perception in life essay

The Power of Perception: Change Your Narrative, Change Your Life

One of my favorite stories is an ancient fable about a farmer in a small village.

One day, the farmer’s only horse ran away.

His neighbors came over to console him, saying “We are so very sorry, this is horrible news! You must feel angry and sad.”

The farmer said “We’ll see. Who can know what’s good and what’s bad?”

The next week, the farmer’s horse returned, this time with a dozen wild horses following behind! The farmer and his son wrangled the horses up.

His neighbors commented, “Wow, what good fortune! How joyful you must feel!”

Again, the farmer said “We shall see. Who can know what’s good and what’s bad?”

The following day, one of the new wild horses trampled the farmer’s son, breaking his legs.

The neighbors then said, “I’m so sorry for you. You must be upset with this terrible happening.”

To which the farmer replied “We shall see. Who can know what’s good and what’s bad?”

Shortly thereafter, the country went to war, and every healthy young man was drafted to fight. But due to his injuries, the farmer’s son was not drafted. It was a horrible war. Almost every soldier died.

The farmer’s neighbors again congratulated him, saying “You must be so happy and relieved that your son did not go to war!”

The farmer replied “We shall see. Who can know what’s good and what’s bad?”

The Power of Perception: Thinking Makes it So

“…there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” ~ William Shakespeare, Hamlet

This fable of the farmer is confusing at first. It clashes with the common belief that life’s events carry intrinsic meaning.

Most people think of events in this way. “Certain things are good, and other things are bad. That’s just the way they are.”

In this characterization, there’s a 1:1 relationship between the event and your response.

But as the fable illustrates, the link between an event and your experience is not so cut-and-dry.

Life events in life aren’t imbued with universal meaning. Instead, it’s your interpretation of life’s events that dictates how you feel .

Since all events are up for interpretation, a given life experience could cause you to feel one of many different ways.

The fable gives us an example of this in action. While the neighbors were swept up in the automatic judgements about what is good and bad, the farmer was careful not to get led astray. He knew that every event in life has multiple possible interpretations.

Viewing life with this framing can be uncomfortable. “If life’s events are meaningless, what’s the point?”

The point is this: since life’s events aren’t imbued with universal meaning, you get to choose how you feel about things . You are in control of your life’s narrative!

In this way, you can understand the impact of your mind on daily life. Your mind has shaped, and will continue to shape every experience in your life!

Controlling the Narrative

“You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” ~ Marcus Aurelius

Choosing your narrative may be one of the greatest skills you can develop in life.

With skill at hand, it doesn’t matter what life throws your way, because you can always choose the most empowering narrative.

This way, your energy is not dictated by the randomness of life’s happening, because you always can always choose a narrative that fills you with energetic aliveness.

This isn’t about fooling yourself by believing something that isn’t true. Nor is it about suppressing negative emotions in pursuit of “positive thinking.”

It’s about understanding that life’s events don’t have a fixed narrative . The perspective you choose dictates your experience, and you always have control over your perspective.

The Challenge With Controlling Your Narrative

Training this skill can be challenging, and takes practice.

That’s because the brain has evolved to processes things automatically . In any given scenario, your brain relies on a variety of heuristics (mental shortcuts) to quickly make sense of what’s going on. It’s a useful process that helps you limit the mental energy needed for navigating daily life.

But this automatic processing is also what causes split-second perceptions about whether something is “good” or “bad”.

Although some of these shortcuts have been conditioned since you were a child, they aren’t set in stone! With conscious effort, you can “reprogram” your mind to interpret things differently.

Mindfulness is a key element in this process.

Perception in Action: Choosing the Empowering Narrative

“It isn’t what you have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it.” ~Dale Carnegie

Developing mindfulness helps you notice when your automatic responses are kicking in. It creates space between events and your reactions.

So, by cultivating regular states of mindful awareness (e.g. meditation) you build the capacity to control your narrative.

Here’s what the process of choosing your narrative looks like in practice:

Notice when you are getting swept away by an automatic response to a seemingly negative event.
Pause to collect yourself.
Let go of your automatic reaction.
Consider how else you might interpret this event.
Choose the most empowering narrative.
Go forth with enthusiasm!

Here are a couple examples to illustrate how this might work in different parts of your life.

Automatic Reaction : Rain is not good! Getting wet is uncomfortable! This is bad!!
Choosing the Empowering Narrative : That was unexpected! Now that I’m all wet, I realize it’s actually pretty calming and refreshing to be outside in a storm! My clothing gets wet in the wash anyway. It’ll all dry off when I’m home.
Automatic Reaction : This stinks! I really wanted that job. Maybe I’m no good at this after all.
Choosing the Empowering Narrative : It must not have been a mutual fit! If that’s the case, I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed working there as much as I thought I would. Now I can find a job that’s truly aligned with my values and interests!
Automatic Reaction : How disrespectful! Don’t they know how hard I worked to make this meal? And the food’s going to be cold! >:(
Choosing the Empowering Narrative : That’s no big deal, the food will stay warm in the oven. I can use this time to read that book I’ve been meaning to start. ?

Use the Power of Perception to Live Your Best Life

“Our life is what our thoughts make it.” ~ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

Life really is what you make of it.

When you understand that life’s events don’t carry universal meaning, your enthusiasm and energy are not held captive by the randomness of life’s events.

This isn’t easy at first, because the brain processes most things automatically. Many of your habitual reactions have been conditioned for years.

But when you cultivate mindful awareness, you give yourself the opportunity to catch automatic reactions in their tracks, and pick the most empowering narrative .

Over time, this method of interpretation becomes natural. It’s just the way you see the world.

PS: Before you go, be sure to pick up this free guide I created to help you choose a more empowering narrative.

6 Effective Ways to Shift Your Narrative

A free guide with strategies to help you pick the empowering narrative in any situation.

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Like this Article? Keep Reading For More Actionable Wisdom

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Feelings Follow Behavior: The Key to Unlocking New Habits
How Perspective Dictates Your Experience (The Ladder of Consciousness)

Psychology Discussion

Essay on perception | psychology.

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After reading this essay you will learn about:- 1. Introduction to Perception 2. Phenomenological and Gestalt View on Perception 3. Perceptual Organisation 4. Transactional Approach 5. Depth Perception 6. Constancy 7. Perception of Movement 8. Development 9. Errors 10. Studies.

Essay on the Studies on Perception

Essay # 1. Introduction to Perception:

Perception involves arriving at meanings often leading to action. In addition to the nature of the stimuli, and past knowledge, perception is influenced by many other factors. In this article, an attempt is made to present to the student a discussion of the various factors involved in attention and perception.

How exactly are we able to relate to discrete sensory experiences in order to see them as meaningful? In other words, how exactly does perception occur? At any time we are attending to a number of stimuli. For example even when we are listening to the teacher we are conscious of his voice, his movement, his appearance etc., but at the same time we respond to him as a single person. This shows that our response is integrated and organised to become meaningful. This process of organising and integrating discrete stimuli and responding to them meaningfully is known as perception.

In the early part of this century the structuralist view of perception was dominant. It held that just as consciousness could be neatly dissected into its component parts, so also could perceptual experiences. Thus, the phenomenon of perception was, for the structuralists, the sum of mere sensations and the meaning associated with it through experience.

Without the benefits of experience there can be no meaning attached to stimuli or to sensations, and thus, there can be no ‘perception’. The infant, therefore, is able only to receive sensory input; it is not able to ‘perceive’ anything meaningful. William James described the infant’s perceptual world as a “booming, buzzing confusion.”

However, what does this actually mean in terms of the process of perception? It means that the infant has to learn to differentiate between different sensory experiences. It has to learn to construct perceptual categories through which it can perceive the differences between various sights, sounds, smells and feelings.

The infant’s visual world is formless, shapeless and chaotic. The real physical categories that exist in the world like forms, sounds and colours have to be repeated a sufficient number of times to be perceived as distinct and separate impressions by the infant. In this way the infant learns to perceive forms and objects and associates them with various meanings in their context.

Essay # 2. Phenomenological and Gestalt View on Perception :

A view totally different from the one given above emerged from the writings of phenomenologists. Even in the earlier days, German writers and philosophers had differed on the concept of perception as resulting from a combination of discrete sensory stimulations compounded by experience. They had tended to take the view that perception is a total act not necessarily bearing total resemblance to external stimulus characteristics.

The process of perception is not totally logical but it is, to a large extent, phenomenological. The German philosophers made a distinction between physical reality and experienced reality or phenomenal reality. One’ fact of experience is that perceived objects are always perceived as one and not as assemblages or discrete pieces of sensory information.

The phenomenological writers tended to lay emphasis on the inner processes rather than just experience and stimulus characteristics. The phenomenological view gained popularity through the writings of Husserel Brentano and Carl Stumpf. The real landmark in phenomenology was the work of Ehrenfels on tonal qualities.

He emphasised the totality of experience in melodies. The total experience is something more than some of the individual elements and he gave the name Gestalt Qualitat to this. An example of the phenomenological process in perception can be clearly seen in our experience of illusions. This line of explanation and experimentation was further developed by gestalt psychologists.

The ‘gestalt psychologists’ experiments on animals and birds showed that even at birth there are certain perceptual categories and abilities already present. Riesen showed that chicks brought up in total darkness could immediately distinguish the shape of a grain on the floor when brought into the light.

More recently, experiments by Lipsitt and Siquel have shown that even- a few hours old human infants can distinguish between the sound of a buzzer and that of a bell. Thus the infant’s world is neither a confusion nor a chaos as it was earlier made out to be.

Of course, the infant cannot perceive all objects with the same depth of meaning and understanding as adults can. But certain fundamental perceptual and discriminatory abilities – called perceptual organisations-are built into animals and human beings from birth.

Furthermore, the gestaltists challenged the view that perceptions can be divided into component elements. According to the structuralists, perceiving a chair means dissecting it into the elements of shape, size and angles of the parts of the chair, bound together by meanings from previous experience.

To the gestaltists, this molecular view of the subject destroyed one’s understanding of the phenomenon of perception as a whole. They demonstrated how perceptual phenomena often could not be reduced to elements. The experience of watching a movie on a screen cannot be explained by analysing the series of still pictures that go to make it up.

Listening to a tune- or a particular tune- in one key still gives the experience of the same tune when listening to it in another key, although the elements in both cases are entirely different. This lead to their famous dictum that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts – Gestalt Qualitat. – a unique quality of wholeness.

Essay # 3. Perceptual Organisation :

Animals and human beings are endowed with the capacity to organise and group stimuli which are ambiguous, confusing and novel, thus making them meaningful or sensible. Gestalt psychologists have demonstrated the principles which affect and direct the organisation in order to make the stimulus a meaningful whole within the perceptual field.

