Perception

PERCEPTION

is the set of unconscious processes we

undergo to make sense of the stimuli
and sensations we encounter.
Sensation
- “raw” material for perception

-”bottom- up processing”

Perception
- “top-down processing”
- concept-driven, use of preexisting
knowledge
 Perception process
-is a sequence of steps that begins with stimuli in the
environment and ends with our interpretation of those stimuli.

Selection Organization Interpretation

 Selection
- the first stage of perception
- is the process through which we attend
to some stimuli in our environment and
not others.

Often influence by:

• Personal motives
• Incentives
• Impulses
• Drive
cocktail party
effect: The
phenomenon of
being able to
selectively focus
on a particular
stimulus while
filtering out a
range of other
stimuli
Emotional drives can also influence the
selective attention humans pay to stimuli.
Some examples of this phenomenon are:
 Organization
-is the stage in the perception process in which we
mentally arrange stimuli into meaningful and
comprehensible patterns.

Perceptual Schema
Gestalt Laws of Grouping
Perceptual Schema: Psychological systems of
categorization that we use to organize impressions of
people (appearance, social roles, interaction style,
habits, etc.).

Gestalt Laws of Grouping: A set of principles in

psychology that explains how humans naturally perceive
stimuli as organized patterns and objects.

• A few of these laws of grouping include the

laws of proximity, similarity, and closure and the
figure-ground law.
The Law of Proximity
This law posits that when we perceive
a collection of objects we will
perceptually group together objects
that are physically close to each
other. This allows for the grouping
The Law of Similarity
This law states that people will
perceive similar elements will be
perceptually grouped together.
This allows us to distinguish
between adjacent and
overlapping objects based on
their visual texture and
resemblance.
The Figure-Ground Law
A visual field can be separated
into two distinct regions: the
figures (prominent objects) and
the ground (the objects that
recede into the background.
Many optical illusions play on this
perceptual tendency.
The Law of Closure
The law of closure explains that our
perception will complete
incomplete objects, such as the
lines of the IBM logo.
Stereotypes
Stereotypes are categories of objects
or people that help to simplify and
systematize information so the
information is easier to be identified,
recalled, predicted, and reacted to.
Between stereotypes, objects or
people are as different from each
other as possible.
 Interpretation
-the final stage of perception
-is the subjective process through which we
represent and understand stimuli.

Factors that Influence Interpretation

Cultural values, needs, beliefs, experiences, expectations,
involvement, self-concept, and other personal influences all
have tremendous bearing on how we interpret stimuli in our
environment.