Is it true that people process things so differently?
Yes. I’d love to list a bunch of first- and second-hand anecdotal evidence for this, but anecdotal evidence is not great evidence. Instead, consider the example of synaesthesia, and the fact that synaesthetes can live for decades without realizing that not all people are synaesthetes. It’s easy not to notice huge differences in the way people’s minds work.
I wish there were some general test you could take that tells you if you differ from other people in a fundamental way like this.
I’ve heard of a condition that’s like “superempathy” where you actually feel the pain you see in others as if it were done to you. E.g., you see someone injected with a needle, you feel as if you were stabbed with a needle. Such a test would tell you whether you have a normal “ick” reaction, or some sort of abnormal ability.
The novels in question were Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents and the main character of the novels has “hyperempathy syndrome” which has exactly the effects you describe. And it was invented for the novel; it isn’t real.
Yes. I’d love to list a bunch of first- and second-hand anecdotal evidence for this, but anecdotal evidence is not great evidence. Instead, consider the example of synaesthesia, and the fact that synaesthetes can live for decades without realizing that not all people are synaesthetes. It’s easy not to notice huge differences in the way people’s minds work.
I wish there were some general test you could take that tells you if you differ from other people in a fundamental way like this.
I’ve heard of a condition that’s like “superempathy” where you actually feel the pain you see in others as if it were done to you. E.g., you see someone injected with a needle, you feel as if you were stabbed with a needle. Such a test would tell you whether you have a normal “ick” reaction, or some sort of abnormal ability.
That came from a novel by Octavia Butler; as far as I know, it isn’t real.
That’s not where I got it.
The novels in question were Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents and the main character of the novels has “hyperempathy syndrome” which has exactly the effects you describe. And it was invented for the novel; it isn’t real.
Upvoted both the good question and the good answer.