{
  "id": 17809469,
  "title": "What makes something real?",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/02/what-makes-something-real",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-11-02T14:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Big Think",
    "slug": "big-think",
    "url": "https://bigthink.com/perception-box/what-makes-something-real/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "What determines whether something is real or not? According to Lisa Feldman Barrett, a renowned psychologist, the answers to that question share an essential commonality. Many important aspects of reality depend, at least partly, on people collectively assigning meaning to physical signals in the world. Barrett, a University Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Northeastern University, elucidates this concept through her theory of \"relational realism.\" This theory posits that numerous features we consider objective aspects of reality might actually emerge from the intricate relationships between external entities and our internal perceptions.\n\nOne striking example is color. The color red isn't merely a property of an object; rather, it is a property of the relationship between the wavelengths of light that strike your retina and the signals your brain processes to interpret them. Your brain knows to interpret those signals as red due to the learning process, which requires other people to teach you what those patterns signify, implying that some meaning is passed down from one generation to another. This process of learning to assign meaning to physical signals is what Barrett calls \"cultural inheritance.\"\n\nCultural inheritance refers to how other people, through their actions and words, wire your brain with the remembered past, which you then use to construct the relational present. Essentially, much of the knowledge and meaning we employ to comprehend reality is not something we discover externally; it is also transmitted by those around us, becoming an integral part of our \"Perception Box.\" This \"Perception Box\" is an invisible mental container that holds the accumulated experiences and concepts we use to make sense of the world.\n\nWhen groups of people collectively assign meaning to something that inherently lacks such meaning, they create what is termed \"social reality.\" This form of reality depends on a degree of shared understanding or consensus. For instance, consider a burgundy chair. The wavelengths of light reaching your eyes do not carry the label \"burgundy.\" Instead, your identification of that color relies on patterns you learned in the past and subsequently use to interpret the signals reaching your brain. In all such cases, the signals outside our heads are endowed with meaning through their relation to the signals inside our heads, facilitated by collective agreement. Consequently, even the existence of color can be considered a form of social reality.\n\nAn illustrative example of social reality is money. Every time you trade pieces of paper for something consumable or usable, you're not just agreeing to the existence of money; you're actively manifesting its existence. The more people who agree on the existence and value of money, the more solidified its economic power becomes. If enough people were to renounce their shared agreement that those pieces of paper could be exchanged for goods, that form of money would lose the meaning that gives it economic value. Barrett refers to this phenomenon as a moment when \"a group of guys in suits withdrew their consent that mortgages had a certain value,\" leading to an economic crisis.\n\nWhile reality is perspective-dependent and can be flexible, it is not infinitely malleable. You cannot simply make up any absurd claim, convince a consensus to accept it, and declare it true. There are biological constraints that determine what counts as food, for instance. Shared meaning, however, is never the sole determining factor. Biological factors also play a crucial role in shaping what we perceive as real. For example, even if a significant portion of people agreed that crushed glass is food, that assertion would not hold true simply because of collective agreement.\n\nIn essence, we all contribute to reality by our actions and inactions. Whether we vote, follow a social influencer, or choose one type of food over another, our decisions shape the reality we must navigate. \"You have more power for which signal patterns count as reality and which ones do not,\" Barrett emphasizes. The concept of Relational Realism, which Barrett champions, encourages individuals to challenge their perceptions and broaden their horizons. This philosophy is brought to life in the Big Think interview series \"Relational Realism,\" produced in collaboration with Unlikely Collaborators, and features Barrett's insights in its third episode.",
  "summary": "What is the color red? What counts as a mountain versus a hill? What is a president, and what powers does a president have? According to Lisa Feldman Barrett, PhD, a University Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Northeastern University, the answers have something important in common: They depend, at least in part, on people collectively assigning meaning to physical signals in the world.…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}