3 Steps Of Perception Process

Perception Process

Understanding The Stages of the Perception Process

Perception is not but a physical or mechanical act; people play an active role in the process. A feature of perception is that it is a personal procedure which provides each of us with a unique view of the world. It does not all the same e'er provide an authentic representation of the earth.

The perception process revolves effectually the means in which nosotros select, organize and interpret the information that reaches united states of america through our senses. Thus, the perception procedure occurs in three phases:

selection,
arrangement, and
estimation.

The three phases have place relatively unconsciously and nigh simultaneously. We discuss each in plough below.

ane.one Perception involves selection

Selectivity means choosing information. There are sensory stimuli around y'all all the time—sights, sounds, smells, textures—however y'all focus your attention on very few of them. When y'all are securely engrossed in a book, for example, information technology is unlikely that you lot will hear the ticking of your alarm clock or the traffic noises in the background. It is but when your concentration lapses that you pay attention to these sounds.

This miracle is frequently explained past comparing the sense organs to receivers which are tuned to pick upwardly all sorts of data, and the brain to the command mechanism which makes the information meaningful. The first stage in the perception process is that, from the diversity of information your senses receive, your brain selects that which is relevant in a particular situation.

Two factors that influence the selection process are selective exposure and selective attention .

Selective exposure

A key factor in the way we view the world is the extent to which we are open to stimuli and experiences. From all the sensory stimuli that compete for our attention, we tend to select just those that reaffirm our frame of reference—our existing attitudes, values and beliefs. In like fashion, we tend to ignore those experiences that are incongruent with our existing attitudes, values and beliefs (cf. Gamble & Gamble 1987).

That is why, for example, about people purchase newspapers whose editorial policy confirms their existing political views. They expose themselves to information with which they already concur and disregard data that contradicts their political views. When nosotros communicate with others we brand a similar option, allowing ourselves to exist open to some stimuli and excluding others. Limiting our exposure to some messages or to parts of messages may create inaccurate perceptions of what is happening around us.
Selective attending

A concept related to selective exposure is selective attention.

Pick attention describes how we see what we desire to meet and hear what we want to hear. Autonomously from the concrete limitations of our senses (such every bit a hearing or sight impediment), factors that influence selective attention are our interest and needs.

If y'all are interested in soccer (sports betting), for instance, you will hear all the statistics that are presented during a radio sports broadcast, whereas someone who is not interested may hear only the sound of the broadcaster's vox.

The commuter of the bus that you board has a need to pay attention to traffic lights, pedestrians and other vehicles, whereas you lot, the rider, may be unaware of these sights as you have no need to notice them.

A like process occurs during communicationOpens in new window . In a meeting, for case, yous may selectively attend to only those points of give-and-take that directly business organisation your work and lose concentration when matters that are less important to you are discussed.

1.2 Perception involves organisation

Once the encephalon has selected the relevant data, it arranges its selections into meaningful patterns according to our frame of reference: this is known every bit perceptual arrangement.

The organization of what we perceive is largely affected by our expectations and our want to form a whole prototype (a miracle called closure). The following two perception tests illustrate how expectations and closure impact the organization of information.

Read the 3 sentences in illustration I.

Illustration I
Fig. I Perception system
Did you lot detect that in each sentence the commodity (the, a) appears twice? If y'all did not, your expectations may have affected the arrangement of what y'all perceived – yous expected to come across correct sentences and thus read them "correctly". Now look at the shapes in illustration Ii.

Analogy II
Fig. II Perceptual closure
You probably had no difficulty in identifying the shapes considering your listen unconsciously completed or closed the incomplete shapes to provide you with a whole image.

1.3 Perception involves estimation

After sensory stimuli take been selected and organized, nosotros give them meaning in light of our frame of reference in what is called perceptual interpretation.

What'south this?

Interpretation is the process of explaining and evaluating what has been selected and organized. Because people are individuals, they are unlikely to select the aforementioned stimuli or organize them in the same manner. They are thus unlikely to arrive at the same interpretations of events or other people. Fifty-fifty if they attend to like parts of the feel, they may still interpret it differently. For example, you may believe that y'all see two friends arguing, whereas another observer may see them as sharing a joke.

You cannot know which perception is correct without investigating further. The case is oftentimes given of three people who witness the same road accident yet provide iii unlike accounts of the sequence of events that led to the blow. All three saw the same events merely interpreted and evaluated them in terms of the information they had selected and organized.

Improving the Accuracy of Your Perceptions

Although our perceptions influence our agreement of the world, we rarely consider ways to improve our perceptual accuracy. The suggestions that follow should aid you to better your perceptual skills and to provide yous with a more accurate interpretation of the events and people around you.

Perception is personally based
In the beginning of this give-and-takeOpens in new window , we have emphasized that perception is a personal procedure: your perception of a person, object or effect is different from the actual person, object or event. In other words, yous are the major role player in the perception process (Chance & Chance 1987). By recognizing that you accept biases and that you are not always open to the information around y'all, you tin can increase the probability that your perceptions volition provide you lot with authentic data most the world effectually you lot and the people in information technology. Considering of the subjective element in forming perceptions and the resulting inaccuracies, you demand some means to bank check or validate the accuracy of your perceptions and to sharpen your power to take in and interpret information from your environment. Apart from making the conscious effort to pay attention and concentrate on what is happening around you, Verderber (1990) suggests ii methods that you should learn to use: multisensory cross-bank check and consensus (comparison). Multisensory cross-check Perceptions are often based on information you lot receive through one sense—what you see or hear or experience or taste or smell. By cross-checking the interpretation through another sense, yous tin sometimes validate the accuracy of your perceptions. For case, a rock in your friend'southward nature drove may look coarse and heavy but proves to be soft and lite when you touch it. In fact, it is not a rock at all, but has been made from synthetic material to resemble a rock. In this case, your perception has been influenced not just past what you lot saw, but the context or surroundings in which you interpreted what you lot saw. Similarly, you tin cross-bank check your initial perception that the amber liquid in a drinking glass is apple tree juice and not beer by tasting and smelling it. Consensus Consensus means that you validate a perception by comparing your interpretation with that of others. You ask others what they think the liquid in the glass is, or how they interpreted an effect or someone'south behaviour. In this way, you get aware of factors that you lot may have missed, and which take distorted your interpretation.

In our next discussion, we briefly discuss Gombrich's Theory of PerceptionOpens in new window in art, and then as to have a view of how perception works in our lives.