Why Do We See Things Differently?

After reading “The Role of Perception in Communication”, I’m left with a better understanding of how humans perceive new and preexisting information. According to the article, perception by definition is the process in which we interpret sensory data. In layman’s terms, I can feel confident in my perception that the sky is blue because I see the color with my own eyes. In this situation, I’m using my sense of sight to frame my perception for this collected data.

In the reading, the author explains that selective perception leads to mixed interpretation when decoding the same message. According to the author, a communicator cannot assume their message will be received as intended. The author also implores that perception is largely framed by experience. For example, a sexual education expert may lecture two groups of people. His statement is: “Unprotected sex can lead to pregnancy”. Let’s say the first group consists of high school aged students and the second being young couples in a fertility clinic. The first group might decode this message and interpret it as a warning. They might think “Unprotected sex= baby. Baby= responsibility, costly, life changing”. From my observations and experience, many high school adolescents also live naively. They might be wearing a cloak of invincibility and think it could never happen to them. For those who don’t see it as a warning/causation, they might brush it off as “whatever”. The second group might decode this message as being obvious, but misguiding. Due to their experiences in reproduction, their attempts weren’t as successful in fulfilling the expert’s statement. Maybe some of the couples cannot get pregnant due to a medical reason, so this statement wouldn’t necessarily be applicable to them. Maybe to couples who are losing hope on becoming pregnant after failed attempts, this statement could be triggering. Often times, selective perception can occur due to environmental/social experiences.

In the reading, the author provides a real life example where mood affected perception in hypnotherapy. He refers to an experiment performed by hypnotists where they analyzed the subjects’ reaction to images when influenced by different moods. From those findings, we can concur that a happy mood results in a much more “positive” perception compared to a critical mood resulting in a “negative” one. The study of mental illness has proven the validity of these results. In the case of bipolar disorder, sufferers go through rapid mood changes such as mania and depression. It’s safe to say that as their mood fluctuates, so does their perception. It’s very probable that someone experiencing a manic episode may feel happy, even elated. They might feel “on top of the world” and take on many tasks at one time, jumping from one thing to the next. Their perception might be heightened, as many report their senses being sensitized. Therefore resulting in more sensory information processing through the brain. In contrast, someone experiencing a depressive episode may feel “down in the dumps”. They might lack the motivation to perform daily tasks and feel extreme sadness. Many report feeling disconnected from the world around them with lower degrees of sensory processing. Thus resulting in a more dulled perception to existence.

Subliminal advertising is another way perception can be altered on a mass scale.

It’s hard to go through your years without hearing the infamous “sex sells.” line. Unless you’ve went complete hermit mode, in which case I couldn’t blame you for it anyway, then you’re familiar with the phrase. Companies use subliminal perception to their advantage by giving the audience something to react to before they are consciously aware of what their brain is processing. In the above advertisement by Burger King, a sexual innuendo is obviously illustrated for “shock value”. We can even argue that the company is targeting men specifically, due to a societal perception (and often misconception) that men are driven by lust and carnal desires. At this point, we can say it’s a cultural expectation. By appealing to their vice, the company hopes to draw in business for their burger joint. Even if the image is distasteful in one’s perception, if they use it for a class assignment (like I am now), or show a friend, then the company succeeded in generating a wider audience. This further affects perception subliminally.

At the end of the day, we can argue that perception stems from all sorts of sources based on: assumptions, socioeconomic status, cultural expectations, needs, moods, attitudes, experiences, etc. In my personal opinion, I believe subliminal messages, mood, and life experiences are the driving forces in forming our perception. The government controls what we see and what we hear in the media, so they can subliminally mold our collective perception and create docile sheep. If our mood is unwell, then our thoughts will be a result of it. Our thoughts largely dictate our perception. Life experiences have conditioned us into believing what we know and often makes us weary of what we don’t know. This can make it hard for us to integrate contradicting perceptions into our own, much like cognitive dissonance.