Perception-based thinking

Perception-based thinking is the belief that how people perceive reality is more important than reality itself -- that real power consists of being able to affect what people think reality is, rather than being to effect changes in the real world.

Nugget

There is some truth to this in that:

• It is often possible to make people do what you want, even when it is against their own interests, by controlling what they believe.
• It is also possible to exert a net influence on public opinion by careful framing of an issue – presenting it in terms which favor the conclusion you prefer.

Problem

As a philosophy of governance, however, it runs into the problem that objective reality will proceed regardless of what the public believes it will do. If a policy reliably leads to poverty and economic instability, for example, it will do so regardless of whether the public can be convinced that they are wealthy or that the economy is doing well.