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It stops you from confronting your own feelings and emotions which lead you to developing various mental health related illnesses and issues like anxiety, depression, unresolved trauma, etc. Selective perception is also one of the guiding forces that make you ignore your disturbing feelings and thoughts. Selective perception psychology also answers, “Why would someone engage in selective perception?” you engage in selective perception (consciously or unconsciously) only when certain stimuli are disturbing and difficult to handle and have the ability to because you pain, disappointment or discomfort. Selective perception psychology tells us that the process of optimizing our resources (cognitive) and shifting focus only to those things that we expect to happen is called selective perception. The psychology behind selective perception is that you have a tendency to perceive only those things that excite you and don’t pay attention to any information that is pointing out the opposite. Whereas unconscious selective perception is when your brain blocks information based on your past experiences, beliefs and desires.
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Conscious selective perception looks like ignoring certain colors or photographs or even sound for that matter. The selective perception theory basically states that we have the ability to consciously or unconsciously ignore certain stimuli while we perceive things around us. While we are in the process of forming meaningful experiences, through selective perception we ignore all the stimuli that do not fit in or contradict our beliefs, values, desires or expectations. The selective perception theory states that we select, categorize and analyze the various stimuli around us, to add meaning to things happening around us.
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For example, you completely ignore the fact that you had an argument with your partner only because you are scared of an emotionally draining confrontation. You choose to ignore or easily forget about the things that are capable of causing you emotional pain or discomfort.
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Selective perception can also take place in case of the presence of stimulus that triggers emotional discomfort.
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