Problems Associated with Perception - Coursework Example

Perception Name Institution Course Lecturer Date Word Count: 1609 Words Perception Perception is defined as the organization, identification as well as interpretation of the sensory information with the aim of representing and understanding the environment. In simpler terms, the perceptual process can be viewed as a sequence of psychological steps that are used by individuals to organize and at the same time interpret information that is derived from the outside world (Goldstein 2009, p. 10). A person perception is based on how one interprets the different sensations, which are as a result of the sensory impressions that we get from the stimuli in the world that is around us. This paper sets out to discuss the process as well as the problems associated with perception. The essay shall further evaluate the manner in which the different perceptual distortions can eventually lead to discrimination. Discussion Perception process Perception occurs in five major stages, which include the stimulation, organization, interpretation or evaluation, memory as well as recall. Stimulation Stimulation is the first stage and it mainly involves contact with a certain stimulus. The world we live in has a great number of stimuli that can attract ones attention through the wide range of senses that a person has. In this respect, one is able to systematically describe the sound, sights, taste and smell that tend to populate a person conscious experience. Stimulation comprises of the selective attention as well as the selective exposure. Selective attention takes place by looking forward to fulfill needs and prove of enjoying the experience (Galinsky and Moskowitz 2000, p. 719). Selective exposure on the other hand occurs when certain information is exposed which confirm already existing beliefs and they also contribute to the objectives and eventually have a state of satisfaction. Since individuals cannot percept everything that happens around them in a simultaneous manner, they tend to engage more in selective perception and thus they perceive the positive things more often as compared to the negative ones (Mullins 2016, p. 20). Organization The ability of a person to identify and recognize events and objects is of great importance to the normal perception. Without such capacity, one cannot effectively make use of their senses. Perception is organized through schemata, rules as well as scripts. In regard to the rules, people usually perceive those objects and thins that are physically close to one another to constitute a unit. Individuals also develop schemata from the actual experiences and from the various experience they have on a daily basis from the activities they engage in (Wilson 2010, p. 13 and Huczynski and Buchanan 2013, p. 19). Thus, when some form of familiarity is represented in an individual’s mind will be a form of schema and this will play an essential role in assisting to categorize aspects in a number of categories. Nevertheless, at times it may lead to some perception errors since it may influence an individual’s to perceive things that are not existent and at times miss things that are present. A script on the other hand is termed as being a form of schema that focuses more on the event, action or procedures. Thus, it is more of a process of how individuals behaved, and how they organized it. Interpretation-evaluation Once the major components of events have been recognized, one applies their own biases to it and this is done based on interpretation that is at times termed as evaluation. This stage is a two process of stimuli based on an individual’s experiences, wants, needs, emotional and physical state, values based on a person’s schemata, rules and scripts. Memory This is the fourth stages in the perception process, so as to remember a perceived moment or event it have to be stored in ones memory and ones interpretation and evaluation is also stored and this is done based on the schemas and scripts. The experiences and events is not the core objective of the recollection but a person’s preconceptions and schemata also influence it. Recall This is the last stage and in this process, one reconstructs what they hear, saw, smell or sensed in a meaningful way. When one have blanks they may need to be filled by thinking over the situation all over again. Persistent recall usually improves the accuracy of the recall stage. Problems in perception Essentially, there are two major problems in perception and they include the fact that if hallucinations and illusion are possible then the aspect of perception as we understand it in ordinary terms is impossible. The problem is therefore animated by two major arguments and they include the arguments related to illusions and the arguments related to hallucinations (Abrams 2010, p. 35). Based on the awareness concept, individuals are perceptually conscious of the ordinary mind independent objects they encounter in the perceptual experience. Such kind of awareness is because of vertical experiences and from illusionary experiences. The argument on illusion aims at showing that individuals are never perceptually aware of the ordinary objects. In regard to the argument from hallucination, hallucination is defined as being an experience which is in a way similar just like the veridical perception of the ordinary objects but in reality there is no object that is being perceived. Just like the illusions, the hallucinations do not essentially involve deception but they are supposed to be a just possible event that is experiences, which are easily indistinguishable from a subject when compared to the genuine perception of the object in question. Therefore, it is very to maintain that since one is not perceptually aware of the ordinary object in experiences such as the veridical experiences, there