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That’s Your Perception
Ryan N. Lamb
Behavioral Science, Liberty University
101-B29: Psychology
Cynthia Crumrey
February 08, 2021
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That’s Your Perception
What is perception? Perception is the conscious reception, selection, processing, and
interpretation of information by our brain via all senses. (Franz & Sarcina R.,2009). Some
factors that can play into perception vary from person to person. The way someone perceives
has a lot to do with a person’s culture, their environment, what might be familiar,
expectations, knowledge, or personal interests. Perception shapes one’s reality, and it acts as
a lens. Our minds can select what we want to see subconsciously. For example, a person
walking into a kitchen is asked “take a bite of this and tell me what it tastes like?” a person
who has never had that food before would use what knowledge they do know about what
they are tasting to come up with an answer as appose to a person who has tasted that food
before, would know exactly what it is that they’re tasting. Another example could be a person
who loves dogs who looks up at the clouds and can see a dog-shaped cloud as to a person
who doesn’t like dogs looks at the same cloud and sees a cat. Perception is a way that the
mind processes information.
Perception influences how a person understands, processes, and interprets their
reality. We all live in the same world, yet we all reach our own reality based on what we hear,
see, and experience, and people act and think accordingly. People’s mindsets can be
completely different, just based on their worldview. For example, two people’s houses burn
down one of those people was raised in a wealthy family and has always had money
available and within reach to them wouldn’t see the house burning down as the end of the
world, as much as someone who has had to struggle their entire life to pay for their house
and doesn’t have
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money to buy a new one, they’ve had to work a lot harder for every dollar they have
made. They would see it in a completely different aspect.
Can we be confident that our perceptions actually reflect reality? No, because
perception is not reality. Reality is truth and perception is how you view the truth. People
often choose to see what they want to see, and sometimes what you choose to see can be
completely different from what’s actually going on.
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References
Franz, HW., Sarcina R. (2009) Basic concepts of perception and
communication. In: p.25 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-93956-6_5
