1. the belief or assumption that one’s sense perceptions provide direct knowledge of external reality, unconditioned by one’s perceptual apparatus or individual perspective. Since the advent of Cartesianism, most philosophy has assumed that such a position is untenable. The cognitive development theory of Jean Piaget stresses the child’s progress away from naive realism and toward conceptualization and logical reasoning. As conceptualization and reasoning develop, naive realism is presumed to diminish. Also called direct realism; phenomenal absolutism.

2. in social psychology, the tendency to assume that one’s perspective of events is a natural, unbiased reflection of objective reality and to infer bias on the part of anyone who disagrees with one’s views. See false-consensus effect.