the psychology of inception

‘Inception’ works on many levels. I’m not even sure I’d call it ‘science fiction’. It is equal parts science, metaphysics and speculative fiction. The premise is based on two known principles: ‘lucid dreaming’ and the ‘construction model’ of perception. Lucid dreaming is the realization that you’re in a dream while you’re having the dream. It is a well-documented experience and can be improved with training. In a lucid dream you can become the architect of your dream environment. That’s where you see the character played by Ellen Page building a virtual ‘Paris’ in her dream while walking down a Parisian street of her own making. The construction model of perception is also valid science. Everyday experience is not a literal transcript of the world but a construction process by the mind. What we think of as real-time consciousness is largely mental fabrication ..part of which comes from the senses .. part of which is supplied by information stored in memory. Neuroscience has detected about a 25-millisecond gap between an event and our experience of it. DiCaprio’s character accurately describes ‘ordinary consciousness’ and ‘dream states’. He draws a picture showing two semi-circles separated by a gap to help Page’s character understand. He explains how ordinary consciousness is largely a construction process populated by characters and events coming from the senses. He says the same holds true for dreams except the characters and events are populated by subconscious memory ..with no input from the senses. Just as there is a gap between sensory events and  awareness ..there is also a gap between subconscious events and awareness in a dream. Inception, he explains, is the process of “..slipping into that gap in order to plant an idea-virus.” An ‘idea virus’ is a real-world phenomenon ..it’s how fashions come and go. The manner in which they describe the way it works is valid psychology. An idea virus is more likely to take hold and influence behavior when someone thinks they took part creating it and feel emotionally vested in it. The success of a planted idea is indeed a function of its emotional value ..and they choose a pretty fundamental human value – parental approval. As children we generally equate approval with how well we model our parents. However, later in life we sometimes learn that their approval is contingent on how dissimilar we are from them ..and how independent we can be. Sort of like hearing them say “..be your own man.” That is the ‘idea’ they planted in the mind of their unsuspecting subject. A young Japanese man about to take over his dying father’s business empire. The purpose is so that he’ll break it up ..something his father had been unwilling to do.

The metaphysics of inception is here ~>[link]