Perception Lecture

As I mentioned in the Intro video, this week’s lecture contains several

exercises. I recommend that you:

1. don’t print out this week’s lecture until you have gone through it

once

2. don’t scan down too quickly—take it one page at a time

You’ll see why after you read the lecture

In the video I asked to cross, and the re-cross your arms. For some people

this re-crossing of arms (metaphorically) is exhilarating—a challenge, an

adventure. For others it is discomfiting, and even annoying or irritating. On

this day in the classroom I get there very early and when the students come

in I direct them to where they’ll sit. I make sure to really change where

they normally sit (the back row students have to move up etc.). I make a

right-handed student sit at a left-handed desk. And then there are the lucky

few who come in late who have to sit at the table at the front of the class

with me. And I always make one student sit in a chair without any table,

etc. to rest his/her notes. The idea is to change their view of the

classroom. The fact of it is by the second week of class everyone has

claimed their “territory”—where they’re going to sit for the rest of the semester. For some students this “re-crossing of their arms” causes them to

be more alert during class. For others it causes them to be irritated or even

withdraw. The point of it is—we all want order in our world. This order

provides comfort and security. However, this comfort can cause us to be

less attentive to our environment.

Human beings in general have an overriding need to organize, to provide

order, to make sense of their world. We talked about this in week 2 when

we discussed developing schema. We use the perception process in order to

develop this schema. So perception is the process of making sense of

your world. There is a gap between what the actual reality might be, and

what you perceive the reality to be. The truth is we are only consciously

aware of a small part of what’s going on in our environment.

And if you remember Lewin’s Equation (we respond to the environment based on our needs), we see different things in the environment than others

do. Maybe you’ve seen a TV sitcom where they show a version of an

“incident” from one person’s view, and then from another person’s view and

it’s an entirely different version. Or perhaps you’ve been on a trip or to a

party with someone and later you hear that person describing the event and

you think “where were you—that’s not what happened at all!”

There are three stages to the perception process:

1. Selection is the first stage. First we select what we’ll

pay attention to. There are a lot of elements that impact what we

select. Here are a few:

· Intensity. If something is very intense, dramatic, loud—we have a tendency to pay attention to it. Think of your average

classroom. If the teacher asked the class to go into the hall and

draw or describe the classroom there would be many different

versions of what was in the classroom. But if there was a bright

orange jagged streak down one wall, almost everyone would

mention the streak in the description.

· Repetition. If something repeats itself we will pay attention to

it. Advertising is based on repetition. Companies know that if they

repeat a slogan over and over you will eventually pay attention and

hopefully memorize it.

· Our motives By far the number one way we decide what we’ll

pay attention to is what our motives (needs) are at the time. This should sound familiar to you (Lewin’s Equation).

So our selection of what we’ll pay attention to is subjective (and therefore

suspect).

2. Organization is the second stage. We organize what

we select by constructing schema (again—this should sound familiar).

As with selection, there are many elements that impact how we

organize. Here are a few:

Physical size and shape We tend to group things that look

alike into categories

Membership Remember the song “One of these things is not

like the other” from Sesame Street?

Our psychological makeup is the number one way we organize. Are you a curious person? A worrier? An introvert?

An extrovert? A high self-monitor, etc?

A picture should be forming right now that if the number one way we select

what to pay attention to is our motives at the moment, and the number one

way we organize that information is dependant on our personality quirks you

can see why I said there might be a gap between the actual reality and what

you perceive the reality to be.

3. Interpretation is the third stage. After we select and organize the data we begin to assign meaning to it (interpret it).

Again, there are many elements that impact how we assign meaning.

Here are a few:

Our degree of involvement How interested are you in the

information? How bored are you? How relevant does it seem to

you? Some of you might not be very involved in this lecture

right now—that makes a difference in how you interpret its

relevance.

Our past experience Is this a brand new experience? Have

you run into this kind of information before? We bring forward

thoughts and feelings from past experiences.

Our expectations We have a tendency to make “educated

guesses” We like to predict how things (or people) are going to turn out.

Our personal mood at the moment Are you happy? Angry?

Excited? Moody? Hungry? Hung-over? Sick? In love?

When you really think about it’s amazing we come close to the truth of the

reality at all if the way we make sense of our world basically depends first

and foremost on:

1. Our motives

2. Our psychological quirks

3. Our moods

The other aspect about the perception process is that it happens in an

instant. We select, organize and interpret very quickly—and then cross our

arms.

