Factors affecting perception

• Perceptual set

  How our brains are biased to perceive sensory information in a particular way. Certain aspects of sensory information are selected and focused on while other aspects are ignored. This idea assumes perception is an active process, our interpretation /inferences depend on the schema we hold and other factors.
• Perceptual set example


  • We learn different things when in different moods. When in a bad mood, we are more likely to remember annoying things and vice versa.
• Culture


  The way we are brought up can influence our perception as it is fundamental in socialisation and developing schemas.
• Cultural influence on perception example


  • When children are asked in western society to draw an animal, the picture they produce is likely to be inaccurate and cartoonish due to the influence of children books whereas children who live in tribial societies, often draw an animal as if it has been spread out flat as they have not been exposed to the same media as western societies children has.
• Motivation


  How much we want an object is thought to change how we perceive that object. We could want an object for a range of reasons such as if an object gives us status and for practical reasons such as if the satisfies our needs like hunger and thirst.
• Emotion


  Our own emotional state at the time of seeing an object is thought to influence how we then perceive that object. Observation of the same object may be less threatening if you are in a happy mood than if you are already anxious. Watching a sad movie may have a bigger emotional impact if your already upset as distressing parts are focused on.
• Expectation


  As a perceptual set involves us focusing on some things more than others in the sensory environment, we will notice those things we have experience with more than things we don't. What we are expecting to see we do, what we are not expecting we filter out.