The Perceptual Process
I was picking up a flight out of McCarran in Vegas to Dallas, having parked my car on the top level of the airport's parking structure. I was making my way to the elevator when I heard a strange sound coming from across the deck, a frantic metal-on-metal noise. I looked in its direction and off at the edge of the parking structure was a lone Lexus nosed into the slot with a young Latina frantically trying to break into it with something that resembled a Slim Jim, and not the beef jerky.
Middle of August, 115 degrees easily on top of that parking structure, and I make my way toward her from her blind side. The closer I get, the harder she tries to boost this car. At about thirty feet I can make out something through the backlight, the handle of an infant carrier, and then I pick up the shrill crying of a baby inside the car. I'm running now. She sees me and screams for help, she's locked her newborn in the car along with her keys. It’s in full sun, got to be well over 130 inside.
So, from the Latina in Las Vegas boosting a Lexus to a new mom trying to save her baby. This is a process with certain influences that shape the way we see things. Often what we see and what's real don't match up.
The process, the way we perceive others goes through a routine like this:
And usually the process happens in less time than it takes to say sensation, organization, interpretation, evaluation.
The process, the way we perceive others goes through a routine like this:
- Sensation - Gathering data through our sensory channels.
- Organization - Sorting data based on our own frame of reference.
- Interpretation - Adding meaning to the data.
- Evaluation - Adding value or discounting based on our added meaning of the data.
And usually the process happens in less time than it takes to say sensation, organization, interpretation, evaluation.
Sensation is hearing the sound of the metal on glass, seeing the young woman's action at the driver's side window, noticing the handle of the baby carrier and hearing the sound of the infant crying are all products of the sensation stage.
Organization is where perception becomes vulnerable. It's where we try to make the first sense out of the data we're pulling in. This sense is determined by what we bring to the scene, our frame of reference. This includes our biases, our default attitudes, our prejudices. Somewhere in my brain along all the rows of organized file cabinets there's a file about Latinas, another about Lexus, and certainly one about Las Vegas. I take the data I have and pull those files to make sense of it (the nest step). What my files apparently contained about Latinas wasn't very favorable. Somewhere along the line of my living I filed away the notion that young Latin women are prone to criminal activity. My Lexus file says, "expensive luxury car." My Vegas file has all kinds of things in it, not the least of which this is an area of criminal activity. I also have a file on how to break in to a car.
Interpretation is where all this goes awry. I'm now adding meaning to these files, and regardless of the truth about what's going on, these influence each other when it comes to meaning; this girl's trying to steal that car.
Evaluation is where we make a judgement. It's bad to steal a car. It's heroic to save a baby. It's the judgement that's going to determine the actions that follow. That's why arriving at this fourth step in the process is critical to understand. The more data gathered in sensation, the more critical the organization, the more we recognize default attitudes in interpretation, the more valid our evaluation.
Organization is where perception becomes vulnerable. It's where we try to make the first sense out of the data we're pulling in. This sense is determined by what we bring to the scene, our frame of reference. This includes our biases, our default attitudes, our prejudices. Somewhere in my brain along all the rows of organized file cabinets there's a file about Latinas, another about Lexus, and certainly one about Las Vegas. I take the data I have and pull those files to make sense of it (the nest step). What my files apparently contained about Latinas wasn't very favorable. Somewhere along the line of my living I filed away the notion that young Latin women are prone to criminal activity. My Lexus file says, "expensive luxury car." My Vegas file has all kinds of things in it, not the least of which this is an area of criminal activity. I also have a file on how to break in to a car.
Interpretation is where all this goes awry. I'm now adding meaning to these files, and regardless of the truth about what's going on, these influence each other when it comes to meaning; this girl's trying to steal that car.
Evaluation is where we make a judgement. It's bad to steal a car. It's heroic to save a baby. It's the judgement that's going to determine the actions that follow. That's why arriving at this fourth step in the process is critical to understand. The more data gathered in sensation, the more critical the organization, the more we recognize default attitudes in interpretation, the more valid our evaluation.
Perceptual Influences
The perceptual process is polluted, especially in the interpretation and evaluation stages, by these influences:Implicit Personality Theory
If someone shows characteristics in some areas, it's assumed they have similar characteristics as well. For the Lexus boosting Latina, she was evaluated as bad because of her context. Finish this sentence - Young Latinas in Vegas are _______________. Chances are the verbs to follow are as negative as the behavior of breaking into a car. If you don't view that behavior as negative, the implication may go neutral or positive.
If we perceive someone as witty, charming, and smart, according to the theory, we may also see them trustworthy. Assumptions are created based on a little or limited information. Ted Bundy was witty, charming and smart.
The Primacy-Recency Effect
This is an influence based on first or last impressions. We don't give the benefit of the doubt that the person has somehow changed since the impression. This is an influence that plays out in the temporal context.
My first impression of the young mother was dead wrong.
My first impression of the young mother was dead wrong.
Attribution
This is an influence of assigning motive to action. The young woman's action was trying to get her car open after locking her keys and her newborn baby inside it. She did so by trying to break into the car with a device. I assigned a motive to this action.
Keeping these influences in check means developing a psychological noise that recognizes the process and deals with the influences, making the evaluation more valid.
Keeping our own judgements at bay is imperative when assessing what may be a threat. The temporal context permitting, the more information we gather without preconception or prejudice, the more apt we are in finding meaning in nonverbal manifestations that speak contrary to existing contexts. Remember, the idea here is to recognize and engage threatening behavior before it may escalate to violence.
Keeping these influences in check means developing a psychological noise that recognizes the process and deals with the influences, making the evaluation more valid.
Keeping our own judgements at bay is imperative when assessing what may be a threat. The temporal context permitting, the more information we gather without preconception or prejudice, the more apt we are in finding meaning in nonverbal manifestations that speak contrary to existing contexts. Remember, the idea here is to recognize and engage threatening behavior before it may escalate to violence.