Let’s try a few experiments to see how the perception process works, but you have to play fair—don’t cheat—don’t look too far down so that you can

see the answers. (The answers will come after the dotted line). Don’t take

too long with the first few—move quickly.

I don’t think my table is completely square, (but pretend it is!). Your task is

to count the squares:

Hidden Squares Figure

There are 31 squares:

1 “squares” in the title “Hidden Squares Figure”---did you miss this one?

Why? Sometimes the students in the class say because it’s not a

geometrical figure. The directions weren’t “count only the geometrical

figures”—the directions were “count the squares.” Sometimes we select,

organize, and interpret feeling very comfortable we have all the information,

but we might have missed something.

1 whole square (the entire figure is a square). Sometimes people miss that one because they are so busy concentrating on the smaller squares.

16 individual small squares—most people get those

9 squares of 4 smaller units—most people get four of them (the ones in the

corners)—but there are 4 more on the sides and one smack in the middle.

4 squares of 9 smaller units

Did you miss any? Why? Do you see how you could think you really have

the reality in your head but there could be a gap between the reality and

what you think the reality is?

Ok, you’re pretty good at counting, so look at the following and count the

“F’s”:

Count the F’s Feature films are the result of years of

Scientific study combined with the

Experience of years.

There are 7 “F’s”

Count the F’s Feature films are the result of years of

Scientific study combined with the

Experience of years.

Did you miss any? Why?

Some people miss the “F” in the title. And they’ll say “but that’s not

fair—it’s just the title, it doesn’t count. Who said it didn’t count? The

instructions were “count the F’s—not “don’t count the F in the title.

Sometimes we skip over things like title, instructions, etc. in order to

get to the important part. Have you ever done that? Have you ever

skipped over a person in order to get to the important people? Most people get the F’s in “Feature Films” and “Scientific” because

those F’s are sounding and behaving like we would expect an F to

sound and behave, so it’s easy to pay attention to them.

Some people miss the F’s in the of’s. The reason for this is that those

F’s are not sounding and behaving like we would expect an F to sound

and behave—those F’s have the audacity to sound and behave like a

“V”—so it’s easy to just gloss over them.

So let’s start tying these riddles to communication. There are people in our

society who don’t look, act, or behave like the “norm” and sometimes we

just cut them out of our realm of perception because it’s easier. Be honest—

do you look every homeless person in the eye? Or do you sometimes avoid

even being aware they are there because it’s too uncomfortable to deal with

the reality? How about the severely overweight? The physically deformed? The developmentally disabled?

My son was a very popular person all through school. He is genuinely an individual with a love for life,

experience, and all kinds of people. He has such a diverse

group of friends. In Junior High he challenged all of the

kids in Student Government to adopt his “Invisible

Student” idea. He was involved in many things, but he

saw a lot of kids kind of slink down the halls not talking to

anyone, being virtually invisible (like the Ally Sheedy

character in Breakfast Club). He used to make it a project

to befriend one of these “invisible” students every month

and really get to know them and try to find an area at

school where they could fit in. He carried this through to

High School.

In High School he was involved in theater. He befriended

an “invisible” student and convinced this student to

become involved in scenery and special effects. My son

was always a “preppy” looking kind of “GQ” guy. This new

friend had a foot tall Purple Mohawk (and they weren’t

common then!). He wore all black very baggy clothes

(again very rare at the time). He had a studded dog collar

necklace and studded wrist bands and chains hanging from his pocket (all very unusual at the time). He brought this

young man home with one of his other “preppy” friends for

dinner after a play .

My very conservative in-laws were visiting. It was

interesting at the dinner table to see both my in-laws direct questions and comments to my son and his preppy

friend but go out of their way to not even look towards the

other young man. That young man was acting like the F’s

in the word “of.” He was not looking, acting, sounding, or

behaving like they thought a teenager should, so he was

not in their realm of consciousness at all.

I know that a lot of you have done the next one. That’s ok-- if you

remember it, just skip it. Some of you have done it before, but forgot how

to do it, so do it again.

Draw these nine dots on a piece of paper. The directions are to connect all 9

nine dots with four straight lines. You can’t pick your pen up the paper, and

you can’t retrace a line. If you don’t get it the first time, draw the dots

again and try it again (and again). In order to close the perception gap we

need to participate—we need to try things again and again. Too many times

people give up when things are hard, or they just don’t participate in the

first place. So draw your dots and go:

. . .

. . .

. . .

*****************************************

So why was that hard? Did you select, organize and interpret those dots as

a box? If you did, then you told yourself that the lines couldn’t “go out of

the box” and the puzzle was impossible to complete. And yet, thinking of the dots as a box was just as comfortable as when you crossed your arms at

the beginning of this lecture.

