What Is Distorted Perception?

One of the greatest contributors to distorted perception is the tendency to make lazy assumptions that aren't based on fact. Distortions could also result from paranoia. For example, a husband might assume his wife is cheating on him and confront her about it, when in reality she has been faithful.

Simplicity and Proximity

• The Gastalt psychology deals with how and why humans perceive. People see the most simple result, even if it is only an assumption, and find it difficult to look outside the box; this is called "good form." Creating assumptions such as these cause a distorted perception. Gastalt psychology also outlines the assumption that seeing two or more things, whether they are objects or spoken sentences, belong together. For example, you might assume that because your favorite celebrity is advertising a brand on TV, you like that brand.

Similarity and Continuity

• The Gastalt psychology goes on to state that objects which appear to be similar are assumed to go together. According to the theory, if you were to see a Caucasian child playing in a park and two separate families were waiting, one Caucasian and the other Hispanic, you would tend to assume the child belongs to the Caucasian family, while this isn't necessarily the case. This theory lines up with Gastalt's theory of continuity, where people go with the easiest solution.

Mirror Image Perception

• Another result of making assumptions relates to mirror image perception. This can occur when a person assumes something about another: A assumes B is an angry person, so A treats B in a way so that B becomes angry. People react how they perceive the environment, rather than physical reality of the environment. If a person assumes the weather will be cold when she arrives in Canada, then she will likely feel cold when she does arrive.

Phi Phenomenon

• According to consulting psychologist Humair Hashi of Imperial College Lahore, German psychologists in the early 1900s discovered a distortion in human perception and coined it "phi phenomenon." They tested their theory by fixating a light on a wall and having a person stare at it. After some time, the person reported the light moved when, in fact, it did not. The scientists concluded that the movement reported by multiple subjects is an example of a slight distortion in human perception.