What it is
Reality testing is the ability to tell inner experience from outer events, and to check your experience against a reality other people share. In clinical work it’s a core capacity; when it slips, a person can lose track of what’s real.
In everyday life it’s simpler: “Is this happening, or am I telling myself it’s happening?” And then, ideally, asking someone you trust.
How it shows up for me
With AI tools in my day, I’ve started doing small reality checks on purpose: I run a big conclusion past a person who knows me before I act on it. Machines are agreeable. Friends are better at saying “wait.”