reality testing
Checking against facts
Reality testing is the mental process of distinguishing what's real from what's imagined, feared, or wished for.
In psychology, it describes the capacity to perceive the external world accurately and recognize the difference between internal thoughts and external facts.
Poor reality testing characterizes certain mental disorders.
More casually, it means checking your assumptions against evidence: Before quitting your job to start a band, some reality testing might be in order.
- cognitive distortionsIrrational thinking patterns
- real worldTangible everyday existence
- sanity checkVerification of basic soundness
- fact checkingConfirming accuracy of statements
- false beliefsConvictions contrary to fact
judgment · losing touch · psychodynamic · schizophrenia · perception · paranoia · mental health · self-concept · inner critic · metacognition · common sense · gut feeling · problem-solving · grounding techniques · self-awareness · grounding · phenomenology · clarity
- mental processesthinking, think, reasoning, cognition, pondering
- psychoanalysisFreud, id, ego, unconscious, Sigmund Freud
- lucid dreaminglucid dreaming, lucid dreams, dream journal, dream recall, dream diary
- mediation skillsactive listening, empathy, neutrality, negotiation, de-escalation
- Psychology TechniquesCBT, conditioning, reinforcement, exposure therapy, desensitization
- clinical interviewspsychiatric evaluation, psychiatric history, clinical assessment, mental health assessment, patient history
reality testingdelusion
Stubbornly held false belief
hallucination · fantasy · magical thinking · illusion · confabulation
reality testingreality distortion
Altering perceived truth
decompensation · thought disorder · ego dissolution · derailment · flight of ideas
reality testingwishful thinking
Belief shaped by desire
self-delusion · self-deception · denial · blind faith · willful ignorance
realize, reality, unreal, testing, realized, surreal, realizing, realities, realizes