The answer is No. We do not perceive everything. We only select certain things to percieve.
So, why is it selective??
This is because we only choose those which we think that it is important to us to perceive.
Than what are the senses we use to perceieve things?
The correct answer is that we will usually use all kinds of senses such as smell, listen, taste,look, and etc.
Usually, our perception is base on our experiences, behaviour, cultures, and many mores.
How do we make sense of the world? How do our perceptions affect our communication with others? There are 5 steps to answer this questions.
STAGES of PERCEPTION
1)SELECTION
We exposed to many input in our daily life. The 1st step in perception is the selection of which data will attend to.
factors that cause us to notice some messages & ignore others.
-Stimuli that are intense often attract our attention. We usually will remember someone who is extremely tall or short and those who talk loud than those who is quiet.
-Motives determine how we perceive others.
example : Someone on the lookout for a romantic adventure will be especially aware of attractive potention partners.
-Emotional state affects our ability to detect other people's emotional states. Those in a happy moood were quick to notice when happy-appearing characters in a film appeared sadder, while unhappy subject were quicker at noticing when sad characters appeared more happy
2)ORGANIZATION
After slecting info from environment, we arrange it in some meaningful way.
4 types of schema to classify others.
-Physical constructs classify people according to their appearance
exp: beautiful or ugly
-Role constructs use social position
exp: student, attorney, and wife
-Interaction constructs focus on social behavior
exp: friendly, helpful, etc
-Psychological constructs
exp: generous, nervous, insecure, etc
Once we have selected an organizing scheme to classify people, we use that scheme to make generalizations about members of the groups who fit our categories.
EXP: If religion plays an important part in your life, you might think of members of your faith differently than you do others.
3)Interpretation
Once we selected and organized our perceptions, we interpret them in a way that makes some sort of sense.
Factors that cause us to interpret a person's behaviour in one way
-Our degree of involvement with the person
we tend to view people with whom we seek a relationship more favorably than those whom we observe from a detached persepctive
-Relational satisfaction
exp: couples in unsatisfying relationship are more likely than satisfied partners to blame one another when things go wrong
-Past experience
exp: you have been skeptical about an partment manager's assurances that careful housekeeping will ensure the refund of your cleaning deposit
-Expectations
exp: college students are les pessimistic about a relationship's future sucess when a partner's attributes are framed in positive rather than negative terms, even though the attributes are objectively identical.
-Knowledge of others
exp: if we know an instructor is rude to all students, then you won't be likely to take her remakrs personally.
4) Negotiation
The process which communicators influence each other's perceptions through communication
Here are some test on your perception.( Please try it out!!!) Its very interesting.
