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Seeing Is Believing...Or Is It? - Page 2© Jerry Lopper
distasteful to me.
It's not only our vision that sometimes deceives us; our minds contribute, too. We see what we expect to see based on our beliefs. When you stop to think about it, that makes perfect sense. Why would I "see" something that contradicts what I believe? Most of us, most of the time, refuse to do that, albeit subconsciously. Scientists even have a term for this phenomena. It's called cognitive dissonance, cognitive for thinking and dissonance for harsh inconsistency. We prefer to see consistent with our thinking. You've observed this before with a friend or relative who smokes, but refuses to acknowledge that the risks of smoking apply to them. If you've just bought a new object, especially something that you looked for carefully and made a studieddecision to purchase, you'll tend to overlook defects or limitations that turn up because to acknowledge them invalidates your belief that you made a wise decision. Cognitive dissonance gives us blinders that scientists term scotomas--blind spots we can't see because to see them would require changing a belief. If you have strong, long term beliefs about certain people based on gender, age, race, or national origin, you'll have a scotoma to characteristics that belie that belief. Now, what does all this have to do with self-empowerment? Well, our beliefs about ourselves and the world around us give us scotomas, blind spots, about who we are and who we can become. An example of this is the once broadly held belief that women are inherently inferior to men in math and science. The saying, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks" captures another widely held belief, this one about older people. Don't get me wrong, the beliefs we hold dear aren't all bad. In fact, our beliefs can be very helpful to us, when they are helpful to us. The empowered person learns to use belief to improve and to grow. Belief about self is one of the critical components of a person's growth. A strong self image is fundamental to the decision to take over responsibility for one's life. A person with low self image very likely will not feel sufficiently confident to take full responsibility, preferring instead to let others determine their life direction. Our beliefs not only impact what we see, but they affect every aspect of our lives. As Bert Carson said, "We are more totally confined by our old ideas than a prison inmate is confined by the walls of his cell." Beliefs can be our prison
The copyright of the article Seeing Is Believing...Or Is It? - Page 2 in Self-Empowerment Skills is owned by Jerry Lopper. Permission to republish Seeing Is Believing...Or Is It? - Page 2 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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