Ok, let’s try another one. Copy down these letters on a piece of paper. Your

instructions are to:

Cross off six letters. When you cross off six letters, the letters that

remain will spell a word. The word is in order (the letters aren’t

scrambled), and it is a common word that everyone will recognize.

Remember, if you don’t get it right away, write the letters down again

and try again (and again).

BSAINXLEATNTEARS

Ok—here is the right answer

Cross off “six letters” (S-I-X-L-E-T-T-E-R-S) and you are left with the word

“banana” BsAiNxleAtNteArs

So why was that hard?? Did you select, organize and interpret the

instructions “cross off six letters” as a chronological number? I had the

right answer. I know I’m right—and I feel as comfortable in this knowledge

as I felt crossing my arms to begin the lecture. But you know what? There

are many times in life when we have the right answer, and we are very sure we are right, but someone else can have an answer that could be considered

equally right.

The fact is, there is another right answer to this puzzle. So do it again.

Same letters—same instructions. Cross off six letters and the letters that

remain will spell a common word. There is another way to cross off six

letters.

BSAINXLEATNTEARS

Here is another way to get the right answer:

Cross off six letters :BSAINX everywhere they appear, and you are left

with the word “letter”

bsainxLEaTnTEaRs

Just remember that someone else can be viewing it from another angle—and

their view can be just as valid (right) as yours.

I have a figure (that for the life of me I can’t get to come up in this

format!). I ask the students who can see the swan (some can). I ask

others who can see the question mark (some can)—it’s similar to the old

lady/young lady figure many of you have seen. After awhile everyone can

see that both of those entities are there. Then I ask who can see the circus

seal. Most people can’t because they would have to envision the picture

upside down to see the seal. Sometimes in order to see the world through someone else’s eyes you really do have to re-arrange things—maybe even

stand on your head!

Now let’s keep this experiment going. Sit up

straight. Tilt your head as far as you can without resting it on your

shoulder. Keep it there. Keep it there…………….Keep it there….

Are you starting to feel a pull on the side of your neck? Is your neck starting

to hurt? Here’s the fact—trying to understand someone else’s view—trying

to see the world through their eyes really can be a pain in the neck literally and figuratively. It takes energy and willingness to re-arrange our own

thoughts and views. It takes commitment to stand on our head.

The people we are continually around have a lot of influence on our

perception. You might have experienced this if you have a friend or a group

of friends with whom you act a little more wild and crazy than otherwise.

The words “peer pressure” also conjure up images of the people around us

impacting our view of the world.

One of the psychological studies on this phenomenon is fascinating. A group

of students was asked to participate in an experiment on classroom

arrangement and seating and viewing of visual aids in the classroom. They

showed the students a series of lines and simply asked the students to

identify the line that was longer. This experiment included “confederates.”

Confederates are participants in an experimental design who have information the other participants don’t. The confederates are there to

“manipulate” the experiment. In this case of the groups of 20-30 students

every student but one was a confederate!

Here’s the information the confederates had that the one student did not:

The confederates were told “no matter what, tell me the line that’s shorter is

actually the longer line.

So the experiment began with the first set of lines:

A_________________________

B________________________

What line is longer? The confederates raised their hands with “B” so the student did also. The first set of lines was very close in length, and they

usually had the student sitting in the back to the side.

The experiment continued. What line is longer?

A_________________________

B______________________

Again, the confederates said “B”

The experiment continued until the difference in the lines was very

noticeable.

What line is longer?

A_________________________

B_______

When the lines got to this point—percentage wise how many of those students were still raising their hands to conform with the answers of the

confederates? (Approximately 90%!!) Why?

Your book talks about attributions. When the experiment was over—what

attributions do you think the students made about why they were still

conforming? Think about it for a minute before reading on.

These answers are in order of the attributions the students gave.

1. The #1 attribution for behavior by far was that the students

doubted themselves. They thought they must have had the

instructions wrong—that everyone else had to be right.

2. The #2 attribution was that they thought they knew the

instructions, and they knew which line was longer, but they

didn’t want to “stand out”—they didn’t want to “go against the

crowd.”

3. And then there was the group that knew they had the right

answer, knew everyone else was wrong, but they just didn’t

care. It was easier to conform. They had the attitude “give them what they want—give me the extra credit and let me get

out of here.”

Of course there was the very small percent of students that went against the

norm and gave the answer they knew in their hearts was right even if

everyone else was giving a different answer.

