“Why are we so sure that the way we see people, situations, and politics is accurate, and the way other people see them is foolishly wrong?

The answer, according to new research by UCLA psychology professor Matthew Lieberman, lies in a region of the brain he calls the “gestalt cortex,” which helps people make sense of information that is ambiguous or incomplete — and dismiss alternative interpretations.

People often mistake their own understanding of people and events as objective truth, rather than as merely their own interpretation. That phenomenon, called “naive realism,” leads people to believe that they should have the final word on the world around them. Naive realism may be the single most underappreciated source of conflict and distrust across individuals and groups. When others see the world differently than we do, it can serve as an existential threat to our own contact with reality and often leads to anger and suspicion about others.

While the question of how people make sense of the world has been an enduring topic in social psychology, the underlying brain mechanisms have never been fully explained.

Mental acts that are coherent, effortless, and based on our experiences tend to occur in the gestalt cortex. For example, a person might see someone else smiling and without giving it any apparent thought, perceive that the other person is happy.

Because those inferences are immediate and effortless, they typically feel more like “seeing reality” - even though happiness is an internal psychological state. We believe we have merely witnessed things as they are, which makes it more difficult to appreciate, or even consider, other perspectives.“

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#Brain #Cognition #Relationships