Perception

It is necessary to know
about perception in order
to understand the basic
processes underlying a persons
thoughts, affect and tendencies
to action

What is perception?
Perception is an individuals way of
knowing the world, his process of
maintaining contact with the outside
environment and the process of
combining sensations
It is a process that will make sense of
what we see, hear, smell, taste and touch
A discernment of the nature of objects,
their position, shape, size, etc..and most
critically, their meaning

Perception
It is more than the use of the senses; it
is selective, constructive, and
interpretative
When we perceive, we interpret,
organize and often elaborate on the raw
materials of sensation
It is described by Psychologists as
information-processing, whereas,
sensation occurs at the level of sensory
receptors, perception is a cognitive
activity

There are two factors which

must be explained
thoroughly to understand
the process of perception,
namely:
the stimulus situation
the perceiver

Nature of Stimulus Factors

People are constantly presented with a
barrage of stimuli to see and perceive.
But we cannot perceive and focus to all
of these. We select certain objects and
ignore others.
This focusing of perception is called
attention
Some of these stimulus factors are
intensity, size, movement, contrast and
repetition.

Nature of Stimulus Factors

1.
2.

3.

4.
5.

Intensity-helps to catch the attention of people

(e.g. brightest or loudest)
Size-in general, a large object is more likely to
attract more attention than a small one
(newspaper headlines, billboards, advertisement
posters)
Movement-an attention compelling form of
change. (e.g. and advertisement sign that uses
stroboscopic motion is better attention-getter
than a sign whose message remain stationary)
Contrast-increases the attention power of an
object. (e.g. color: black and white; size: small
and big)
Repetition-an object or an act that is repeatedly
presented will be noticed more.

Perceptual Systems
Traditionally, there were
thought to have five classes of
sensations
More recently, it was realized
that we do not have five
senses but five perceptual
systems

Five Perceptual Systems

The first three modes of perceptual
systems are: looking (eyes), listening
(ears), touching (skin), form the basis
of the visual, auditory and haptic or
cutaneous perceptual systems
The fourth and the fifth is the taste
buds and olfactory receptors in the
nosethe smelling and tastingor
now known as savor perceptual

Basic Orientational Perceptual

System
Included in the fifth perceptual system
is our basic orientation to the
gravitational system, in a broad sense
it has something to do with being
awake, upright, and alertalso known
as the vestibular mechanism in the ear
As well as the eyes, to notify us
kinesthetically of the position of body
and its movements

 The focus is on the visual perceptual

system
Visual perceptual system is one of the
five complex perceptual mode by which
human beings interact with
environment
Through vision, we are aware of space,
immediacy or proximity, and
concreteness of experience
Meaning, visual perceptual system
informs us about our physical world

Major Functions of the Visual

Perception System
How does the visual perception work?
Localization or determining where
objects are
Recognition or discerning what
objects are and,
Keeping the appearance of objects
constant, even if their images in the
eyes are changing

Localization
To locate objects, first we have to
separate them from one another, and
then organize them into groups
These processes were first studied by
Gestalt psychologists, namely Max
Wertheirmer, Kurt Koffka, and Wolfgang
Kohler
We perceive figures and form as whole
patterns that are more than the simple
sum of individual sensations

Law of Pragnanz
Law of Pragnanz is the fundamental principle by
which the whole, or the gestalt, is constructed
Koffka pronounced the law, thus: of several
geometrically possible organizations, what will be
perceived is the best, simplest, and most stable
shape
The perceiver sees the environment as simple and
orderly as possible; the environment is seen in terms
of good forms, more symmetrical and complete
This law proposes that peoples perception is
governed by combine sensations into meaningful
wholes
Two principles include figure and ground
organization and perceptual grouping

Figure and Ground

A geometrical patterns are
always perceived as figures
against a background, thus
appear to have contours and
boundaries
The figure is what we focus
our attention on

Figure and Ground

Gestalt Principles of Grouping

This principle describe why certain
figural elements seem to be
perceived together, rather than as
isolated or independent units
What is given as an emphasis is
the interaction of the elements
Gestalt psychologists classify the
types of interaction, calling them
laws of perception

Laws of Perception
Proximity-Objects near each other tend
to be seen as a unit
Similarity-Objects similar to each other
tend to be seen as part of the same
pattern
Good continuation-Objects arranged in
either a straight line or a smooth curve
also tend to be seen as a unit
Common fate-when objects move is the
same direction, we tend to see them as a
unit

Common fate

Law of Closure
Law of Closure-which states that there
is a tendency to see incomplete figures
are complete figures

Depth Perception
The ability to know how far the object is
from us
The most reliable sources of this
information are known as depth cues
There are two general types of cues:
a. Monocular cues-are those that require
the use of only one eye
b. Binocular cues-depend on the use of
both eyes

Monocular Depth Cues

Are also known as Pictorial Cues
because they are widely used by artists
to depict three-dimensional images on a
flat surface
Types Monocular Depth Cues:
1.Relative size
2.Superimposition
3.Relative height
4.Linear perspective
5.Motion parallax

Relative Size
If an image contains an array of similar
objects that differ in size, we interpret
the smaller objects as being farther
away

Superimposition
If one object is positioned so that it
obstructs the view of another, we
perceive the overlapping object as nearer

Relative Height
Among similar objects, those that appear
higher are perceived as being farther

Motion Parallax
This refers to the
relative movement of
objects at different
distances from the
observers
Example: when looking
out the window of a fastmoving bus or car, you
will see nearby objects
moving quickly in the
opposite direction, while
more distant objects
appear to move more
slowly

Linear Perspective
When parallel lines appear to converge
They are perceived as vanishing in the
distance

Psychological factors that

influence the perceiver:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Also referred to by Allport as

Perceptual set
Perceptual set factors:
Motivation
Expectations
Emotions
Experience
Individual differences

We see things not as they

are but as we are
Immanuel Kant