Think of a time you perhaps did something you weren’t particularly

comfortable with but it was easier to “go with the flow.” Or you didn’t want

to appear “un-cool.” Or the time you went with the crowd because it

seemed like fun or the thing to do but you regretted it later.

I think of when the Broncos won the Super Bowl—particularly when they

won it back to back. Remember the pictures on TV of the people downtown

swinging from electrical wires and running through the bonfires they had set in the middle of the downtown streets? (Maybe you were one of the ones

swinging and running!).

I would bet a lot of money that not one of those people woke up that

Sunday and said to him/herself “You know what would be fun to do today? I

think I’m going to go downtown and hang on some live electrical wires. And

then after that I think I’ll set a fire in the middle of the street and then go

stand in the fire. Yea, that sounds like a pretty good day.”

But you get caught up in the thrill of the party atmosphere, and let’s face it

maybe you drink or smoke some “perception helper.” And before you know

it whatever the crowd says it sounds like fun.

Now let’s put some of these elements together to see how they might really

impact your communication habits.

First—would you be apt to approach and begin a conversation with a person you know to be “rude, abusive, mean, dangerous, unfair, and tall?” Some of

you might say “sure why not?” But most of you would steer clear of this

person. Then I advise you to stay away from a “Police Officer.”

How do I know a Police Officer is rude, abusive, mean, dangerous, unfair,

and tall? A few years ago I taught a Master’s Level course in “Cultural

Diversity.” This was a small class and they were a group of very sincere

people who were serious about embracing diversity and being inclusive. I

put some sheets of paper on the long table with a one-word descriptor (like

“Police Officer”) and I asked they to bring their pens, go around the table

and write a one-word description of the person. They said “we can’t describe someone with just one word” but I told them to try. They were

actually able to accomplish this very quickly.

They were appalled at themselves when I read their descriptors. They

couldn’t believe that all of the descriptors about the Police Officers were

negative. Here are a few more just to give you an idea how perception

works.

Evidently all teachers are controlling, mean, broke people who talk too

much!

All Asian-Americans are quiet, petite, intelligent, timid, shy people.

Caucasians are rich, prejudiced, angry, conservative, patriotic people.

Latinos are lazy, pride-ful, warm, small, family-oriented people.

It is interesting how stereotypical answers come to mind when we’re put on the spot to think quick. I continued the experiment with them, so I want

you to do this one also. Get out some paper and write down your answers.

I’m going to give you a one-word descriptor of someone and I want you to

decide two things about this person: ethnicity and politics. Write down

whether you think this person is :

White, Black, Latino, Asian

Liberal, Conservative, Radical

Ok, let’s start:

1. This person thinks abortion is wrong

2. This person fervently supports and teaches women’s issues

3. This person is a cleaning lady in a predominantly Hispanic area

4. This person lives in Boulder

5. This person is Irish Catholic 6. This person’s Great-Great Grandmother was ½ Black

7. This person lives in Montbello

8. This person believes in evolution theory

9. This person teaches Sunday School in an Evangelical Christian

Church

Not only was the class very quickly able to decide those two elements, in

some cases they also were able to discern whether the person was male or

female! So here are the answers the class gave:

1. This person thinks abortion is wrong

· The class said overwhelmingly this person was white

and conservative. They also said the person was male.

2. This person fervently supports and teaches women’s issues

· This person is white and either liberal or radical and is

a woman (one student said this person is Iranian)

3. This person is a cleaning lady in a predominantly Hispanic

area

· This person is Latino (a couple said Black) and

unanimously said this person is liberal

4. This person lives in Boulder

· This person is white and either liberal or radical

5. This person is Irish Catholic

· This one was completely unanimous: this person is

white and conservative

6. This person’s Great-Great Grandmother was ½ Black

· The class was divided: ½ said the person was Black,

the other ½ said the person was White; they all said the

person was liberal

7. This person lives in Montbello

· This person is Black and liberal

8. This person believes in evolution theory

· This person is White and either liberal or radical

9. This person teaches Sunday School in an Evangelical

Christian Church

· This person is White, conservative, and female

So you can see some trends here:

· If you are Black you are liberal!

· Don’t even think of moving (or driving through

Boulder) if you are anything other than White and liberal

(or radical)

· Don’t even think of moving (or driving through

Montbello) if you are anything other than Black and liberal

· If you are Latino you are only a cleaning person (that’s

the only one for which Latino was mentioned

· If you are Asian you are basically invisible (Asian was

never mentioned)

· We have some basic perceptions of what males and

females can and can’t “do”

· If you are White you can do just about anything you

want

Did you come up with some similar trends to the class?

