Our perceptions play a large role in how we communicate.
In addition to affecting the way that we interpret information, our perceptions also affect the
importance that we give information as well as what information we retain.
Perception is believed to be so important to communication that numerous studies have
been conducted attempting to evaluate the true impact of perception.
In the late 1940s researchers Allport and Postman conducted an experimental game of
telephone where one student was tasked with describing what they had seen to another.
That student would then relay what had happened to another, and this would go on and on.
What was the topic?
A picture of a white man threatening an African-American man with a razor.
And what role did perception play in this study?
Well perceptions of race caused many participants to view the black man in the picture as actually
the aggressor, instead of the victim.
Another study conducted in the 1970s by Zadney and Gerard looked into how perception alters
what we pay attention to.
In this study participants were shown a video of two people walking into a room.
Prior to watching the video, participants were separated into two groups.
One group was told that what they were witnessing was actually a burglary.
While the second group was told that the people in the video were getting rid of the drugs
as a favor to a friend before a drug raid.
So how did knowing this little piece of information affect the attention and memory of participants?
Well participants who were told they were witnessing a burglary remembered more of the
theft-related items in the study.
Those participants thinking they were watching the beginnings of a drug raid seemed to pay
attention to and remember the drug related items in the room.
At the center of these two studies, and many others, is the impact of perception.
But what exactly is perception?
A technical definition may explain perception as the way you think about or understand someone
or something.
Or maybe even the ability to understand or notice something easily.
Although definitions vary, at its core, perceptions affect our attention, interpretation, and
retention of information that we receive in our environments.
Just like those participants in the studies that we reviewed, we can look at the exact
same situation as someone else and interpret it entirely differently.
This is in large part due to what are known as perceptual filters.
Perceptual filters influence what we either ignore or focus on when being exposed to certain
stimuli.
Using such filters allow us to take new information and compare it to past experiences in an attempt
to reduce uncertainty.
This helps save us time when we're in new situations.
Although these perceptual filters can help us make sense of our environments, they can
also result in biases and prejudices, which of course can impact our ability to view new
information accurately.
With the help of perceptual filters we go through a series of stages that lead to the
development of our perceptions.
This process is commonly referred to as the perceptual process, and it starts with some
type of environmental stimulus.
Basically anything around us has the potential to be stimulus.
The sound of your neighbor mowing his lawn, the cool breeze going through the trees, and
even cars passing by all represent potential stimulus.
We use our senses to pick up on these stimuli, however we don't necessarily pay the same
level of attention to all of them.
In fact, due to our perceptual filters our attention may be drawn to one particular stimulus.
Our attention may be drawn to a nearby conversation because we're familiar with the subject matter.
Or we may notice a car driving by simply because of the type of music playing.
Next we go through the process of organizing that information.
What happens here is that we compare the new information received from the stimulus with
existing information that we already have.
Perhaps you're reading an article in the newspaper and come to a particular topic your somewhat
familiar with.
Scanning the article for information you may pick out a few pieces of information that
seem to be consistent with your existing understanding of the issue.
Next we interpret the stimuli that we've been exposed to.
This commonly involves attaching meaning to the new knowledge.
Again, this stage is influenced by our own perceptual filters.
Meaning that we're likely to use our own experiences, beliefs, and individual preferences when evaluating
information.
Lastly, we retain the interpreted information.
Remember though that information we're told can affect what we retain, just like in the
study we discussed earlier.
Each of these stages shape the way that we think about our world.
But is there a cost to the efficiency of perception?
Unfortunately there is.
Although perceptions can help us better understand others more quickly, they can lead to certain
inaccuracies.
One of the more common perception problems is known as selective perception.
Selective perception occurs from a tendency to focus on things that are consistent with
one's previously held beliefs.
What happens here is that we focus on things that support our beliefs and channel out the
things that don't.
Since we are constantly being bombard with new stimuli it would be impossible to pay
attention to everything.
The problem though with selective perception is those who suffer from it only focus on
information that reinforces their own beliefs.
So how may this impact communication?
Imagine that you were writing a report for your boss to help determine if an employee
mentoring program should be established in your organization.
If you believed that mentoring programs were a waste of time, this could affect the type
of research that you conducted.
If you were suffering from selection perception, then you may be gravitating towards information
that supporting your opinion, while neglected everything else.
The result: you've produced a one-sided report that is unlikely the give your boss the information
that she needs to make an educated decision.
This is often why teams are so effective because they reduce the degree to which selective
perception plays a role in shaping the outcome.
Perception problems can become even more severe.
Taking the form of stereotypes, which represent general beliefs about an entire group of people
based upon perhaps a few observations.
These perceptions generally never hold to be true and can affect that way that we communicate
with others in the workplace.
So perhaps we shouldn't base our actions and behaviors off of perceptions?
Unfortunately that's impossible because we develop and use our perceptions on a subconscious
level.
However, that isn't to say that we're all victims of our perceptions and powerless against
them.
The important thing is to challenge previously held beliefs.
Asking the question: Is what I'm thinking based on anything substantive? is often a
great way to get to any possible perceptions that are clouding our judgement.
Thank you watching this video on The Role of Perception.
At the beginning of this video series we learned that managers engage in planning, organizing,
leading, and controlling.
Generally speaking of course.
Well next week, we're going to get into control, which involves establishing performance objectives
and then measuring performance.
Specifically, we're going to talk about the balance scorecard approach.
If you want more from Alanis Business Academy you can subscribe to our channel, download
our weekly podcast which you can find on iTunes and Stitcher, or go to alanisbusinessacademy.com
where you'll find additional content, quizzes, and more.
Thanks for watching.