MGHB02H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Subjective Constancy, Central Tendency, Social Perception
Document Summary
The process of interpreting the messages of our senses to provide order and meaning to the environment. It helps sort out and organize the complex and varied input received by our senses. It has 3 components perceiver, a target that is being perceived and some situational context in which the perception is occurring. The perceiver"s experience, needs and emotions can affect his or her perceptions of a target. Past experience lead the perceiver to develop expectations, and they affect current perceptions. Our needs unconsciously influence our perceptions by causing us to perceive what we wish to perceive if we are hungry, we tend to see more edible things in ambiguous pictures. Emotions such as anger, happiness, or hear, can influence our perceptions. Perceptual defense the tendency for the perceptual system to defend the perceiver against unpleasant emotions. Perception involved interpretation and the addition of meaning to the target, and ambiguous targets are especially susceptible to interpretation and addition.