Some of the well recognised principles which contribute to perceptual organisation are as follows:

Figure and Ground Relationship :

The basic principle behind perceptual organisation is known as figure and ground organisation. This phenomenon was originally demonstrated by Rubin. One of the most fundamental principles of organisation in the field of perception is distinguishing between the figure and the ground, i.e. the figure which appears against a background.

Gestalt psychologists claim that even in the simplest form of perception, the figure and ground factor operates. For instance, when one is reading these sentences the black letters are perceived against the white background. A flying aero plane, for example, stands out as a figure against the sky or the clouds around it which form its background.

Stimuli which are outstanding and striking in terms of colour, shape etc. come to the foreground to form the figure and the less important or less significant ones recede to the background. However, when there are several objects in the general field of awareness which have equally balancing qualities there may be a conflict and two or more figures may be formed. In such a case there will be a shifting of ground and figure. One part may become the figure at one moment and at the next moment the same may become the ground (see Fig.7.1).

Essay # 4. Transactional Approach to Perception:

The traditional watertight distinctions among different kinds of behaviour like learning perception, motivation are also being given up resulting in a tendency to look at human actions as involving an entire organism totally integrated and directed towards adjusting or adopting to certain environmental requirements.

This emerging view has led to a perspective called the transactional perspective or transactional approach. One of the pioneers in promoting this approach was Ames whose experiments on perception and perceptual illusions are well known.

The transactional approach to perception basically holds that any act of perception at any time is influenced by the past learning experience of the individual and looks at any perception as a transaction or an act of dealing with the environment and other stimulus situations and tries to structure one’s perception in a manner that is maximally approximate to the world of reality.

Some of the basic postulates of the transactional approach to perception are:

(A) Basically those who support this view hold that perception involves an active interaction between the perceiver and the environment, and in this, the past experience and learning of the individual plays a crucial role. Further they also hold that every new perception results in new learning.

(B) The final perception results from a process of active interaction, in which the individual operates on the environment. Thus interaction serves our adaptive function and in view of this they often use the term transactional functionalism.

(C) Such interactions are often unconscious and unknown to the individual resulting in sudden and spontaneous inferences – the role of the conscious process being insignificant.

(D) Transactions not only reflect the past and help us in drawing inferences about the past of the persons, but are also future orientations and the overall life orientations of people. Thus, it may be seen that the past .influence and the present, both are integrated and oriented towards the future.

Ames says that people perceive things, objects, persons and the environment not always as the latter are, but in such a way as to make them compatible with one’s own assumptions and beliefs already acquired, thus very often necessitating distortion of objective reality.

Ames designed a number of experiments using a variety of perceptual situations designed by him like the well-known rotating trapezoid and also what are well known as Ames room experiments. Some of the other postulates of this approach are, that perception follows a certain trend of development during childhood.

It is further claimed that perceptual illusions can be overcome through learning. Though far from being advocates of the typical learning theory approach, those who support the transactional view express the view that even space perception and depth perception are very much products of learning. Thus, they do not support a mechanical view.

What happens in perception is a projection of the perceiver’s own constructs about the stimulus situation with the intention of achieving one’s purpose in action. Thus there is a give and take relationship between perceiver and the perceived situation involving a compromise with the actual reality and one’s own propensity or desire to keep certain assumptions and beliefs constant. The transactional approach is still a loosely formulated approach on the basis of a variety of experiments carried out by different investigators.

One can clearly see the impact of other earlier views on human behaviour like psychodynamics, influences of past experiences, tendency to maintain equilibrium and constancy (dynamic-homeostasis) and phenomenology. The transactional approach in a way makes use of all these assumptions and integrates them. One may not call it a theory, but it certainly is an approach.

Essay # 5. Depth Perception:

One important aspect in perception is the perception of depth, the third dimension or distance we are able to perceive objects as being near or far off. The basic psychological mechanism cannot explain this. The question has been a perplexing one. One view holds that this ability is innate while the other holds that this is an acquired ability. We perceive one rupee coin as one with a depth. This is called the third dimension.

Empiricistic and Nativistic Views :

To have a better understanding of the phenomenon of depth one ought to consider the philosophies of empiricism and nativism. Their views emerged as a consequence of the certainties and uncertainties about human nature. Their key concepts regarding the mind contradict each other and yet remain as the supporting pillars of these views to this day. Empiricism claims that the mind at birth is like a ‘blank slate’ while nativism claims that it is like a ‘veined marble’.

John Locke was the first philosopher who suggested that the mind was initially a ‘tabula rasa’,i.e. it is like a smooth wax table upon which impressions of external events print themselves. This is the crux of empiricism.

Processes like perception and thought reflect the particular structure and dynamics of the world in which we happen to live. However, the basic mechanism through which printing or imprinting operates is by the principles of association, similarity, contiguity, etc. According to the empiricists impressions arrange and rearrange themselves to form the core of our perceptions.

We can see that this idea has shaped many modem systems of psychology. Wundt’s theory of introspectionism is bolstered by empiricism. Pavlov’s work on conditioning, Guthrie’s theory of contiguity, and Broadbent’s account of mental functioning in terms of information processing are all built on the philosophy of empiricism.

Other theorists like Leibnitz proclaimed that the mind is like a slab of marble with veins or streaks. His theory of knowledge was aimed against sensualism and empiricism. To Locke’s postulate “there is nothing in the mind which has not been in the senses” Leibnitz added except the intellect itself.

According to him intellect is present at birth and only gets shaped by experiences. It becomes obvious that nativism as a doctrine boldly proclaims the importance of innate factors in the development of an organism rather than the environmental or experiential ones. A lot of research findings of recent years are heading towards nativism.

Andrey’s books “The African Genesis” “The Territorial Imperative” have popularized a nativistic interpretation of man’s aggression and of his alleged tendency to defend his territory. Audrey believes that many of the modem man’s aggressive tendencies can be traced back to his meat-eating, weapon using ancestors.

Jung’s concept of archetypes leans heavily on nativism. Ethnologists like Lorenz and Tinbergen have shown a strong evidence for innate determination of species-specific behaviour. Another piece of nativistic evidence comes from the field of perception. T.G.R. Bower has found a striking evidence that form constancy, through the visual cliff experiment, is innate in human infants.

A circle seen at an angle is responded to as a circle and not as an ellipse. Gibson and others have provided evidence indicating that depth perception is innate in many species. Immense support to this doctrine is lent from oriental philosophy which has recently been invading the western scientific world. The oriental philosophers support nativism to the core. In the following discussion we see a clear swing towards nativism.

In Gibson’s experiment, the visual cliff consists of a wide sheet of transparent glass placed over a drop on the floor. Gibson and Walk showed that by the time infants could crawl, they would not crawl over the deep side of a visual cliff under any circumstances (see Fig.7.7). This is also true of most new-born animals, which refuse to cross over the cliff.

By the time they start crawling, however, human infants have had ample time to learn depth cues. White tested infant perception of depth prior to the crawling stage by noting eye-blink responses to a falling object in a transparent cylinder positioned over the infant’s face.

If the infants blinked it was assumed that they were responding to the change in distance rather than just the change in retinal size of the falling object which did not otherwise elicit a blink. White also observed that the eye-blink response and, therefore, distance perception-occurred only after eight weeks in the human infant.

Bower put even younger infants in an upright position in a chair and found that infants even as young as two-week old adopted defensive behaviour when seeing an object approach their faces. Eye-blinking, which in this case would not have served to protect them, did not occur, but there was clear eye widening, head retraction and the interposition of the hands between the face and the object.

Bower, thus, demonstrated a clear functional response to visual cues of distance alone, which, in a one-week old infant can be assumed to be unlearned.

Feature Analysis :

Our analysis of the perceptual process has indicated that in any instance the act of perception is influenced by two types of processes. On the one hand we have high level central and also psychological factors like expectations and motivations which do not originate from lower order sense impressions, even though they may be triggered off by them.This type of involvement of high level process is known as top-down processing.

On the other hand processes which originate from lower level physiological and stimulation information are known as bottom-up processing. In this context, psychologists refer to a term called ‘feature analysis’, explaining how these two types of processes operate.

Some psychologists hold the view that perceptual recognition is made possible because a particular set of neurons in the brain are activated, as and when they find an appropriate matter in the field of perception. This is like the phenomenon where only one tuning fork from among a row goes into vibration, when its corroborating match is set in motion.

This is the hierarchical feature detection model. But the difficulty with this model is that this would require a specific set of neurons or feature detection in our brain .Every corresponding sound or light stimulus should have such detectors.

Though it is now known that there are specific set of neurons for certain specific stimulus characteristics, the possibility of having an endless number of specific detectors is yet to be proved. Thus the correctness of this view depends on further achievements in neurology regarding the neuronal functions.

A different and perhaps more widely accepted view is that there occurs what may be called feature analysis. According to this view, the specific detection neurons are of such a type that they can operate in different combinations. For example, they may be recognised as a pair of vertical lines which are parallel with a horizontal line connecting the two in the middle.

Feature analysis involves the brain analysing experiences or perceptual contents into such sets and whenever such set or combination, is available for retrieval from neurons, then recognition occurs. This concept of feature analysis explains how people recognise stimuli and in addition, also provides a clue as to how different stimuli can be given a common interpretation.

For example, when we see different flowers, though we see them as different, we see them all as flowers. But what happens when a. combination of such detections stored in memory do not match with what is actually present? For example, it is very difficult for us or at least some of us to recognise cauliflower as a flower, though many stimulus characteristics resemble that of many other flowers.

It is here that the concept of feature analysis cannot explain, what happens, when the stimuli are ambiguous and are both similar and dissimilar to stored up combinations. It is here that one sees the limitations of bottom up processing theory. It is in this context that the top down processing comes into operation.

Top down processing is influenced by the context of stimuli which creates certain expectations or “expectancies.” We expect certain things to occur, under certain situations or contexts. These expectations based on past experiences and contextual factors, set in motion certain perceptual sets.

The role of expectancy in perceptual recognition was clearly demonstrated in an experiment by Palmer. Palmer showed his subject a scene of a kitchen. Then they were given a very brief exposure to two objects, one resembling a loaf of bread (context relevant) and another a mail box (context irrelevant). The two objects were of the same size and shape. But the subject recognised the loaf of bread more than the mail box, thus showing the influence of centrally aroused expectancy.

Motivation is another factor. The importance of needs in influencing process of perceptions has already been examined. The classical experiments of Brownes and others have already demonstrated the role of motivational factors and needs in the process of perception.

Normally in most acts of perception both top down and bottom up processes work together, each supplementing and complementing the other. Top down processing plays a more crucial role where the stimulus situations are ambiguous, or relatively unfamiliar.

The importance of top down processing will become clearer to the reader later when we discuss the role of “personality factors in perception”. A number of experiments have shown that our perception is very much influenced by the totality of our personality, and personalities have been classified even on the basis of perceptual styles or modes.

