Perceptual defense

Psychologists are well aware of the phenomenon known as perceptual defense, of the selectivity of perception, of the fact that we more readily see what we want to see, tend not to see what we do not want to see, and/or distort what we do perceive into what we would to perceive, what we would "like to" perceive may often seem unpleasant, yet it has secondary advantages insofar as it is supportive of the ego structure. 

The reality of unconscious processes, mental or emotional processes that affect us and yet lie outside conscious awareness, is widely accepted in modern psychology. A specific form of unconscious processes, known as perceptual defense, has not been generally accepted, in spite of good experimental evidence for it. The haggling over the reality of perceptual defense has been so intense that I have suspected the idea is being actively resisted. It is too clear a reminder of how mechanical we are. 

Perceptual defenses are a form of defense mechanism that works to keep us unaware of events in the outside world that would arouse unpleasant or unacceptable emotions in us. The effect was first noticed experimentally in some studies of perceptual thresholds. If a word is... 

An alternative explanation for these higher thresholds was not that they took greater stimulus intensity (longer flashes) to perceive but that the social unacceptability of the words made the subjects more reluctant to voice them until they were quite certain. Further research showed that this accounts for part of the delay, but there is still a perceptual defense factor. More direct evidence for perceptual defense comes from the fact that physiological reactions associated with emotions, like quick changes in the electrical resistance of the skin, can sometimes be seen when emotionally threatening words are presented that are well below a subject s conscious perception threshold. 

Some material that is now repressed was initially conscious. Repression served to take the pain away. It is also possible for repression to operate almost instantly on freshly perceived material, repressing it right away, leaving no memory at all of it in consciousness, as in perceptual defense. 

Now I m feeling like a newborn baby very small and soft, with very thin skin, through which everything can pass without any possibility of defense or resistance. My whole body consists of perceptual awareness, a very clear perception, with a mixture of amazement and terror about everything that is going on around me. 

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