The high-speed processing of huge amounts of verbal data implies that they are much reduced in volume by filters before they enter our consciousness. Incoming verbal data are filtered with respect to familiar, cultural concepts stored in semantic memory. But if we hear someone sneeze, our semantic memory knows that this sound is not a word. Painful or irrelevant data are removed before they can enter self-consciousness. Cultural Censors .
Censors intervene in the brain's flow of data to intercept painful or anxious cultural events.
Thus they prevent many unwelcome, stressful feelings from becoming conscious. They intercede in our unconscious data flow quickly enough to permit alternative responses to occur. These strategies shape our inward character and outward personality. We all have unconscious ways of easing our feelings of guilt and anxiety, and thus sealing off our painful feelings. Unfortunately, censors not only block painful experiences from entering our awareness, they also block the corresponding awareness of reality.