Essay # 6. Constancy in Perception:

When we think about perceptual experiences they seem to be incredibly paradoxical. We realise that we see mobility in stationary objects, immobility in moving objects, and see things which are incomplete as complete. The cues which are said to facilitate perception of distance can, at times, corrupt and distort the same.

Similarly, we are able to respond to a stimulus appropriately even with a distorted, wrong or absent retinal image. This contradicts the view that the retinal image is a true reproduction of the object being sensed and considered as a basic mechanism which provokes an appropriate action or reaction. All these make us wonder if we are in a world of illusions or whether perception, by itself, is a big illusion.

One such paradoxical phenomenon discussed here is perceptual constancy. The phenomenon of constancy refers to our perceptual experiences wherein perception remains constant, in spite of the fact that stimulating conditions stipulate a change. Thus, the human being is perceived to be of the same height whether he is seen from a distance of two feet, five feet or fifteen feet.

The phenomenon of constancy is seen in relation to several attributes of the objects like shape and size. To a certain extent the phenomenon of constancy also results in errors of perception, though its advantages far outweigh its disadvantages.

If we accept that the infant does not have to learn entirely to distinguish between forms, shapes and sounds in his environment, but possesses a congenital capacity to do so, there is yet another problem which has aroused a lot of controversy. When we talk of visual perception in particular, how do infants – or even adults – actually make sense of visual objects? The obvious answer seems to be that objects in the external world appear as images on the retina and the individual then responds to these images as objects.

However, the answer is not quite so simple. The retina receives images which vary drastically depending on the particular lighting conditions, the viewing angle and the distance of the object at any given time. If one were to perceive objects merely on the basis of retinal images, one would see a different object at each angle and at each distance from which the same object was viewed. This obviously, does not happen.

When we see a plate at an angle its retinal image is an ellipse. If we see it head on then the retinal image is a complete circle. Yet, we know that both the greatly differing images are of the same object. When we see a chair from a foot away, the retinal image we receive is much larger than that received when the chair is two yards away from us. Yet we know that it is the same object. How do we come to know this?

The controversy that has surrounded the answer to this question has been again one of the opposition between the view that the child is born with the complete ability to see the world as the adult sees it, and the view that the child has to learn to see stable objects. For a long time the latter view held sway-namely, that the individual has to learn to compensate for the differences in angle, colour and distance presented by the same objects.

Recently, however, this view has been challenged and it has been shown that infants of six to eight weeks possess the ability to compensate for changes in the size and shape of retinal images. T.G.S. Bower’s experiments suggest that this ability is innate. Very young infants were conditioned to a cube of a certain size shown at a distance of one metre. Different-size cubes were then shown at a distance of three metres from the infant.

The conditioned response was always given, not to the larger cube which would have presented the same size of retinal image as did the correct cube at one metre, but to the correct cube despite its smaller retinal image size. Size constancy, however, does not occur in the absence of information or cues regarding the distance of the object. Holway and Boring showed that the judged size of cardboard disks became more and more inaccurate as more distance cues were eliminated.

Similar constancies occur regarding colour. A familiar object is always perceived as having the same colour even under different lighting conditions. For example, a piece of white paper is perceived as white whether seen under the yellowish glow of candle light, the stark whiteness of a tube light or under any other coloured lights.

Perceptual constancy, then, seems to be partly due to some innate mechanism and partly due to the influence of past experience and knowledge. The role of past experience in perception and the human being’s tendency to perceive on the basis of assumptions constructed from this past experience was clearly brought out by Ames.

In his famous ‘distorted room’ experiment Ames presented to his subjects an apparent perceptual contradiction between a specially constructed room (which looked normal from the subjects viewing angle when the room alone was seen) and known normal-sized objects seen in windows of the room.

Ames showed that whether the room or the object was suddenly seen as distorted, depended on the subject’s assumptions, i.e. whether the subject ‘assumed’ the room to be truly rectangular. He believed that our perceptions of the objects and people in our environment are subjective. In other words, they are based upon the assumptions we have built up about various objects and people. The organism, therefore, creates its phenomenal world.

Essay # 7. Perception of Movement :

Perception of movement is essential not only to human beings but also to animals. Movement is closely linked to the instinct of self-preservation because moving objects sometimes mean danger. However, the perception of movement involves both the visual messages from the eye as an image moves across the retina and the kinesthetic messages from the muscles around the eye as they shift the eye to follow a moving object.

But at times our perceptual processes play tricks on us and we think we perceive movement when the objects we are looking at are actually not moving at all. Thus, perceived movements can be divided into two types: real movement and illusory movement.

Real movement means the actual physical displacement of an object from one position to another. When we see a car being driven we perceive only the car in motion and the other things around it like trees, buildings etc. are stationary.

Illusory movement is that when an individual perceives objects as moving although they are stationary as is shown in Fig.7.12. One perceives this figure as moving black waves. Another example to illustrate this phenomena is an experience that you must have often felt while sitting in a stationary train; if another train moves by you feel that your own train is moving.

Another form of illusory movement is stroboscopic motion-the apparent motion created by a rapid movement of a series of images of stationary objects. A motion picture, for example, is not actually in motion at all. The film consists of a series of still pictures each one showing persons or objects in slightly different positions.

When these separate images are projected in a sequence on to the screen at a specified speed, the persons or objects seem to be moving because of the rapid change from one still picture to the next. The same illusion occurs when two lights are set apart at a suitable distance from each other and when they are switched on and off at an interval of one sixteenth of a second.

As a consequence the perceptual effect created is that of one light moving back and forth. This phenomenon of apparent motion is called the phi-phenomenon. Wertheiner’s experiments on phi- phenomenon formed the foundation for gestalt psychology.

Essay # 8. Development of Perception :

The infant’s perceptual world is different from the adult’s. Perception develops gradually as the individual grows and develops. It has also been shown that it is influenced to a great extent by the biological needs, maturation, learning, culture etc. Thus, qualitative and quantitative changes in perception take place in the course of an individual’s development.

The experiments of Gibson and Bowers show that depth and object perceptions are inborn, i.e. they are not dependent on learning, although they develop and shape at different rates. Goldstein emphasised the gradual development of perception from concrete to abstract.

However, Goldstein does not make a direct reference to perception but refers to it as the development of thinking or attitude. Witkin emphasises that perception which in the early years is field dependent gradually transforms itself into field independent.

Thus, stability and abstraction become possible as the individual develops. Von Senden presented a very interesting data regarding the patients who were born blind but have gained their vision as the result of operations. Their perceptual processes were studied carefully because their situation was considered analogous to a new-born infant’s who sees the world for the first time. Von Senden found that these patients did not experience normal perception immediately after they gained vision.

When an object was shown to them they could see something against a background but could not identify it, its shape and its distance from them. Colour discriminations were learned immediately. However learning to identify forms and objects in different contexts was a long and difficult process.

One patient learned to identify an egg, a potato and sugar in normal light on a table after many repetitions although he failed to recognise the same objects in colour light or when they were suspended by a thread with a change of background.

He could point correctly to the source of a sound but could not say from which direction it was coming. One can know from the above studies that perception does not develop overnight; perceptual capacity may be inborn but the ability develops gradually along with the development of other processes.

Essay # 9. Errors of Perception:

The perceptual processes enable an individual to perceive things around him accurately and facilitate his smooth functioning. However, some errors creep into this process, under certain circumstances, leading to wrong or impaired perceptions.

Two well-documented errors of perceptions are illusions and hallucinations:

1. Illusions :

A mistaken perception or distortion in perception is called an illusion. Generally perception involves the integration of sensory experiences and present psychological and organismic conditions. When the interpretation of a particular stimulus goes wrong, it gives rise to a wrong perception. For example, a rope in the dark is perceived as a snake; a dry leaf moving along the ground in the dark is perceived as a moving insect. Similarly, in the phi-phenomenon, although there is no physical movement of the lights, they are still perceived as moving.

Some illusions which occur commonly in the perception of geometrical figures are discussed in this article. These illusions are popularly known as ‘geometrical optical illusions’ a term coined by Oppel, a German scientist. He used this term to explain the over-estimation of an interrupted spatial extent compared to an uninterrupted one. Later, the term was used for any illusion seen in line drawings.

a. Mueller – Lyer Illusion:

In Figure 7.13 one line is bounded by ‘arrowheads’ and the other by ‘shaft heads’. Though these two lines are equal in length, invariably the line with closed heads is perceived as shorter than the line with open heads. Similarly, lines bounded by closed curves or brackets and circles are underestimated with respect to their length and vice versa.

b. Horizontal-Vertical Illusion:

In Fig.7.14 one line is horizontal and the other is vertical. Though both are equal in length, the vertical line is perceived as longer than the horizontal line. To test this you can make someone stand straight stretching both arms out to their full length.

Ask your friend whether the height of this person is the same as the length of his arms, i.e. the length from the right fingertips to the left fingertips. If your friend is not aware that these two lengths are equal, then he will invariably report that the height is greater than the length of the arms.

c. Poggendorff’s Illusion:

In Fig.7.15 a straight line appears to become slightly displaced as it passes through two parallel rectangles. Poggendorffs’ illusion is demonstrated in this figure.

d. Zollner’s Illusion:

In Fig.7.16 when two parallel lines are intersected by numerous short diagonal lines slanting in the opposite direction then the parallel lines are perceived as diverging, i, e. slanting backwards slightly instead of being straight.

The Mueller-Lyer Illusion, the Poggendorff’s Illusion and the Zollner’s Illusion are named after the scientists who discovered these phenomena. Illusions are not totally caused by subjective conditions. Sometimes the environment or the context within which a particular stimulus is perceived is responsible for illusions. For instance, the perception of a rope as a snake or a leaf as an insect, may have occurred due to darkness which is an environmental condition.

It has been suggested by scientists that geometrical illusions like the ones mentioned above are the natural outcome of a certain kind of nerve structure, functioning under a given set of physical conditions. The reader may raise the question as to why only visual illusions are elaborated in this article.

This is because so far scientists have been attracted by the problem of vision and consequently the maximum amount of research has been done in this particular area. However, researchers today are busy exploring and experimenting with illusions arising out of other sensory experiences like audition, gustation and so on.

2. Hallucinations :

Hallucinations are identified as one of the major errors of perception. While an illusion is considered as an inaccuracy, a distorted perception of existing stimuli, hallucinations are considered as false perceptions. Hallucinations are sensory perceptions in the absence of any corresponding external sensory stimuli.

For example, if a person claims that he has seen a ghost or a goddess when there is practically no stimulus either in the form of a human skeleton or a live human figure or at least anything resembling it, this will be conceived by scientific minds as a hallucination.

Strictly speaking, dreams are hallucinations since the persons and things perceived while one is asleep have no factual basis. But for all practical purposes the use of the term hallucination is restricted to imaginary perceptions experienced in the waking state. Thus, when a person hallucinates he hears, sees and feels non-existent objects or stimuli.

