Unit 3:2 - Perception and memory

 

 

Perception can also be influenced by an individual's expectations, motives, and interests. The term perceptual set refers to the tendency to perceive objects or situations from a particular frame of reference. Perceptual sets usually lead us to reasonably accurate conclusions.

 

Perceptual set theory stresses the idea of perception as an active process involving selection, inference and interpretation.
The concept of perceptual set is important to the active process of perception.  Allport (1955) defined perceptual set as:

Perceptual set is a tendency to perceive or notice some aspects of the available sensory data and ignore others.  According to Vernon, 1955 perceptual set works in two ways:
(1) The perceiver has certain expectations and focuses attention on particular aspects of the sensory data: This he calls a Selector'.
(2) The perceiver knows how to classify, understand and name selected data and what inferences to draw from it. This she calls an 'Interpreter'.
It has been found that a number of variables, or factors, influence perceptual set, and set in turn influences perception. The factors include:

• Expectations
• Emotion
• Motivation
• Culture