Factors That Affect the Way We See the World.

As humans we live in

some combination of three worlds - the past, present and future.  All three impinge on each other in complex ways.  Psychologist Daniel Gilbert describes perception as the faculty that allows us to see the present, memory as the means of seeing the past and imagination as our capacity to see the future.  Interestingly he notes that all three see similar shortcomings that inevitably lead us to misremember the past, misperceive the present, and misimagine the future.  The key factor in all three processes is the brain's incredible power to manage the millions of bits of data encountered moment by moment. 

Memory.

Our brains are essentially data compressors that reduce the incoming perceptions to a few key features, compare those features to preexisting categories and store snapshots of the whole experience.  Thus, our memories are not full featured or faithful representations of past events.  They are constructions assembled at the time of retrieval and they are assembled from an array of sources: 1)  Partial information abstracted and stored through the original experience. 2)  Emotional feelings associated with the original event.  3)  Other bits of information already stored in the brain, but not specifically attended to the original experience.  4)  Information acquired after the experience. 5)  thoughts and feelings present at the time when the stored memory is being retrieved. 

Actually retrieving is not a very appropriate term for how we construct memory.  We fabricate memories in the weavers sense of the term, by piecing together or reweaving images of events.  Researchers know that what we remember shows as much about our present circumstances as it does our past, including our current motivations and emotional states.  Gilbert uses the term present-ism to note that our present perceptions tend to dominate both memory and imagination.  We remember in ways that fit our present circumstances, particularly or current motivations.  For example, couples whose relationships have deteriorated tend to remember the entire relationship as being an unhappy one, not just the fact that it ended badly.

Perception.   

 We also tend to misperceive (or partially perceive) present circumstances, not because our brains are trying to dupe us, but because representing everything that is happening around us in full detail would simply take too much time and tax the brains processing systems, resulting in paralysis and inability to act.  We don't realize the extent to which we see limited aspects of the whole and actually fill in other details based on knowledge structures such as stereotypes.

Imagination

Likewise, we project into the future.  Where is this relationship going?  How will I feel about my friend five years from now?  Should we continue to see each other.  Perception and memory are intertwined, each affecting the other.  When we imagine what our future will be like, the same kind of complex interaction occurs.  For example, we tend to underestimate the amount of novelty that is likely to occur in the future and overestimate how similar today the future will be, even when the future we anticipate is only a few minutes away.

In a study, students were asked to take a simple five question test and choose whether they would like to learn the correct answers or to receive a candy bar as a reward, but not learn the answers.  Those who were asked to choose before the test chose the candy bar.  Those who were given the choice after the test opted to learn the answers.  A third group did not take the test, but were asked to predict what choices they would make both before and after taking the test.  The third group consistently chose the candy bar in both cases; they were simply unable to imagine how the curiosity generated by the experience of taking the test would trump the appeal of the candy bar.