Like illusions, hallucinations sometimes depend on needs, mental states like fear, anxiety, culture, etc. Hallucinations are not necessarily indicative of abnormality. For example, normal individuals reared in certain cultures are encouraged to hallucinate as part of their religious experiences. They may claim to have seen or heard from their deity and this is considered a normal phenomenon.

Similarly, in our present society, it is not an uncommon sight, if a lover waiting anxiously says he heard the telephone ringing or a knock on the door and other such experiences in the absence of stimuli. These experiences which occur specially in moments of anxiety or fear or keen expectation are taken as natural and normal phenomena.

However, hallucinations verge on abnormality when they become chronic, intense and problematic to the perceiver and others around him and begin to hamper the normal and smooth functioning of his day-to-day activities.

Auditory Hallucination :

Mr. S, an agricultural worker, around 30 years of age, complained to his psychiatrist that voices bother him day and night. He can hear them cursing his mother and father Sometimes they command him to hit himself; sometimes they say obscene things. These voices are feminine and sometimes masculine; at times he hears his own voice commanding him.

Hallucinations are caused by psychological factors like conflict, guilt, fear, anxiety etc. They can also occur due to cerebral injuries, intake of alcohol, drugs like L.S.D. or heroin and the presence of certain toxic substances in the body.

Figural After – Effects :

The term figural after-effect is used to denote certain phenomena observed by Gibson in a series of interesting experiments. In one of his experiments subjects saw a distorted line passing through a prism. After 10 minutes, the apparent ‘curvature’ of the line was perceived as very much decreased.

The line tended to straighten out and when the prism was removed, the line was perceived as being curved in the opposite direction. In another experiment, by Kohler & Wallach, one figure (known as l or inspection figure) is observed for several minutes with total fixation.

Then this figure is replaced by a Test stimuls card T1 and the subjects are required to report its characteristics. It may be seen that objectively the two figures, the one inside T1 and T2 are identical in size, brightness and the distance from P. But both are smaller than the 1 square.

The square T1 falls in line with the contours of the inspection square and a little nearer its right hand contours. The phenomenal reports indicated that T1 was perceived as smaller and more distant from point P and further, its margins appeared paler. It is not necessary that all these characteristics should appear in the case of a given person at any time.

Kohler & Wallach offer an explanation for this, based on certain electrical field processes in the brain. According to them, there are some unspecified regions, of the central visual area through which current keeps on flowing. The currents flow according to the principle of least resistance.

When the 1 figure is presented, this flow is interrupted and the current flow is set up along the contours of this figure. The flow of the current however, increases the resistance in the tissues, thus forcing the current to flow into the neighbouring regions which in turn results in a gradient of resistance satiation about the contour of fig. Satiation present after the – removal of the 1 figure, lead to distortions in the T figures. There has been a lot of criticism against this view, particularly from the neurophysiological angle. It is also argued that the phenomenon of figural after-effect can be explained without having to take recourse to ‘electrical fields.’

Essay # 10. Studies on Perception:

Findings arrived at by studies of perception are not as dramatic as the findings of experiments in learning. Nevertheless their value has been recognised increasingly to serve mankind in many significant ways. An understanding of the subtleties and complexities of perception as a process gives an impression that human behaviour can be reduced to an interplay of the perceptions of self, the world, people, objects and events. As a matter of fact, various activities like science, art, religion etc., are nothing more than the outcome of human perceptions.

Turning to more concrete contributions, one of the major areas of investigation is in the field of colour perception. This brought out interesting findings as to why and how certain psychological factors determine colour perception. The impact of these findings can be seen on the walls of living rooms, bedrooms, showrooms, in the market for selling automobiles, textiles and even fruits and flowers.

Colour technologists involved in manufacturing dyes, textiles, and those who are involved in agencies of mass media like the cinema, television, magazines, photography and interior decorators invest large amounts of money to find out, create, and impress human perception, captivate their interests, moods and money through colours. They try to demonstrate how different and pleasant it is living and working with certain colours around you, rather than being in colourless, or lifeless surroundings.

Another area in which the findings of perception studies are being used is communication. Communication devices ranging from satellites to telephones are devised to facilitate the audio-visual perceptions of human beings. The utmost care has to be taken in designing transmission devices and equipping them to counterbalance phenomena like illusions, constancies etc. which arise in perception especially regarding sounds and figures.

They take care to make the communication of the speaker and the listener clear and intelligible, eliminate non-essential stimuli and aim at presenting synchronized and simultaneous transmission. Transport system such as airways, seaways and roadways have realised the importance of perception because the individuals who steer these vehicles make use of processes like sensation, attention and perception to the maximum extent.

If these processes fail or do not function adequately for one reason or the other, the consequence is human error or accident. Scientists working in the area of prevention of accidents, especially on highways, realised that accidents occur due to certain visual and auditory illusions.

Over-estimation or under-estimation of curves, distortion of cues due to excess of light, fog, or snow, and illusions of sound created by moving stimuli, all these sometimes can produce disasters. Thus, measures are being taken to provide information, instructions and clues which are specially devised and placed at convenient heights, angles and directions so that the driver can perceive from his fast-moving vehicle and avert disasters. The importance of such findings can be well understood by this illustration.

On December 4, 1965, a TWA Boeing 707 and an Eastern Airline Lockheed 1049 were enroute to John F. Kennedy International Airport and to Newark Airport, respectively. Both were converging on the New York area, the Boeing 707 at its assigned altitude of 11,000 feet and the Lockheed at its assigned altitude of 10,000 feet.

At the time, the area was overcast and the cloud tops protruded above a height of 10,000 feet. The clouds were generally higher in the north than in the south and seemed to form an upward, sloping bar of white against the blue background of the sky. Within a few moments of each other, the crew of both the aircraft perceived what appeared to be an imminent collision between the two planes.

They rapidly began evasive manoeuvres. The Lockheed aircraft pulled up and the Boeing rolled first to the right then to the left. The two aircrafts collided at approximately 11,000 feet. The structural damage to the Lockheed was sufficient to force it to land in an open field, where it was destroyed by impact and friction.

There were four fatalities and forty-nine non-fatal injuries. The U.S. Civil Aeronautics Board attributed the collision to misjudgment of altitude separation by the crew of the Lockheed aircraft because of an ‘optical illusion’ created by the upward sloping contours of the cloud tops.

Four persons died and 49 were injured through the operation of the simple effect that we mimic on paper with simple lines and call the ‘Poggendorff illusion’. Perhaps, the idea that visual illusions are interesting but relatively unimportant oddities of perceptions itself is merely another illusion, which can prove costly.

Similar precautions are being taken in certain accident-prone heavy industries, like mining and manufacturing of volatile substances like explosives, chemicals and “so on where individuals have to attend to and comprehend several stimuli accurately within a short time.

Contributions to clinical psychology of the findings on hallucinations are immense. It has become one of the most important tools in diagnosing psychotic disorders. The seriousness of a psychosis is determined to a great extent by the degree, intensity and number of hallucinations experienced by the individual.

Researchers working on the problem of subliminal perception are trying to contribute their share of findings through work done on advertisements, unconscious processes etc. The advertising agencies are realising that they can capture their audience and customers by making their messages less obvious and more subtle. This is one way to induce curiosity and attract them to their products and thus, increase their sales.

The role of the unconscious in the area of subliminal perception is quite significant. Unconscious processes and their allied phenomena, for all practical purposes, can be considered synonymous with subliminal perceptions, because they operate from a level of consciousness which is less than normal.

One may wonder whether findings on ESP have any value to the present computer world which is capable of anything right from brushing one’s teeth to singing a lullaby. But ESP seems to offer so much that the world is beginning to develop an impression that parapsychology is no more a mere intellectual adventure. If individuals could be taught and made to develop this capacity we could go to the moon and other planets, eat and live comfortably and chat with friends across the seas and continents for hours together.

Imagine, all this could be done without spending a paisa and then money would lose its importance. However, to achieve this stage, sciences have to travel a long and difficult way like Christian in ‘A Pilgrim’s Progress’. Today, such fantastic activities may appear to be distant probabilities but we may soon see them as distinct possibilities.

The one area where research findings on perception and the perceptual processes have been found extremely useful is in advertising. Very innovative advertisements are designed today based on their knowledge of the perceptual processes.

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Essay on Perception In Life

Students are often asked to write an essay on Perception In Life in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Perception In Life

Understanding perception.

Perception is the way we see and understand things around us. It’s like wearing glasses that can change how the world looks to us. Everyone has their own set of glasses, so what one person sees might be different from what another sees. This is why two people can look at the same thing but have different ideas about it.

Perception Shapes Thoughts

Our thoughts are often based on our perceptions. If we see a dark cloud, we might think it will rain. This shows that what we see can influence what we think or expect. Our mind uses what we see to make guesses about what will happen next.

Perception Influences Actions

What we do is also affected by how we see things. For example, if we see a dog and think it is friendly, we might want to pet it. But if we see it as scary, we would probably stay away. So, our actions can change based on our perception.

Changing Perceptions

Sometimes, we can change how we see things. If we learn more about something or hear what others think, our view can change. This is important because it helps us understand others better and learn new things.

250 Words Essay on Perception In Life

What is perception.

Perception is the way we see and understand things around us. It’s like having a personal camera in our minds that takes pictures of the world. Each person’s camera is different, so we all see things in our own special way. Imagine looking at a cloud; one person might see an animal shape, while another might see a face. That’s perception at work.

Why Perception Matters

Our perception is important because it affects what we think and how we feel. If you see a glass with water up to the middle, you might think it’s half full or half empty. Your answer can show if you see things in a hopeful way or maybe a less hopeful way. This can influence your mood and how you deal with problems.

Perception Shapes Our World

The way we see things can shape our world. For example, if you believe you’re good at drawing, you’ll feel happy when you have a pencil and paper. But if you think you’re bad at it, you might feel sad or not want to draw at all. Our beliefs can encourage us to try new things or stop us from trying.

Perception Can Change

The good news is that our perception can change. If you learn more about something or see it from a different angle, you might start to see it in a new light. It’s like getting a new lens for your mind’s camera. With a new lens, you can take better pictures and understand the world in a better way.

In conclusion, perception is a powerful part of life. It’s the set of glasses we wear to look at the world. By knowing this, we can try to see things in a brighter, kinder way and make our lives and the lives of others better.

500 Words Essay on Perception In Life

Perception is the way we see and understand things around us. It is like having a set of glasses through which we look at the world. These glasses can change the way everything looks to us. For example, if you wear pink glasses, everything seems pink. In life, our experiences, feelings, and thoughts are like these glasses, they shape how we see our surroundings.

Perception is important because it affects what we think about other people, how we feel about different situations, and the choices we make. If you think a dog is friendly, you will want to pet it. But if you see the same dog as scary, you will probably stay away. This shows how your view of the dog changes your actions.

