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.
