ABSTRACT

Although this chapter focuses on communication and social psychology research, those are obviously not the only relevant bodies of scholarship. The debate about the meaning of real is at least as old as recorded philosophy. Empiricism, rationalism, realism, and dualism are just a few of the relevant philosophical positions that could inform such a discussion. Even a cursory treatment of this debate is both beyond the scope of this chapter and beyond the scope of our expertise. We limited this chapter to the social psychological evidence about how people decide what is real.