Perception and Communication

When we talk to others, our perception plays a big role. If you believe someone is kind, you might listen to them more carefully. On the other hand, if you think someone is not nice, you might not listen to them at all. This can lead to misunderstandings. It’s like if you’re playing a game of telephone; what you hear can be very different from what the first person said.

Perception and Learning

In school, perception is a big deal. If you see math as fun, you might do better at it because you enjoy practicing. But if you see math as hard, you might not want to try. Teachers try to make subjects interesting so students can have a positive view of learning. This can make school more fun and help students do better.

Changing Our Perception

The good news is that we can change our perception. If we learn more about something or someone, we might start to see it or them in a new way. It’s like getting to know someone who seems unfriendly. As you get to know them, you might find out they are actually very nice. Our perceptions can grow and change as we get more information.

Perception and Happiness

Finally, how we see things can affect our happiness. If we focus on the good in our lives, we tend to feel happier. It’s like when you find a $5 bill on the ground, you feel lucky and happy. But if you only think about the $5 you lost last week, you might feel sad. By looking for the good, we can feel better about our lives.

In conclusion, perception is like a pair of glasses that colors everything in our lives. It shapes how we see people, how we learn, and even how happy we are. By understanding that we can change our perception, we can improve our communication, learn better, and find more joy in life. It’s important to remember that our view is not the only one and that being open to new ideas can make our world a brighter place.

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What Is Perception?

Recognizing Environmental Stimuli Through the Five Senses

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Steven Gans, MD is board-certified in psychiatry and is an active supervisor, teacher, and mentor at Massachusetts General Hospital.

How It Works
Improvement Tips

Perception refers to our sensory experience of the world. It is the process of using our senses to become aware of objects, relationships. It is through this experience that we gain information about the environment around us.

Perception relies on the cognitive functions we use to process information, such as utilizing memory to recognize the face of a friend or detect a familiar scent. Through the perception process, we are able to both identify and respond to environmental stimuli.

Perception includes the five senses; touch, sight, sound, smell , and taste . It also includes what is known as proprioception, which is a set of senses that enable us to detect changes in body position and movement.

Many stimuli surround us at any given moment. Perception acts as a filter that allows us to exist within and interpret the world without becoming overwhelmed by this abundance of stimuli.

Types of Perception

The types of perception are often separated by the different senses. This includes visual perception, scent perception, touch perception, sound perception, and taste perception. We perceive our environment using each of these, often simultaneously.

There are also different types of perception in psychology, including:

Person perception refers to the ability to identify and use social cues about people and relationships.
Social perception is how we perceive certain societies and can be affected by things such as stereotypes and generalizations.

Another type of perception is selective perception. This involves paying attention to some parts of our environment while ignoring others.

The different types of perception allow us to experience our environment and interact with it in ways that are both appropriate and meaningful.

How Perception Works

Through perception, we become more aware of (and can respond to) our environment. We use perception in communication to identify how our loved ones may feel. We use perception in behavior to decide what we think about individuals and groups.

We are perceiving things continuously, even though we don't typically spend a great deal of time thinking about them. For example, the light that falls on our eye's retinas transforms into a visual image unconsciously and automatically. Subtle changes in pressure against our skin, allowing us to feel objects, also occur without a single thought.

Perception Process

To better understand how we become aware of and respond to stimuli in the world around us, it can be helpful to look at the perception process. This varies somewhat for every sense.

In regard to our sense of sight, the perception process looks like this:

Environmental stimulus: The world is full of stimuli that can attract attention. Environmental stimulus is everything in the environment that has the potential to be perceived.
Attended stimulus: The attended stimulus is the specific object in the environment on which our attention is focused.
Image on the retina: This part of the perception process involves light passing through the cornea and pupil, onto the lens of the eye. The cornea helps focus the light as it enters and the iris controls the size of the pupils to determine how much light to let in. The cornea and lens act together to project an inverted image onto the retina.
Transduction: The image on the retina is then transformed into electrical signals through a process known as transduction. This allows the visual messages to be transmitted to the brain to be interpreted.
Neural processing: After transduction, the electrical signals undergo neural processing. The path followed by a particular signal depends on what type of signal it is (i.e. an auditory signal or a visual signal).
Perception: In this step of the perception process, you perceive the stimulus object in the environment. It is at this point that you become consciously aware of the stimulus.
Recognition: Perception doesn't just involve becoming consciously aware of the stimuli. It is also necessary for the brain to categorize and interpret what you are sensing. The ability to interpret and give meaning to the object is the next step, known as recognition.
Action: The action phase of the perception process involves some type of motor activity that occurs in response to the perceived stimulus. This might involve a major action, like running toward a person in distress. It can also involve doing something as subtle as blinking your eyes in response to a puff of dust blowing through the air.

Think of all the things you perceive on a daily basis. At any given moment, you might see familiar objects, feel a person's touch against your skin, smell the aroma of a home-cooked meal, or hear the sound of music playing in your neighbor's apartment. All of these help make up your conscious experience and allow you to interact with the people and objects around you.

Recap of the Perception Process

Environmental stimulus
Attended stimulus
Image on the retina
Transduction
Neural processing
Recognition

Factors Influencing Perception

What makes perception somewhat complex is that we don't all perceive things the same way. One person may perceive a dog jumping on them as a threat, while another person may perceive this action as the pup just being excited to see them.

Our perceptions of people and things are shaped by our prior experiences, our interests, and how carefully we process information. This can cause one person to perceive the exact same person or situation differently than someone else.

Perception can also be affected by our personality. For instance, research has found that four of the Big 5 personality traits —openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, and neuroticism—can impact our perception of organizational justice.

Conversely, our perceptions can also affect our personality. If you perceive that your boss is treating you unfairly, for example, you may show traits related to anger or frustration. If you perceive your spouse to be loving and caring, you may show similar traits in return.

Are Perception and Attitude the Same?

While they are similar, perception and attitude are two different things. Perception is how we interpret the world around us, while our attitude (our emotions, beliefs, and behaviors) can impact these perceptions.

Tips to Improve Perception

If you want to improve your perception skills, there are some things that you can do. Actions you can take that may help you perceive more in the world around you—or at least focus on the things that are important—include:

Pay attention. Actively notice the world around you, using all your senses. What do you see, hear, taste, smell, or touch? Using your sense of proprioception, notice the movements of your arms and legs, or your changes in body position.
Make meaning of what you perceive. The recognition stage of the perception process is essential since it allows you to make sense of the world around you. Place objects in meaningful categories, so you can understand and react appropriately.
Take action. The final step of the perception process involves taking some sort of action in response to your environmental stimulus. This could involve a variety of actions, such as stopping to smell the flower you see on the side of the road, incorporating more of your senses.

Potential Pitfalls of Perception

The perception process does not always go smoothly, and there are a number of things that may interfere with our ability to interpret and respond to our environment. One is having a disorder that impacts perception.

Perceptual disorders are cognitive conditions marked by an impaired ability to perceive objects or concepts. Some disorders that may affect perception include:

Spatial neglect syndromes, which involve not attending to stimuli on one side of the body
Prosopagnosia, also called face blindness, is a disorder that makes it difficult to recognize faces
Aphantasia , a condition characterized by an inability to visualize things in your mind
Schizophrenia , which is marked by abnormal perceptions of reality

Some of these conditions may be influenced by genetics, while others result from stroke or brain injury.

Perception can also be negatively affected by certain factors. For instance, one study found that when people viewed images of others, they perceived individuals with nasal deformities as having less satisfactory personality traits. So, factors such as this can potentially affect personality perception.

History of Perception

Interest in perception dates back to the time of ancient Greek philosophers who were interested in how people know the world and gain understanding. As psychology emerged as a science separate from philosophy, researchers became interested in understanding how different aspects of perception worked—particularly, the perception of color.

In addition to understanding basic physiological processes, psychologists were also interested in understanding how the mind interprets and organizes these perceptions.

Gestalt psychologists proposed a holistic approach, suggesting that the sum equals more than the sum of its parts. Cognitive psychologists have also worked to understand how motivations and expectations can play a role in the process of perception.

As time progresses, researchers continue to investigate perception on the neural level. They also look at how injury, conditions, and substances might affect perception.

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By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Perception: Impact on Everyday Life

One of the most striking and significant examples of the influence of perception on everyday life is the depth, comprehensiveness, objectivity, and speed of cognition of another person due to certain objective and subjective characteristics. Most often, the perception of other people is based only on assumed qualities, impressions, interpretation, and evaluation of motives of behavior. For example, a person may unknowingly compare an acquaintance with a public figure or first love, as well as evaluate other external elements: a slovenly dressed and bearded man is a programmer, a girl wears glasses – she is a scientist or a nerd.

Another example is the perception of tastes depending on the language a person speaks. It is known that the visual, auditory, gustatory, tactile, or olfactory way of perception differs markedly in different cultures. This is primarily reflected in the native language. For example, native speakers of Lao or Persian, after drinking bittersweet water, will describe it only as “bitter”. On the contrary, the British are more likely to describe it as “bitter, salty, sour, not bad, devoid of taste, mint.” Representatives of some cultures may find it difficult to explain some tastes because there are not enough words for their names in their language.

Moreover, the phenomenon of the perception of sounds evoking memories or feelings can be cited as an example. This indicates a close connection between the organs of hearing and the brain. For instance, fixed memories and perceptions helped the composer Beethoven compose music after he completely lost his hearing at the age of 44. These can be the sounds of transport, ventilation systems, music, conversations, and laughter of people passing by. Some sounds evoke pleasant associations, for example, the sound of a coffee machine, while others carry negative meaning, such as the sound of an alarm clock in the morning.

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Life and Its Experiences. Personal Perception. Essay

1. introduction.

The significance of the topic is overwhelming - the number of different philosophical and scientific viewpoints suggests the importance of life and personal perception to many people. However, this essay has been specifically tailored for a deep analysis of the concept of life and the way personal perception molds the experiences that people have had during their lifelong journey. We, as human beings, have been using the word "life" very frequently but not once we were able to answer what the definition of life is. Although the term is a controversial topic that everyone can have their own opinions, I believe that life can never be a material substance that can be put into any physical dimensions. When posed with the whole entire world, people have millions of different types of materials to explain their view on what the definition of life is. Nevertheless, as what the physicists and other science disciplines have always been advocating, I contend that life is something intangible. In biology, life is considered as a process rather than something it is just being there in the universe. This is no controversy in every discipline, instead, all we have to do is to find the answer on what the process is and not the object itself.