Now here’s the other thing I find fascinating about this experiment: all of

these descriptors are ME!! I have lived in Boulder and Montbello (we rented

several places when we first moved here to see where we wanted to buy a

house). I do believe evolution and creationism can exist side by side. I

grew up Catholic but now attend a non-denominational church. I was a

cleaning lady when my kids were small (it was a perfect profession with two

small kids). I left the corporate world when I entered my Master’s program

and went back to cleaning houses for awhile because it was flexible hours, I

didn’t have to think ; I could just put on my earphones and get some

exercise.

The one question my class had (and you might be having right now too) is

“are you White or are you Black?” I answered them the same way I’ll

answer you—it doesn’t matter what I think. What matters is what you

think. If you perceive me as White—I’m White. If you perceive me as

Black—I’m Black.” Our perceptions are how we make sense of the world,

and it’s easier to organize when we can put things in neat little boxes. We

insist that people actually check those boxes (Caucasian, African-American,

etc.). But people are complex—way too complex to fit into those little

boxes. My great-niece can check “Caucasian, Hispanic, and African-

American.” Tiger Woods can check one more than that!

Your book talks about the elements of Cognitive Schemata. You need to

read about Prototypes,Stereotypes, and Personal Constructs, but I’d like to talk about Scripts for a bit.

Scripts are your guides to action—your idea of how to behave with

someone; or your idea of what the sequence of a conversation should be.

For example maybe when you come home you say and do the same thing

every night—that’s a script. You can almost think of it like a script for a

movie or play—every movement and piece of dialogue is written out. We

have a tendency to settle into scripts as if we are shooting a movie.

When company from out of

town comes sometimes we like to

make things a bit special. When my

in-laws would come I would always

take special care making dinner. I

would tell them dinner was ready and

for over 30 years they would say the

exact same thing. First they would

say “we’re not really hungry.” I would

always reply “well, we’re sitting down to dinner, at least come sit with us.”

Then we’d get the table and my

father-in-law would always say “well I

could eat a bite” and my mother-in-

law would always say “well I could eat

a dab.” I told my husband that just

once I would like to put one bite on

his plate and one dab on hers and say

“you asked for it—you got it!” That’s

a script.

Then there are other scripts that don’t involve the exact words so much, but

it’s already written out what the tone or behavior should be like if you

encounter certain people.

Sometimes we have a script for the elderly. I was sitting in the hallway of the radiology dept. once waiting for an x-ray. I started a conversation with

the elderly gentleman sitting next to me. We were having a pleasant

conversation in normal tones. The radiologist came out and started YELLING

very personal information to this man “HAVE YOU COMPLETELY MOVED

YOUR BOWELS? ARE YOU SURE YOUR COLON AND RECTUM ARE EMPTIED?

Etc. etc.” She obviously had received a script that said “all elderly people

are hard of hearing.

In the introduction to this lecture, I asked you to cross your

arms. Cross your arms again. Selection, organization, and interpretation

happens in an instant. And in that instant we cross our arms. And that feels

comfortable. I hope your arms don’t feel quite as “absolutely right” as they

did when this lecture began.

Sometimes we have ethnic

scripts. My sister’s husband is Latino.

Her youngest daughter has very Latino

features. When she was pregnant with

her first child I took her out to lunch to

catch up with her. She was 20 years old

and married, but she has a very young

appearance. She’s barely 5 foot tall, she

didn’t have any make-up on, and she had

her hair pulled up in a ponytail, and she

was very pregnant. As we sat in the booth the people in the next booth started

talking in a volume loud enough for us to

hear (on purpose I’m sure). “There you

go—another greasy Mexican teenager

ready to spit out another welfare baby.” I

wanted to have a nice “conversation” with

them, but my niece wouldn’t let me. She

said “Aunt Kathy it’s not worth it today—

can’t we just have a nice lunch? I get this

all the time—they’re just ignorant.”

Perception—sometimes we just know

we’re right, but we can be so off base.

______________________________________________________

Type in "perception" or "perception checking" into Google and visit the sites

to learn more about how the perception process affects your view of reality.

Here are two of the sources I used for this Unit:

Balcetis, E., & Lassiter, G., eds. (2010). Social Psychology of Visual

Perception. New York: Psychology Press.

Merikle, P. (June, 1992). Perception Without Awareness. American Psychologist, v. 47, n. 6, 792-795.