Instead of focusing on the particulars in front of us, our general opinions influence our perception of new information. We use top-down processing, where we begin with the general and move down to the specific. Naive realism is also a product of the way our brains process information. It’s concretized by the false consensus bias, which causes us to assume other people share the same opinions as us and therefore that our opinions are more like fact. Naive realism is an egocentric cognitive distortion that skews the way we perceive the world because we rely too heavily on our perceptions as reality.
People’s political affiliation skewed their perception of reality, but neither side recognized that. Everyone saw the same speeches, the same footage, and the same pictures of the raid, yet both sides had radically different opinions on what happened. Think back to January 6th, 2021, when alt-right fascists stormed the capital. It might seem like Democrats and Republicans can’t agree on anything. It has led to an inability for different political sides to even talk to one another. We also seek out more information that will confirm our opinions, a phenomenon known as the confirmation bias. Consider the COVID-19 pandemic - whether we are in favor of the vaccine, think it contains a microchip, or believe it hasn’t been sufficiently researched, it’s easy to find supporting evidence online for our belief. These days, it is easy to find supporting evidence for our opinion, which makes us more likely to believe our perception of what is real is the ‘right’ one. We’re also living in an increasingly polarized society due to naive realism. In China and Taiwan, burping after a meal is the highest form of flattery to the chef, yet, that behavior is seen as rude in North America. A respectful gesture in one culture might actually be a sign of disrespect in another. While naive realism might lead to harmless arguments like a debate over Friends and The Office, not being able to understand others’ point of view can have negative consequences to society.īecause of naive realism, different cultures can sometimes have a difficult time understanding one another. While we can point out the influences that impact some else’s behavior, we find it difficult to see our own biases. On a more serious scale, it means we don’t pay attention to other political views, other philosophical schools of thought, or other cultural beliefs.
Not that big of a deal - but naive realism impacts more serious topics of debate as well. For example, naive realism can cause us to think our opinion that Missy Elliot is the best artist is a fact, and not bother listening to the up-and-coming indie artist that our friend loves. If we saw our perception of the world as an opinion rather than an objective worldview, we could have more interesting and fruitful conversations with others. Naive realism causes us to ignore conflicting perceptions, which makes us miss out on an opportunity to expand our worldview. While we are the people who are ignorant, not well-informed, and biased, we end up thinking that the other person that doesn’t share our point of view is all of those things. Instead of expanding our knowledge by trying to understand the world through a different perspective, we think of ourselves and our point of view, as being superior. If we are unable to see that our perception of the world is clouded by our biases, when someone’s perception is different to ours, we believe them to be ‘wrong’ or ‘stupid’.
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