Perception

 

Perception is…

The term "perception" can be considered in two aspects. In the first case, perception is a process in which images of the surrounding world are formed, a reflection of reality in consciousness. In this context, this concept functions as a verb, denoting an action. In the second case, perception is perceived as a noun, an object, a result, or the image itself. The first meaning of the term is most often used in a scientific context. It is on this meaning that we focus our attention in this article. Perception, in this context, is synonymous with the term "perception", which, in turn, means a subjective, sensory perception of the environment. Equivalent terms are also used, such as: assessment, acceptance, contemplation.

Perception, or perception, is a process of cognition that forms a subjective view of the world. This mental process consists in reflecting an object or phenomenon as a whole when it affects the receptor surfaces of the sensory organs. Simply put, perception is the way a person perceives and understands the world around them in the course of their life. For example, in a store, after seeing an interesting object, a person picks it up to determine its texture, weight, density, color, smell and taste using various senses (for example, perception of taste when tasting food or perception of vision when looking at a book). These characteristics evoke a variety of sensations, which, taken together, form the image of an object. Thus, perception is a process of cognition. Based on perception, a person forms a subjective idea of an object. This process is the result of the analyzer system. Perception also affects how we see other people. For example, our partner — sometimes after the first stage of falling in love, it turns out that we did not notice the differences in values and fundamental views.

It is important to emphasize that in psychology, perception is not just the sum of sensations. This also includes our individual knowledge and understanding of the world. This phenomenon is closely related to other mental processes such as memory, thinking, speech, motivation, and attention.

Levels of perception

The process of perception includes four levels: - Detection: this stage is associated with the awareness of the presence of an external stimulus (for example, the ear registers a certain sound signal). - Discrimination: at this level, the actual perception of the stimulus occurs (the person realizes that it is a sound). - Identification: the next stage is the search for an image among those already existing in the mental experience (what associations arise, what does this sound look like among familiar memories?). - Identification: the last level involves assigning an image to a specific category (for example, the sound of children laughing outside the window).

This process is a sequential movement from recognizing a stimulus to its specific identification, forming a holistic perception of an object or situation. Properties of perception

There are seven key characteristics of perception: Selectivity is a preference for distinguishing one object from many others, due to the inability to cover everything at once. For example, when visiting a bookstore, you look at each book to determine which one to purchase for later reading.

When you have a particular book in your hands, all your attention is focused on it: you study its appearance, read the title, look at the contents, and quickly flip through the pages. Everything else seems to disappear from perception, receding into the background. However, as soon as the interest in the current volume disappears, your attention moves on to the next one. What was previously in the hands becomes "invisible", and attention is directed to the new object. The subjectivity of perception consists in assigning an object to a certain category in the environment. For example, the definition of a green, round, hard, and sweet object like an apple, or a green, long, and growling object like a crocodile. Often, the recognition process does not happen instantly: a person is forced to spend time and extra effort to determine the nature of the object being studied, whether it is approaching, listening attentively, or smelling. Recognition is divided into two types: specific and non-specific. Specific recognition is associated with objects that are familiar to us, for example, recognizing the husband's car on the street. Non-specific recognition allows you to determine only the general category of an object and its surface characteristics, for example, recognizing moving objects on the street as cars, but without knowing their owner, year of manufacture and history. This perceptual ability affects human behavior: if you offer him a familiar fried egg for dinner, he will quickly eat it. In the case where an unfamiliar product is offered, most will probably be careful and will study the dish more closely. Apperception is manifested in the dependence of the formation of an idea of an object on mental experience and individual personality traits. Simply put, the same object can be perceived by different people according to their beliefs, attitudes, values, and needs. Integrity is a property that emphasizes that an image is always perceived as a single whole based on a complex of sensations received from it. In other words, color or sound alone cannot create a complete image. In this context, the key factor is movement. For example, a frog does not perceive a fly as a fly if it remains motionless, and therefore does not try to catch it. The structurality lies in the fact that perception is not just the sum of individual sensations. The image arises only as a result of the interaction of these sensations. The significance of each element is shown only in the context of the overall structure. For example, an object that is large and made of iron and floats on water can be identified as a steamer, but if it is large and made of iron but on rails, then it is already a train. Replacing or changing at least one element leads to a significant change in the perceived image.

