Perception and Factors Influencing ( Affecting ) Perception

Definition and Meaning of Perception and Factors Influencing/Affecting Perception

What is perception ?

Perception is the cognitive factor that affects individual behaviour. Perception is the process of selecting, organising, and interpreting the sensory stimulus in a meaningful way. Perception is the process of obtaining knowledge from external objects and events through our senses and meaningfully interpreting them. It influences every individual's behaviour. It may differ from one person to another. Our perception may or may not be true. Perception is the complex mental process which affects the human behaviour. Perception can be formed through education, experience, training. etc.

In simple language,  perception is what you think about others and what others think about you. Humans have five senses: taste, smell, sound, touch, sight. Perception is all about interpreting the information which you obtain from your five senses. It is the process of selection, organization, interpretation of sensory information in order to understand the environment.

What are the Factors influencing perception ?

One person's perception may not same like another person. It is differ from one person to another person. People may perceive same subject matter differently. There are mainly three factors which influence the perception. These are: Factors in the perceiver, factors in the target and factors in the situation.

1. Factors in the perceiver :-
These are the factors that lie inside a person. It is also called internal factors. Some of the internal factors are as follows:
a. Attitudes
Perception is affected by attitude. A person having negative attitude towards an object, person, caste etc. perceives them always in a negative way. For example a teacher who has negative attitude who sits on last bench in the class room would neglect even the genuine questions asked by them.

b. Motives
Motives also influence the perception. Motives means desires to get satisfied of unsatisfied needs. A person's most urgent needs or desires at any given time may affect the perception. For example a hungry man walking on the road looks restaurant and hotels rather than others shops.

c. Interests
Interest also affects the perception of an individual. We perceive those things in which we have interest. For example: A song writer sees the song writer's name while watching songs on YouTube because he/she has interest on writing the songs.

d. Experiences
Experience is also one of the most important factors that influences the perception. Experience helps to make accuracy in perception and also enhance the perception ability. For example you buy an iphone mobile. Then you will start perceiving the persons having iphone.

e. Expectations
Our perception is influenced by our expectation. We see what we expect to see. For example you go to a cinema to watch south movie film by taking expectation that south movies are very interesting and amazing. If you get the result what you expect then we will keep watching south movies in future also. But  If you didn't get the result what you expect then you may not go cinema to watch south movies from next time.

2. Factors in the target:-
These are the factors that lie within the things that to be perceived. These factors are as follows:
a. Novelty
You perceive new and unique things very quickly. You want to know about it. You develop curiosity about new things. You give attention to the new things.

b. Motion
You perceive the things easily which are in motion. You can see motion things very quickly than stable things. For example you can quickly see flying mosquito than the mosquito sitting on the wall.

c. Sounds
Sounds also affect the perception. Louder sounds can be perceived easily and vice versa. Low volume sound may affect negative in the perception. Also different kind of sound can be perceived quickly. For example the sound of ambulance can be perceived quickly.

d. Size
Size also affect the perception. Large sized things can be perceived easily than small sized things. We can quickly see the large things and vice versa.

e. Background
Background of the things also affect the perception. For example Black things in the white background can be easily perceived than black things in the black background.

f. Proximity
Things that are nearer and closed to each other are perceived easily and quickly.  For example the word ' Apple ' is perceived as a fruit. But same word with space between the letter like this ' A   p   p   l   e ' may not perceived as fruit name.

g. Similarity
Things that are similar to each other are also perceived easily and quickly. For example a police person easily perceives another police staff easily. Another example, we can easily differentiate between stars and moon in the sky at night.

3. Factors in the situation:-
These are the factors that lie in the situation or environment. These factors are as follows:
a. Time
Time also affects the perception. Study shows that a person who read book early in the morning can understand more and easily than night.

b. Work setting
Work setting also influences the perception. Students can easily and quickly understand the books in a peaceful environment and may not understand in a noisy environment.

c. Social Setting
Social setting is also one of the factors influencing perception. For example a student who wears informal dress in the class room will be perceived quickly than who are in formal dress.