exist other instances of experiences where individuals are perceptually aware of the ordinary objects. Therefore, this argument in away supports the rejection of the ordinary conception of the perceptual experience. This argument therefore shows that an aspect of the ordinary notion of perception is problematic and this means that the perceptual experience cannot always ne what individuals spontaneously think it is. Evaluate how different perceptual distoritions can lead to discrimination Perpectual distrotions are the incorrect understanding or the abnommal interpretations e of a percpetual experince. Perpectual distrotions mainly occurs when an individuals response to a certain stimulu differs from how it should be commonly viewed. Perpcetual distortions can evetaully lead to discrimination in all speheres of life (Purkis et al. 2006, p. 160). One major way in which perpcetual distortions can lead to discrimination is through stereotyping. This entails the assigning of attributes to a person based on their memebership to a certain category, for example, the racial, social, sexual and religious orientations. This may lead to dsicirmination since despite being a member of a certain group one may be totally different from what ones perceive the group as being. For instnaces, an employer may view a beautiful women as being a major threat to the organsiation while at times the women can be of great benefit to the organsiation. It would also not seem right to discriminate a woman just because they are beautiful (The Economist 2012, p. 1). Another way in which the perpcetual distortions can lead to discrimination is through the halo effect. This aspect entails the generalization of a wide number of attributes based on just one of the attributes of the individuals devoid of any consistent relationship between the two aspects. When a positive effect is noted that means that there is a good attribute and the vice versa is also true. These is more likely to lead to discrimination, in instances when the one making the judgement may have little or no experince with the other party, when individuals tend to be well known and when the qualities of indiivudls are perceived to have strong moral implications. For example, it would be a great misconception n to not employ a muslim woman in the workplace just because they are muslims. Even when they try to take measures such as removing the hijab they are also discriminated upon in some places since thye are at times viewed as being major threats, one may even be surprised to find them working better than their counterparts in the organsiation (Akthar-Sheikh 2016, p. 1). Discrimination is also likely to occur when ones make use of the selective perception. Based on these, the individuals will more often than not single out the information that is in support of certain beliefs and at the same time they will filter out any infromation that fails to conform with the belief. In respect to these, though the judgement and conclsuion may be reached it will be biased since not all aspects were considred and the ones that favoured the prior beleief was used in coming up with the solution (Bergeron, Block and Echtenkamp 2006, p. 140). Discrimination also tends to occur in instances of projection. This means asssigning others some feelings as well as characteristics that they possses themeselves. A good example of these, if one feels upset when things are postponed they feel that even the other party will get fruststated when something is postponed. This is not likely to be the case, in some instances the othe party may even be comfortbale with the situation. Thus, the one making the judgment have a misconception and by making judgement on the other party they will be judging them unfairly. Conclusion Based on the above discusion, a person perception is based on how one interprets the different sensations, which are as a result of the sensory impressions that we get from the stimuli in the world that is around us. Perception has some problems that relates to hallucinations and illusions. One needs to at all times accept that we are all different in one way or another and always avoid the perceptual distortions since they are likely to lead to discriminations. References Abrams, D 2010, Processes of prejudice: theory, evidence and intervention, Equality and Human Rights Commission Research Report 56, EHRC, Manchester. Akthar-Sheikh, N 2016, Muslim women face triple discrimination at work – and taking off a hijab won’t work. The New statesman, viewed 19 March 2017, 2016. http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/staggers/2016/08/muslim-women-face-triple-discrimination-work-and-taking-hijab-wont-help Bergeron, D, Block, C.J. and Echtenkamp, A 2006, ‘Disabling the able: stereotype threat and women’s work performance’, Human Performance, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 133-58. Galinsky, A and Moskowitz, G 2000, ‘Perspective taking: decreasing stereotype expression, stereotype accessibility and in-group favoritisms’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 78, no. 4, pp. 708-724. Goldstein, E 2009, Sensation and perception, Cengage Learning, Boston. Huczynski, A & Buchanan, D 2013, Organizational Behavior, Prentice Hall, Harlow. Mullins, L 2016, Management and Organizational Behavior, Prentice Hall, Harlow. Purkis, S, Perrewe, P, Gillespie, T, Mayes, B and Ferris, G 2006, ‘Implicit sources of bias in employment interview judgments and decisions’, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Porcesses, vol. 101, no. 2, pp. 152-167. The Economist 2012, ‘Attractive women should not include a photo with a job application’, The Economist. 31 March, viewed 19 March 2017, http://www.economist.com/node/21551535 Wilson, F 2010, Organizational Behavior and Work, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Read More