Another major filter is culture. According to Webster’s dictionary, culture is “the totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, art, beliefs, institutions and all other products of human work and thought”. Culture is clearly comprised of numerous elements, such as a person’s religious beliefs, what is morally and ethically sound, as well as what is considered to be accepted and unaccepted and last, but not least, language.
Religion is an especially important filter through which people view the world. If, for example, a fundamentalist believes that all is pre-ordained and that God determines everything that happens in our lives, he or she will, in psychological terms, have a totally external locus of control, and not necessarily feel responsible for his or her actions, thus leading to a very different approach and outlook on life. An existentialist, for example, who may or may not believe God, can have the same outlook, although the filter is very different, because he believes that he is destined to a certain fate and that no internal or external force can redirect the course of his life. An existentialist and a person who believes that he is entirely free willed will have very conflicting perceptions of the world around them. Another important filter related to religion is the broader societal culture, and the extent to which they interrelate may vary from one society to another; however, most societies agree that religion is the foundation to what is morally and ethically sound. Saudi society, for example, is one in which religion and the rest of the culture are intimately linked. Religious law, as set out in the holy book, governs all aspects of life. Those who take a very fundamentalist view have a very narrow filter through which they perceive the world, and as a result are fearful of any outside influence. The same, however, would be equally true of a fundamentalist Christian living in a small secluded town in the United States. The filter can be the same, even though the context is entirely different.
Societal strains and burdens on a person can also significantly affect a person’s outlook and perception of the world around them. A person constantly trying to appease a higher being, whether it be in the religious context, trying to appease God, or whether it be family, friends or associates, may try to bring his perception of the world into line with that of his religion, family, friends or associates. ‘Peer pressure’, to which teenagers are particularly prone, is an important filter in most societies. Propaganda, media and advertising within a society can dramatically change a person’s way of thinking to bring about a desired outcome. They can, for example, create a definition of beauty or the perfect society, which then shape behavior. The desired outcome may range from a desired political behavior, to the purchase of a certain product or behavior within certain norms. To varying degrees, different societies will use the media as an important filter through which people view the world. News reports of the same incident may differ dramatically from one news agency to another, depending on which society is being targeted, and the media will often shape the news to appeal to the audience. However, this in itself creates a filter through which the audience will view the world.
The way a person views the world is also affected by a basic human need to align thoughts and actions, and to eliminate inconsistencies, what in psychological terms is known as cognitive dissonance. A person has a need to bring thoughts into alignment with actions. As a result, some people who engage in behavior that is inconsistent with their belief system will, over time, either alter their behavior to bring it in line with their beliefs, or alter their beliefs to bring them in line with their behavior. This need for alignment becomes a filter through which we perceive and come to understand even our own behavior.
While a person’s psychological makeup will alter his or her perception of the world to a certain degree, his or her physical senses certainly also have an impact on how he or she views the world. If, for example, a person is blind or deaf or unable to smell, the world is a very different sort of place than it would be for a person whose senses are all intact. Some governments will deliberately handle prisoners in a way that deprives them of one or more senses in order to disorient them by putting in place filters through which they view the world to which they simply are not accustomed. This is a very effective technique because it changes the person’s ability to deal with the world and people around him or her in the way that they normally would. From time to time, people consciously put filters into place, based on what is important to them, and what they find significant enough to recognize or take into consideration.
If a person is taught that there are different cultures and that it is perfectly acceptable for different people to perceive things from a different perspective and if he tries to familiarize himself with other perspectives, he would enable himself to overcome these filters which shape and distort his view of the world or at least to compensate for them. One of the goals of any educational systems should be to give people the ability to view things from a different perspective than their own and to accept that different perspectives, although sometimes contradictory, may be equally valid. Over time, a person who can understand that there are different perspectives and accept that they are equally valid will come to appreciate the fact that peaceful coexistence requires compromises and that the ability to detect and understand the filters through which others are viewing a particular situation will sometimes help them to reach an acceptable compromise in a much shorter period of time.
Factors such as a person’s educational background, culture, societal norms and expectations, media, physical senses and life experiences create, shape and build the perceptions and filters from which people view the world. Human nature being what it is, this is likely to always be the case. This, however, is not necessarily a problem, because without the diverse and unique perspectives, interpretations, opinions and ways of expressing oneself, whether through art, literature or music, the world would be a much duller place. The challenge, though, is to be able to get past the filters and different perceptions that people have in order to find a common interest, purpose or need that will encourage people to see things from a more common perspective.
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