Perception is stronger than reality. This is an important topic to understand. Perceptions are of utmost importance when it comes to personal relationships, friendships, work, and more. Perceptions help parties win elections and countries win wars. But we all shy away from the fact that we are driven by perceptions. We like to believe that we are smarter than perception manufacturers, but we aren’t. We like to believe that we make informed choices, but we don’t. Perceptions create narratives. Narratives provide society with a cushion to formulate their own beliefs. We are all, in some way, victims of these perceptions. For example, glittery packaging makes us believe that the product is top notch, doesn’t it? There are times when we take a moment to decide whether or not the product is good, but mostly, we do not question it. We tend to believe it without questioning. There is a concept of System One and System Two thinking by a forwarded by noble prize winner Dr. Kahneman. The concept is of utmost importance for anybody wanting to understand human behaviour. Most of us use System One to make our choices in life. This is an automatic, fast, and often an unconscious way of thinking. It is autonomous and efficient, requiring little energy and attention. It is what we call our ‘gut feeling’ or ‘instinct’. System Two, however, is a slow and a controlled way of thinking, characterised by effort. In contrast, System One is prone to biases and systematic errors. And that’s what narratives and influencers target.
Nobody wants to make a controlled choices that require effort. We do not question our method of making choices. We like to give it names — gut feeling, instinct and so on. This could be because of various biases — confirmation bias, adaptive bias, availability heuristics, attention bias, or others. For example, we tend to choose what is easily available. How is it related to the political narrative? We are fed with news and information constantly. Each piece of information acts as a catalyst and helps us make decision. Many of us use System One thinking. So we consume this news as and when it is given to us, without questioning it. Once the belief is fairly strong, we start looking for news and information that is in tandem with our beliefs. It is here that fake news comes into the picture. To feed our confirmation bias, a lot of fake news is manufactured and given to us. We keep receiving it without even questioning it. “Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought,” said John F. Kennedy. System One takes over and controls us. It is used to manipulate us. But we all have the power to use System Two — which is offers a better way of making choices. If you feel the information you receive is not enough to make a choice, you can wait. Do not rush. After all, do all of us not aim for a society that is not judgmental, a society which is free and open to all? It all starts from within. Next time, think twice before delivering an earth-shattering judgement. The same holds true for politicians as well. Let’s all pause for a second, and see if we are using System One or System Two thinking while choosing our leaders. Let’s not be victims of fake news that is thrown at us. We all have the capability to differentiate between right and wrong. Let’s put that to use in our fight against fake news. Perception is indeed stronger than the reality.