1.1. Definition of Life

The preceding discussion suggests that there is a lack of consensus among philosophers on the definition of life. I would argue that when we seek to define life, we are ultimately trying to understand what life means. This is discussed in terms of the quality of life as well as in a reflection on the significance or purpose of life. I will provide two examples that illustrate the kinds of puzzles and complexities that arise when we seek to define life. First, I will consider the case of prions, proteins that can have fatal and degenerative effects on body and brain tissue. Describing a prion, I will aim to show that we encounter difficulties in defining life when we approach life from a biological standpoint. However, I will also note that a simpler prion case did not (and should not) spark the same moral and legal concerns. By discussing the more complex case of a plant in Spain, I will argue that it was the capacity of the plant for growth that led people to ask the question of whether the plant was alive. This example introduces a new feature of the defining life problem: the challenge of recognizing unfamiliar forms of life. I will discuss how the Spanish plant was recognized by members of the research community and imply that the life status was granted because the plant can perform the basic characteristic and vital functions of life, in that it had the capacity for dynamical growth. This allows me to argue that conceptual advances are possible by employing a science-driven approach to defining life and that identifying the capacity for growth is key in defining life.

1.2. Importance of Personal Perception

Personal perception plays a crucial role in guiding our beliefs, values, and behavior. It forms the basis for both practical and theoretical knowledge. However, it is filtered not only by our different personal backgrounds and characteristics but also by our own emotions and cognition. In this section, the article seeks to find out the factors that result in differences in personal perception among individuals. Furthermore, the article also uses the example of a patient's help-seeking to illustrate how personal perception can affect. It is understood that we each perceive the world and interpret it based on our own set of experiences and background. This is known as our personal reality, and it constantly changes depending on what is happening in our lives. For example, if we are worried about something, what we see and hear around becomes altered by our feelings of fear. When we use our senses, the information that we take in is therefore affected by our individual personal reality. As a result, we may not take in the data that is there or ignore it. In this stage, the article provides strong evidence to support the perception that not everyone is truly open to receiving help whenever it is given. This could be especially true for patients suffering from some sort of mental illness. Different factors such as stress and cultural background may lead to various levels of determination of personal behaviors. A patient may be feeling stressed and would prefer to depend on his or her own judgment rather than listening to the suggestions given by family members. In this case, the patient may not see help-seeking as an effective way to handle his or her current problems. Instead, a patient may believe that help from others will give rise to more negative emotions. This example illustrates that personal perception could possibly block someone from seeing the benefits of help-seeking. The perception of life may be totally different not only because of the different personal backgrounds given but also due to our varying emotions. Last but not least, the article looks at personal perception under the issue of cognitive bias. It is described as the error in thinking that involves processing. Well, there are countless examples of this, and the article takes an example from our daily life. People tend to see council estates as a home to anti-social elements. Well, who defines the anti-social elements here? It may be assumed that, by personal perception, people in council estates have been labeled as anti-social, demonstrated by their behaviors and appearances. This perception has been drawn from the physical environment of the council estate. However, the actual situation could be different. By the same token, staff may hold different views from residents and each other. Cognitive bias can affect both researchers and citizens in forming opinions and making choices.

2. Section One: Understanding Life

Understanding life in the philosophical point of view is an endless effort that one can hardly comprehend. This makes life challenging and interesting because it is full of diverse missions and purposes. Every person in this planet has a mission or a purpose in life. Even when someone dies leaving the world, there is a reason behind that. From this perspective, it is clear that life is so sophisticated and trying to understand its purpose in one's life may seem to be a futile undertaking. Nevertheless, the fur of this section looks at the different ways how people understand life. One of the ways in which we understand life according to the analysis made in the philosophical discourse is by its complexity. Life is said to be complex not only in its internal operation but also in the several categories of external factors that may be complex in their own sense. For instance, human life is influenced hugely by sociological, psychological, biological, and physical factors. These factors interact in a very complex way and this interaction makes the understanding of what constitutes our lives equally complex. In the philosophical work point of view by Keyes, he tries to argue that our understanding towards life's infirmities may only be realized within the content of an adequately complex normative framework. He holds that from any theoretical perspective that seeks to understand and interpret our responses to life's infirmities, there is a need for a complex normative framework. This is a framework that employs multiple philosophical anthropology grounds that recognizes the numerous ways of life and of experiences and experience that are reported in attending to the various aspects of a full human life with its many infirmities and limiting conditions. In order to elaborate the meaning of assessing life's offering with a view to embracing them, Keyes maintains that such an account must be fully informed by a complex of experience that may express in living expressive life, by adaptation to limitation and by the attempt to satisfy the foundational good that is impaired. From this assertion, it is evident that in the effort to understand the infirmities of human life, Keyes presents a way of understanding and assessing in life given the various conditions humans suffer. He explains that such assessment is decisively complex and it must be informed by a rich and complex kind of exploration which consists in treating the kind of life that is impaired. He fur argues that for any account for the meaning in life to be adequate, there must be a way of embracing life's offering with a view of some kind of limitation and conditional satisfaction. He maintains that this requires a complex of experience that may express in living a full human life, by adaptation to limitation and by the attempt to satisfy the foundational good that is impaired.

2.1. The Complexity of Life

Despite the scientific and societal progress, life and its vicissitudes have proven to be more unpredictable and complex. Complexity involves too regularly having to decide which objective or desire to prioritize over another. Living things seem to accumulate some form of disorder, understanding as the absence of organization. It can also be difficult to find a satisfying explanation of what we mean by "life." In the scientific world, researchers put vigor into the category of "systems that can undergo processes such as birth, growth and death." However, defining it more specifically often raises the matter of what separates a living body from a disassembled but perhaps similarly complex, non-living nature. Such thorough deliberations about the complex nature of lived reality necessitate intelligent knowledge, enthusiasm and the study of disciplines such as the human sciences. Intuition involves relying on a particular value or method; life might appear to lack a defining characteristic or method of categorization in the way 'triangularity' signifies 'three-sidedness' and thus captures the concept 'triangle'. When we depend on universal and uniform definitions so often seen in the exact sciences, the question as to whether there is a single, right way of apprehending life itself becomes a point of contention between different perspectives and thus breeds difficulty. Giving in to a particular inclination is often accompanied by fears of potential consequences or what the selection might suggest about our underlying character. All in all, the interdisciplinary examination of different modes of understanding and the contention each gives rise to is vital in ensuring that we can gain a richer, more complex view of life. Don't just focus on the wording of the definition; try and think about what the definition implies about ways of understanding, the significance of adopting that particular understanding and what we might feel is left out or neglected in the account.

2.2. The Purpose of Life

The purpose of life has been a subject of debate for many centuries. Most people, especially the religious and philosophers, define life in the context of its purpose. People are unique in that they are aware of their mortality. They know that at some point they will die and therefore, they try to give life meaning so that when they are alive, they make the most out of it. One main idea about the purpose of life is about satisfaction. People work for satisfaction. Human beings strive to achieve satisfaction every day. They engage in activities that they believe will make them satisfied. If they achieve the satisfaction, they feel happy. If they do not achieve satisfaction, they feel a sense of emptiness. This feeling of happiness is what most people live for. According to some people, the purpose of life is about seeking pleasure. This is the most popular idea about the purpose of life in the philosophical way of thinking. Life is a continuous cycle of seeking pleasure to avoid pain. Happiness is what life and every human being seek. Happiness is made up of a meaningful life, love and helping others and living in friendship with others and in the world. I personally think that these arguments are not enough to motivate someone to wake up each and every day trying to make the most out of life. Every second, every minute, every hour of every day has to mean something. However, in finding purpose in life, it is invariably suggested to focus on building a better, fruitful and happier life. Life purpose does not end in coming up with a purpose for the current situation but he or she continuously finding new ways in which greater meaning can be established for this situation. Albeit the different purposes in people's lives, the sole fact that they have a purpose is in itself a motivational spirit that will keep the person alive and well. In life, it is the seed needed to be sown initially so that the fruits' trees could grow and help others along the way. Every step is a struggle since there are many problems and challenges that a person will stumble. This is the soul of life and the essence of human existence. We are all the same. Every person in this world has a purpose in life, each day presents each of us with fresh opportunities to live that purpose to its fullest. Every day is a new chance to let the purpose of life thrive.

2.3. The Interconnectedness of Life

There are those who believe that we are all separate, discrete entities in this world. Those who think that each of us is essentially born and then dies and that in life the only thing that we can be sure of is ourselves. However, in a philosophical sense, this is controversial. The world, just like the human body and mind and all things physical and beyond, can be seen in a pluralistic way. This means that things can be seen as a collection of interconnected parts, which is a stark contrast to a solidaristic view. Taking this and running with it, the idea that everything is interconnected provides a way to make sense of a huge number of the wonders and the phenomena of the world. For example, food chains and ecosystems require an understanding that every piece and part of that system has its own role to play and that everything is necessary. We now know this as the principle of an ecosystem and it is understood that in order to protect and prolong it, we have to understand how everything is connected. It is not just the physical world that can be seen to have interconnectivity, but also human relationships and societies. Whether it is the people that we interact with day to day, or large social groups, a pluralistic view can help us know how all of the parts of it function together. At the most basic level, using technology such as the internet can help us to tangibly see this kind of interconnectivity, with data being transferred and shared globally across countless devices. But when we apply this concept to larger things, such as trying to make a worldwide political or social system work, then this helps us to understand where the boundaries are and how different things interact. People are not separate from each other, as they are all part of the thing that they are trying to organise. This means that, at least in theory, an understanding of how everything is connected in the world can help us to find the reasonings behind the events and the lives that we observe every day and that maybe we can learn to understand each other a bit better. We may yet learn that each of us has a part to play in much bigger things and that working together as a human race is the biggest part of all.

3. Section Two: Personal Perception

According to the summary of the contents, it expresses that it is very important to develop a bright and brilliant life. And, in order to brighten up our life, in every stage of our lives, it was very important to step away from the negative beliefs and false perceptions about ourselves. The second section covers the topic of "Personal Perception," and it is obvious that that section will be discussion will be flowing from the above mentioned topic. From my own perspective, personal perception signifies the approach how we perceive things in our surroundings and how we reflect upon them. Also, our personal perception about things highly influenced by the way we view them, also by the way we feel about them and by our thought alignments and they may changes according to our attitudinal shifts. Therefore, personal perception does not support for negative and disheartening view of life. This section will discuss literature in the field that have emerged in recent years to study sectional mentality. Many researchers have been focusing less on individual factors and more on the contextual elements. Also, this section describes how cognitive biases develop and the impact of them on our perception of life. From my own perspective, personal perception signifies the approach how we perceive things in our surroundings and how we reflect upon them. Also, our personal perception about things highly influenced by the way we view them, also by the way we feel about them and by our thought alignments and they may changes according to our attitudinal shifts. Therefore, personal perception does not support for negative and disheartening view of life. This section will discuss literature in the field that have emerged in recent years to study sectional mentality. Many researchers have been focusing less on individual factors and more on the contextual elements. Also, this section describes how cognitive biases develop and the impact of them on our perception of life. At the end of the essay, I would like to thank all of you for paying few moments for personal perspectives. As I mentioned previously, I am not a professional psychologist and I not indulging myself with any researches of this field. However, instead of covers all the diverse theories and collective ideology within the studies, I only describe my personal perception because of the above finding that I found however, this is just my sole judgement and therefore I do respect with any disagreement on my viewpoints. Every each of us have our own approach and assessment as well as in this diversity modern world, personal perception about life's values and philosophies are vastly spread in limitless. And this has come to the end of my personal perspective.

