Perception

Many a times when we see people walking, we form opinions or views about how the individual will be or what kind of job he or she might have. On a daily basis we form views about the different people we meet. However what we do not seem to realise is that, even when forming perceptions, we go through a process of selecting, organising and interpreting information to form our own views. In this entry I will only be focusing on how people select information.

Selection is when we pick up information. We select stimuli based on frequency, contrast, intensity and novel stimuli.

I feel that seeing a person frequently does not mean that u will form a perception about him or her, there is no time limit as to when people form opinions. People could simply form opinions about a stranger he or she saw in the bus. The point on contrast I feel holds more value because it is only human nature to notice people who are different from us or people who go against the norm. Like for example when we see a older man with a younger women, many people perceive that the woman must be with the man because of his money. Similarily when we see a women dressed scantily, we presume that individual to be promiscuous. We also select stimuli based on the intensity. This could mean things that are bold or striking. The last way in which we select stimuli is if its a novelty. This refers to things that are rare. Like if we see a young boy carrying the latest handphone, we label him as being spoilt. We form such perceptions because he has a novelty, the new handphone model. Most people form opinions based on the selected information that i have just discuseed. From all mentioned In my opinion I feel that most people select information that are contrasting because it is different to what they are used to and therefore tend to stand out more.

It is however essential to realize that our selection can be influenced by individual charateristics, mass media, social network, psychological state and the environment. Individual characteristic refers to past experiece, gender, cultural background and etc. An example of this is when say a person of a paticular race was very rude to u, this experience can alter the way you behave to people of that same race. You might start to be weary of that person. Mass media can also influence your choice of selection. For example many teengaers nowadays are suffering from eating disoders. One of the main reasons for this is that after watching televison and readng magazines teenagers feel that thin equates to being beautiful. Social network refers to beliefs, preferance, habits, family and friends. An example of this is that people may be influenced by the above mentioned points and because of that they might perceive people to behave in a certain manner. The next point is about the psychological state which means that if a person has certain priortise, like money we assume that the person is very money minded. Lastly the environment, like norms set by society can also affect the way in which we aasume a person to be like. Therefore when we talk about perceptions, we need to realise that the selection of information is vital.