Psychological Reality
Why We See the World the Way We Do
Updated October 2026Do we perceive the world as it is—or as our minds allow us to? Our experience of reality is shaped by the architecture of the brain and by the evolutionary pressures that formed it. Understanding these influences is fundamental to the study of human cognition.
Drawing on philosophy, evolutionary biology, psychology, and neuroscience, this course investigates how sensory information becomes our experience of reality. It is organized into five chapters:
Chapter 1
Dimensions of Reality introduces key epistemological questions, clarifies what we mean by “reality,” and examines philosophical positions that have shaped different approaches in psychology.
Chapter 2
Surviving in an Ambiguous World considers how evolutionary pressures have constrained our interpretations of the world.
Chapter 3
The Evolution of Cognition traces the development of cognition from basic responses to complex mental representations.
Chapter 4
Towards a Computational Model of Reality introduces contemporary theories of how the brain constructs and updates a model of the external world.
Chapter 5
A Model of Reality brings the course’s central insights together and considers their broader implications.