3.1. Influence of Personal Background

Finally, there is a vast amount of research demonstrating that background knowledge and personal experience greatly influence how a person sees and understands the world. One such finding in cognitive psychology is that expertise can develop from an individual's immersion in a particular environment or domain. The scientist Jennifer Wiley found that changes in problem-solving strategies occur as a result of long-term learning, and these changes parallel similar developments in problem-solving strategies found within novices given instructions and practice on the learned solution to particular problems. Wiley's work suggests that the way in which people with different levels of experience in a certain field are presented with and resolve problems may vary considerably. These findings reflect the notion that personal background, whether in the form of long-term experience or the day-to-day experience of living, has a powerful effect on the way in which a person understands the world. The everyday phrase "to see the world through his or her eyes" speaks directly to the fact that personal background shapes the lens through which the world is seen. For example, a person who regularly watches political news and is familiar with the ins and outs of politics would understand the significance and implications of a new law being passed; whereas a person disinterested in anything political, but who has background knowledge regarding the harmful effects of a particular chemical found within the law, will likely see it in a totally unique way. In the same way, two doctors who both have a comprehensive understanding of medical science and theory could see two different diagnoses for the same patient as being the right one. Ayer would describe as background knowledge, asserting that for a person to be able to make a meaningful statement about a particular characteristic of the world, that person must have some prior experience or knowledge of that characteristic. However, without knowledge that they may have a condition-causing tremors, a person who noticed an individual shaking in the street would have no basis by which to say that that person was trembling, according to Ayer. He would also argue that such background knowledge acts as a constraint on the possible explanations for a person's experience, further demonstrating the extent to which experience shapes and defines perception. Ergo, it is clear that background knowledge and personal experience are key factors in shaping individual perception and understanding of the surrounding world; thus, the claim has merit to a significant extent. Via cultivating an expertise through learning and immersing ourselves within different environments and domains, along with newer findings in cognitive psychology and pre-established theories, this knowledge will enable and justify both scientific and everyday understanding when considering personal background.

3.2. Subjectivity in Perception

Generally, perception can be split into two different classes of interpretation: passive perception, the elements of which are processed by our senses alone, and active perception, whereby the way in which we interpret a particular sensation can be changed by our current or previous surrounding knowledge. As a result, perception is arguably the most distinguishably human feature that we possess; each and everyone has their own way in which they interpret the world. This could well be because, as a society, we almost encourage individuality, and it's in our instinct to try and be varied and different to those around us. Also, cultural differences and the way in which someone is brought up and taught to respond to the world around them based on these differences can also have a huge impact on how people develop their perception. Visual perception is also influenced by several other main factors, which include contrast. Contrast is the separation of elements within a display, and according to the research of van der Helm and Leeuwenberg, a stimulus that does not create contrast yields one universal perception. Humans also have a strong interpretation of symmetry, the idea that a stimulus' elements should be organized optimally so as to create a sense of maximum simplicity within the mind. Depth perception, on the other hand, the visual ability to perceive a world in three dimensions, can be developed in two different ways. Adolescents and some adults who do not have disabilities that impair the ability to rapidly integrate auditory and visual information should be able to locate a specific object's position in space, according to a report written by Terese, Turk & Floris. Finally, it has also been suggested by psychologist Eleanor Gibson that there are two main aspects to the theory of perceptual learning. The first is stimulus differentiation - the process of learning to discriminate between the ways in which different classes of stimuli are distributed across the environment. The second is 'perceptual learning', which is the relatively long-lasting, adaptive nature of our ability to learn from environmental experiences. Our evolving ability to perceive the world around us has been shown to ultimately change the way we can react to and interpret visual stimulation.

3.3. The Role of Emotions in Perception

Influential emotions in perception can distort the way we see the world. Emotions are psychological occurrences that can be strong or subtle and that can have a very powerful influence on our perception because they are experienced on a very personal level. We receive an enormous amount of information each and every second and only a small amount of this information is noticed by our conscious mind. However, there is much more that is noticed by our non-conscious mind. It is this powerful non-conscious information - some about which we know but much about which we are unaware - that contributes to the emotions that drive perception. It is also the case that our emotions can change in an instant, altering the way we see a particular situation or circumstance. However, despite the power of emotions, it is possible that emotions can be managed and can even be more fully understood through knowledge of how emotions can be used to direct attention. Such emotional understanding can lead to a more focused and productive use of emotional perception and conception. Although emotions can be deceptive, they can also be used to create understanding. This is because, in part, emotional experience represents an integrated process in which knowledge, memory and attention come together in order to create the way in which we perceive an object or situation. By understanding how to realize and use emotions, it is possible to understand more fully important personal events, sometimes providing insight and resolution to long-standing problems. Such resolution can directly and more fully engage our utility as vision research indicates that emotional knowledge can guide and direct visual attention. This represents a cognitive connection between what we see and how we emotionally react. As such, by understanding the role that emotions play in directing attention, knowledge in the fields of attention and perception can be (and currently is) expanded. Such an expansion will not only further our knowledge of emotions and cognitive functions, but will also provide emotional researchers with growing insight into the ways in which emotions can be used in understanding, research and socially acceptable attitudes in the modern world.

3.4. Cognitive Biases and Perception

Cognitive biases are a common way in which human thought can be distorted. It is an information-processing problem in the brain and indicates the deficiency of high-level cognitive mechanism. Cognitive bias can cause perceptual distortion, inaccurate judgment, illogical interpretation, or what is broadly called irrationality. It is an umbrella that cognitive theory used to explain the problem that comes from mental processing. There are many types of cognitive biases, such as availability heuristic, confirmation bias, and fundamental attribution error. However, according to "Life and Its Experiences: Personal Perception," when people do not know a lot about a subject, they are heavily influenced by the first piece of information they receive and it is given a greater weight than is proper. Also in that article, researchers have found that people tend to have a very strong bias for believing that things will remain the same. This bias can bring many troubles in people's lives, for example, people buy insurances and even they do not need or invest a certain stock just because they believe that it will continue to grow. Cognitive biases also show us the limitation in human judgment. They illustrate misplays of attention, ignorance of related information, and point out the fact that decision making is not always a rational choice. However, "Life and Its Experiences: Personal Perception" explains that once people are alerted to these biases, it is possible for people to reduce these misdirects in their lives. This statement gives people hope and courage to change such irrational behavior in a better self.

4. Conclusion

Life is both complex and simple. It is complex as in every situation and event, there are so many things going on at the same time. Life is also simple, but it is we who make it complex. For example, the way we think and the way we see the situations. So, we might be able to make our life simple if we could be able to find the simple things. In other words, as life is so many things at the same time, life is more or less a paradox; challenging and beautiful at the same time. However, as we struggle through the paradox of life, it is also beautiful. Nevertheless, such beauty is so close that we are not able to see the unseen marvel of the beauty. Thus, it is important for us to find such beauty in life and to make it worth living. Through the guidance of cognitive behavioral therapy, I have collected much of the knowledge about the quality of life I am experiencing and findings unfold that the quality of my life has been enhanced far beyond than before and I have become more optimistic, creative, and narrow the gap that was created by anger and took control over life. Many people may argue that there is not a single meaning to life. I would not argue that, in fact. Although life is bestowed independent meaning, is abundant in each and every individual. I believe that it is a conscious mental state and attitude towards objective, relationships, and the salvation in life. Google dictionary describes optimism as hopefulness and confidence about the future or the success of something and the feeling is opposite is called pessimism. I will describe life in 3 words: unpredictable, volatile, and precious. In my opinion, life is truly in a way the gift of our Creator and it is a matter upon us how we use this life to cherish the Creator's creations around us and to share the goodness with others in order to achieve the Creator's promise of eternal worship. From the quote, we understand that it is up to us how we choose joy in our daily life. Therefore, shortly after I insisted my point on optimism, Wang et al. did an investigation among Hong Kong and found that optimism is only associated with ideal adjustment and better well-being when the individual is having pleasure. In contrast, a peer-reviewed journal from the American Psychological Association, led by Kurt, found the relationship between optimism and affect of daily life. The findings indicate that when optimism increases, positive affect on people's everyday lives will increase with reduction of the day's hostility. Hopelessness will increase and the related negative affect will also increase. It is much more interesting by having readers' interpretation and opinion on the written. The indication found in Wang's study shows that optimism should be associated with positive emotions overall.

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How Your Perception Is Your Reality, According to Psychologists

"Perception molds, shapes, and influences our experience of our personal reality,” says Linda Humphreys , PhD, a psychologist and life, relationship, and spirituality coach. “Perception is merely a lens or mindset from which we view people, events, and things.”

In other words, we believe what we perceive to be accurate, and we create our own realities based on those perceptions. And although our perceptions feel very real, that doesn’t mean they’re necessarily factual.

Kevin Gilliland, PsyD , licensed clinical psychologist and executive director of Innovation360
Linda Humphreys, PhD , psychologist and relationship coach

Dr. Humphreys says that our past experiences greatly influence how we decode things. Certain people, things, and situations can trigger you to interpret things through a positive or negative lens based on those past experiences.

If you’re the type that leans more toward the glass-half-empty perspective, don’t worry. Although it does require some work, your perception is something you can change because we choose how we see things. That power is in your hands (er, mind).

Keep reading to learn more about the pros and cons of this way of thinking, how it impacts different areas of life, and what actionable steps you can take to change the way you view yourself, other people, and life in general.

The pros and cons of negative perception

Your perceptions influence all areas of life. "The totality of your perceptions— regarding yourself, your life, life in general, others, and so on—creates and impacts your personal reality and ultimately your experience of life," Dr. Humphreys. "Specifically, your perceptions affect the quality of your experience of life." So, if you perceive things in a positive light, you’ll experience a happier existence.

Perception informs your relationships, too. “If you constantly perceive people (your boss, teacher, parent, sibling) as always being against you, you will most likely react in a defensive, combative, negatively reactive, and victim-like way,” Dr. Humphreys says. “This way of perceiving people can lead to experiencing intense levels of unhappiness, and both inner-personal and outer disturbances.” On the flip side, perceiving people through a positive lens leads to experiencing higher levels of joy and inner peace.

Furthermore, Kevin Gilliland , PsyD, licensed clinical psychologist, mental health expert, and executive director of Innovation 360 says, misperceiving certain situations, likely because of previous negative experiences you’ve endured, can also cause you to miss out on some fantastic things life has to offer, such as promotions at work or romantic relationships.

