Why you shouldn’t “believe your own eyes”, or even “believe your own ears”,
Our eyes are information collectors; each eye has millions of photoreceptors that capture information from our external world and transmit it to the visual cortex in the back of brain via the optic nerve.
It is in the visual cortex that light waves become meaning; it is in the brain that the story is told.
Not everything “out there” makes it to the visual cortex; physical, physiological and psychological “filters” reduce the amount of information transmitted to the brain.
As we do not all have the same physical, physiological and psychological filters we will each have a certain percentage of the total information available that reaches our brain.
The information that does get through is then interpreted; instinctively, intuitively and intellectually to give us our interpretation of that information. Again, we do not all have the same instinctive, intuitive and intellectual “make up” and we will each interpret what we have seen differently.
The same can be said for our ears; “I heard it with own ears”.
Sound waves enter the outer ear; they create vibrations in the inner ear which are converted into electrical signals and transmitted via the auditory nerve to the auditory cortex.
And yes, the same process of filtering and interpreting takes place before we come to a conclusion about “what we heard”.
Our other “information collectors”, our nose, our mouth and our skin all function in similar ways.
This helps to explain why people looking at the same “event” can come to significantly different conclusions. We do not all “receive” exactly the same information, and we do not all “interpret” it in exactly the same way.
We do not all have the same physical, physiological and psychological filters; some people wear glasses or hearing aids, some people have a less well-developed sense of smell or taste which contribute to physiological barriers. Some people in the same situation may have a different physical barrier, someone’s view blocked for example, and we all psychologically sharpen or level different information.
When it comes to interpreting the information, some people, “trust their instincts”, some people “go with their intuitions” and some people “analyse the facts”.
We are all working with different amounts of information and we are interpreting what we have received in different ways.
That is why I often say, “even when you are convinced you are right about something, you may be wrong”.
Any thoughts?
I help people to develop their interpersonal skills, usually within a leadership or teamwork context. If you are looking to develop your leadership, I might be able to help. I’ve been doing this for almost 40 years; roughly four thousand days of seminars, workshops, conferences, coaching, offsites, webinars, etc. – put back-to-back that makes almost ten “full” years.