't worry too much because it is more common than you think!
TOO MUCH INFORMATION
Did you know that at any given time in our modern information-charged world, a person is being exposed to up to 11 million bits of information per second from their environment. This raw data is continuously available to our 5 senses (touch, taste, smell, listening and sight), the problem being that we can only effectively interpret a very small percentage of it - around 50-150 bits of information per second. To make sense of the world, we therefore need a way to filter information to make an internal representation of it.
This filtering process is influenced unconsciously by things like Values and Beliefs, attitudes, previous decisions, traits, and memories (many of which were formed in our early childhood years).
What this means is that our individual reality is created by what our brains attend to. Our brains will pick out the information that makes the most sense to us - the information that is most congruent with our internal world.
This diagram is based on the NLP model of communication.
We delete the information by selectively paying attention to certain aspects of our experience and not others.
We distort information by misrepresenting and making shifts in our experience to suit our version of reality.
And we generalise information to draw broad conclusions based on one or two experiences, mainly because it is efficient to do so.
Once this process is complete, we end up with an internal representation of it. That is, we represent it to ourselves in images and sounds in our mind. This process is constantly happening, often below our conscious awareness.
Therefore, how a person views the world can be described as the internal process that happens between an event in the outside world, and a person’s perception and reaction to it.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
For each thing we do, or person we meet, or thought we have, this process above creates'mental maps' in our brains, which are made up of between 10,000 and 50,000 neurons! This is why it is so difficult to 'be on the same page'. The chances that one person's mental map is precisely the same as another's is extremely low? There are simply too many variables that help to create a person's perception.
"What's important is not what happens, but what it means" (Bolman & Deal - 1991).. Perception IS reality. Meaning is unique to each individual, and is determined by both cognitive and emotional factors.
What this means is that in almost every circumstance, there are three types of reality that can exist. Yours, mine, and the one that we may commonly share.
The importance of 'perspective taking'
"Most misunderstandings in the world could be avoided if people would simply take the time to ask 'what else could this mean?' - Shannon L. Alder.
As human beings, we like to be right. The opportunity is to learn to look past our own view of the world, to move beyond our own bias, and to see a situation for what it truly is.
It takes courage, because we might not like what we then see.
"Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves". - Carl Jung..
For more quotes about perception, click here.
what does this mean for synergistic wellbeing?
An important characteristic of The Juicy Effect is awareness. By being aware that we are not always right, and that there are a large number of unconscious processes influencing our perceptions, we can start to be more open to new situations. We become more adaptable, more agile, and more resilient to life's challenges. In fact, we become less sensitive to life's challenges.
Next time you are in a conversation and arguing your point of view, will you be willing to take a moment to consider the alternative perspective?
And that's The Juicy Effect.