Originally Posted by BSLeVan

Harry Stack Sullivan coined the term consensual validation. By it he meant the process of seeking confirmation that our experiences, thoughts, ideas, etc. were a normal function of seeking to know that our subjective perceptions were not aberrant and could fit within the context of objective reality. In many ways this process leads individuals toward higher levels of adaptive interpersonal skills. What seems obvious to one may not be perceived in the same way by another. My grandmother would have said all of this thusly: "Folks are what they are and they do what they got to do."