Also, when listening to music, a person does not perceive each note separately — he hears the whole melody as a whole. Changes in the order and tones in the playing of notes can significantly change the entire melodic structure. Constancy is the relative constancy of surrounding objects. Why is it relative? During the day, you can clearly see that your house is painted blue, but as night falls, its shade turns gray. At the same time, you realize that this is still your home, ignoring the change in visual perception. If this feature did not exist, screams of horror and despair would be heard everywhere at night: people would not be able to recognize their homes, and other landmarks would also be lost. Meaningfulness is the awareness of objects and phenomena in the surrounding world. For example, when we see a spoon, we instantly understand its purpose and how to use it. This highlights the fact that perception is not innate: we acquire it with experience throughout our lives. Types of perception The world is large and diverse, where every object or phenomenon is perceived using various sensory or analytical systems, and one of them always acts as the leading one. When reading text information, we mainly rely on sight, in the case of food, on taste sensations, and when hugging a person, we perceive it through the body, through tactile contact. There are several classifications of types of perception. By modality.

Perception has several forms: - Visual perception: the formation of an image using vision.

- Auditory perception: sensitivity to sounds and their interpretation.

- Tactile perception: obtaining information about the environment through tactile sensations.

- Olfactory perception: distinguishing odors and forming images based on this information.

- Taste perception: building an image based on taste sensations.

According to the current analyzer:

Simple perception includes sight, hearing, and touch, which are common to most people. Based on which analyzer a person uses most often, it can be attributed to a group with the appropriate type of perception.: - Kinesthetic (sensations, movement): People with this type of perception, called kinesthetics, receive information by paying attention to the movement of objects and the sensations they cause. Their speech often contains the words "take", "grab", "try", "feel", "feel".

- Auditory (sound): the main part of the perception of the world occurs through hearing. People with an auditory type of perception often use the phrases "I hear", "listen", "listen", "sounds" and others.

- Visual (vision): The eyes are the leading analyzer, and such people navigate the world visually, using phrases like "I see," "I look," "I imagine."

- Therefore, listening carefully to a person's speech can help determine their individual type of simple perception. This understanding can improve mutual understanding by solving the eternal problem of misunderstanding caused by differences in the ways of "seeing" the world.

Complex perception is a combination of two or more types of perception in different combinations: for example, visual-auditory or visual-motor-auditory. This happens when a person uses specific analyzers evenly. Special perception depends on the perceived object and manifests itself in the situation: whether you are listening to music, eating something, trying to measure time and space, or analyzing someone's attitude towards you. Every situation requires a different approach, and most people cannot appreciate the taste of music, inhale its aroma and talk about its content without listening to it (although synesthetes can feel something similar). By the method of updating

According to psychology, perception can be either arbitrary or involuntary. Arbitrary perception presupposes the presence of purpose, intention, and awareness in actions. For example, when a child reads a book, he realizes the purpose of this action, directs his attention to the letters and pays attention to holding the textbook in his hands. Involuntary perception is caused by the external environment, not by the purposeful actions of the individual. A good example is the reaction of the foot to the neurologist's hammer, which is used to test physiological reactions. In this case, perception does not depend on a person's intentions, but is the result of an external stimulus. Errors of perception

Nothing is absolutely perfect in the world, and perception is no exception. For various reasons, this process may be subject to failures, as a result of which the individual may receive erroneous images that do not correspond to reality. There are two types of such violations: Illusions are distorted perceptions of existing objects and phenomena. Illusions, in turn, are divided into:

- Affectogenic — they are caused by feelings and emotions. For example, a person suffering from an anxiety disorder may see an impending maniac or monster in the shade of a tree, and a person with a sense of shame will hear criticism and humiliation in someone else's speech.

- Pareidolic — the appearance of fantastic images when interacting with reality (for example, seeing blood in a glass instead of water or perceiving bugs instead of dirt spots). This type of illusion precedes hallucinations.

- Hallucinations are images that are not present in reality or that are absent at the moment of apparent perception. The only condition under which a healthy person can temporarily experience hallucinations is a violent mental state change, such as hypnosis or drug exposure.

Perception between people

When we first meet, we don't see each other for who we really are, and there are many factors that influence this.

Have you noticed that when you meet someone who looks good to you, you automatically tend to consider them kind and good? And if he has external similarities with your beloved friend, mother or brother, then does your sympathy for him increase many times? The perception of others is determined by many other factors that we pay attention to consciously or unconsciously: posture, gestures, speech culture, manners, behavior, profession, status, and so on. So, there are four ways to interpret the characteristics of other people: - Emotional — handsome is perceived as kind and sincere.

- Analytical — the presence of furrowed eyebrows and sharp cheekbones "suggests" the presence of an evil character.

- Perceptual-associative — similarity with an unpleasant neighbor leads to a conclusion about the same difficult character.

- Socio-associative is the appropriation of social qualities based on appearance. Torn and dirty clothes create the impression of a troubled personality and cause a desire to stay away. On the other hand, a neat suit and an expensive car elevate a stranger in the eyes of the observer.

Thus, the perception of one person by another is subject to social stereotypes, standards and standards. Other people's opinions, expressed by people who have authority for you, also have an impact.