Fear also influences the way we view things, but that’s not always a bad thing. “If our perception is based on fear, then we may end up avoiding things that we misperceive as dangerous when in fact, they aren’t,” Dr. Gilliland says. “At the same time, our perception of a situation may keep us safe from harm.” To distinguish between the two, question how accurate your perceptions are or are not.

How to switch to a more positive perception of life

1. take personal responsibility.

Changing your perceptions requires that you, first and foremost, take responsibility for your past unconscious reactions, Dr. Humphreys says. It’s only then that you can begin to see people, events, things, and even yourself from a more neutral or positive perspective.

2. Have compassion for yourself and others

Shifting the way you view the world is no easy feat, so it’s essential to be patient and gentle with yourself. “Have compassion for yourself as you work [on] taking proactive steps towards perceiving your reality in a more conscious and empowered way,” Dr. Humphreys says.

She also notes that the changes you make in your perception may even ruffle other people’s feathers, so express compassion for them, too. Your growth may be a catalyst for their growth as well.

3. Have a willingness to see things differently

Change of any kind, Dr. Humphreys says, requires willingness. Often people say they want to change, but they aren’t actually prepared to make said changes. So having a desire to see things differently is a vital component. This readiness, Dr. Gilliland adds, creates room for us to learn and create new perceptions.

4. Activate your pause button when triggered

Whenever you feel triggered by someone, something, or some situation, Dr. Humphreys suggests "hitting pause" and taking a moment to breathe and ground yourself into the present moment so you can choose how you will respond from a more empowered place.

And if a few deep breaths aren’t enough to help you shift, don’t be afraid to give yourself a grown-up time out. Dr. Humphreys recommends letting other people know that you need some time to process things, and you will address the issue at a later time.

5. Enlist support

We’re so accustomed to perceiving things a certain way that sometimes it’s difficult to see our blindspots and where perhaps we’re not looking at things in the most favorable light.

That’s why Dr. Gilliland suggests running your perceptions past someone else. Whether it’s a trusted friend or family member or a professional such as a psychologist, talk to someone who can help you see things from a different perspective that you might not have thought of before. “It’s the only way we improve our perceptions and reduce the number of mistakes we make,” he says.

6. Look for patterns

“We all have patterns,” says Dr. Gilliland of the way we perceive things. To spot those patterns, he recommends asking yourself if other independent, objective people would look at the same situation and come to the same assessment as you have.

This practice will cause you to think more critically and less emotionally, and open you up to notice things that you may have initially missed because you were caught up in your pattern.

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Perceiving Is Believing

How naive realism influences our perception of everything..

Posted January 23, 2021 | Reviewed by Ekua Hagan

The only true voyage of discovery...would be not to visit strange lands, but to possess other eyes, to behold the universe through the eyes of another, of a hundred others, to behold the hundred universes that each of them beholds, that each of them is. — Marcel Proust

Perception is everything—and it is flawed. Most of us navigate our daily lives believing we see the world as it is. Our brains are perceiving an objective reality, right? Well, not quite. Everything we bring in through our senses is interpreted through the filter of our past experiences.

Understanding Sensation and Perception

Sensation is physical energy detection by our sensory organs. Our eyes, mouth, tongue, nose, and skin relay raw data via a process of transduction, which is akin to the translation of physical energy—such as sound waves—into the electrochemical energy the brain understands. At this point, the information is the same from person to person—it is unbiased.

To understand human perception, you must first understand that all information in and of itself is meaningless. — Beau Lotto

While Dr. Lotto's statement is bold, from the perspective of neuroscience , it is true. Meaning is applied to everything, from the simplest to the most complex sensory input. Our brain's interpretation of the raw sensory information is known as perception. Everything from our senses is filtered through our unique system of past experiences in the world. Usually, the meaning we apply is functional and adequate—if not fully accurate, but sometimes our inaccurate perceptions create real-world difficulty.

Perceptual Illusions

There are numerous optical illusions that distinctly convey how easily our perception can lead us to incorrect conclusions. Psychologist Roger Shepard (1990) illustrated that our perceptions can be inaccurate with his famous table-top demonstration (see video below), which clearly establishes that our brains may fool us into perceiving an erroneous view of reality regarding even the simplest of visual perceptual questions.

Countless illusion examples may be found in psychology textbooks or via internet searches, but this captivating video unmistakably illustrates how our past experiences in the world interfere with our accurate perception regarding a simple line length comparison.

How does our brain get deceived ? We trust that our perceptual system constructs accurate representations of the surrounding world. However, our assumptions regarding perception are unsupported by evidence. The deficient understanding of how we perceive the world was originally termed naive realism by Lee Ross and his colleagues in the 1990s. Naive realism is thought to be the theoretical foundation for many cognitive biases , such as the fundamental attribution error , the false consensus effect, and the bias blind spot.

Perceptual illusions are endlessly fascinating and provide a microcosm of potentially faulty human perception. When we encounter these illusions, we initially believe we are seeing an accurate representation of reality only to be surprised by how easily our brains mislead us.

Inter-Group Conflict and Naive Realism

What happens when we extrapolate our perceptual shortcomings to large-scale human interaction? Too often, humans get stuck believing their view of the world is an objective reality. This, of course, leads to conflict with other humans who disagree, especially those we perceive to be part of an out-group . Naive realism leads us to reason that we see the world objectively—and that others do as well. When we encounter people who disagree with us on important matters, we tend to think they are uninformed, irrational, or biased.

Why does this happen? It is challenging and uncomfortable to confront our own understanding of the world, especially if we are unaware of our tendency for faulty interpretations of reality. Most people have likely not considered that their opinions about the world are filtered through their unique perceptual lens, which is fundamentally biased and based on past experiences.

How we perceive the world and important issues, from parenting to the political, is based on our perception. When we begin to understand that other people's experiences in the world vary greatly and influence how they interpret complex issues, we can begin to have a greater understanding of other points of view.

However, we tend to become more entrenched in our beliefs about our representations of reality when interacting with people in a different "tribe." Instead of seeking common ground—which can be an effective method to initiate belief change, we instead become more tribal and refute any information from our rival group.

What Can We Do?

The polarization in our modern world is widespread and appears to be increasing. Determining how to find commonalities between groups can feel impossible due to naive realism. Fascinatingly, researchers have uncovered a simple intervention that may promote greater understanding between members of rival groups.

Dr. Meytal Nasir (2014) and her colleagues set out to empirically investigate whether people could be more open to narratives of their adversaries (out-group) following an intervention that raises awareness regarding the concept of naive realism and the implications in the real world.

The researchers conducted their study within the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, an exemplar of a well-known intractable struggle. Their focus was to raise awareness of naive realism as a universal cognitive psychological bias that fuels adversaries to adhere to a collective narrative of the ingroup and reject the out-group narrative during conflict.

Results from the research indicated that the intervention—a short text describing naive realism and its implications—did produce an increased openness to adversary's narratives by raising the experimental group members' awareness of cognitive limitations. Fascinatingly, the intervention made no mention of the rival group or the specific conflict, yet still brought about positive change.

The Nasie research aligns with Dr. Lotto's commentary about how we can overcome our perceptual deficiencies.

By becoming aware of the principles by which your perceptual brain works, you can become an active participant in your own perceptions and in this way change them in the future. — Beau Lotto

Final Thoughts

A metacognitive strategy aimed at our perceptual system is a promising intervention for intractable disagreements between groups. While tribalism was certainly evolutionarily adaptive for humans thousands of years ago, current trends suggest it is detrimental and leading to deleterious consequences across the globe.

With knowledge regarding naive realism, we need to look beyond our own experiences and attempt to see the world with the eyes of others—especially those we perceive to be in out-groups. The insight uncovered with this new viewpoint may or may not move our positions on various issues, but as we navigate an ever-polarizing world of divisiveness—fueled by social media , it may be our only hope (sorry Obi-Wan).

Jessica Koehler, Ph.D., is an Associate Faculty Member in the University of Arizona Global Campus Psychology Department.

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Front Psychol

Perceived meaning of life and satisfaction with life: A research synthesis using an online finding archive

Yomna sameer.

1 College of Business, Abu Dhabi University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Yasmine Eid

2 University of London Recognized Teaching Center, Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport (AASTMT), Cairo, Egypt

Ruut Veenhoven

3 Erasmus Happiness Economics Research Organization (EHERO), Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands

4 Opentia Research Program, North-West University, Vanderbijlpark, South Africa

Associated Data

The empirical findings presented in this study are taken from referred research reports and summarized on electronic finding pages in the World Database of Happiness. Finding pages have a unique internet address to which links are given in this text. This text provides also links to excerpts of the studies concerned. This new technique of an online ‘finding archive' is described in this text. Further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

Introduction

“Meaning” and “happiness” are leading topics in positive psychology, but their relationship is not well understood. The first step to better understanding is to inspect the pattern of correlations found in the research literature. Specifically, we seek answers to the following questions of fact: (1) Is there a correlation between perceived meaning of life and satisfaction with life? (2) If so, is that correlation positive or negative? (3) How strong is this correlation? (4) How variable is this correlation across persons and situations? (5) Do the correlations differ across components of happiness? (6) What aspects of meaning are most/least associated with happiness? (7) What sources of meaning are most/least associated with happiness? (8) Does seeing meaning relate differently to happiness than searching for meaning?

We took stock of the available research findings, using the World Database of Happiness, which holds standardized descriptions of 171 observed relations between perceived meaning of life and satisfaction with life.

We found strong correlations between happiness and the degree of perceived meaning in life but little correlation with the pursuit of meaning. While the correlation with the degree of meaning is positive at the micro-level of individuals, it appears to be negative at the macro-level of nations.

Having established the above mentioned matters of fact, we considered the following questions on causality: (1) Is there an innate need for meaning? (2) How does the perceived meaning of life otherwise affect satisfaction with life? (3) How does satisfaction with life affect the perceived the meaning of life? (4) Why is the correlation positive at the micro-level of individuals, but negative at the macro-level of nations?

Conclusions

We conclude that there is no innate human need for meaning. Still, the perceived meaning of life can affect life satisfaction in various other ways, while life satisfaction will also affect the sense of meaning. Both positive and negative effects can be involved, the balance of which tends to be positive for seeing meaning but close to neutral for pursuing meaning.

“Meaning” and “happiness” are leading topics in positive psychology, but their relationship is not well understood. Most attention has been devoted to the differences: meaning being presented as an aspect of eudaimonic happiness and happiness in the sense of life satisfaction as hedonic happiness. This conceptual difference goes often with a moral preference for the former over the latter, which fits the current practice in positive psychology, positive psychological interventions (PPIs), focusing more on strengthening eudaimonic strengths than on boosting life satisfaction. Although recognized as separate topics, the relationship between meaning and happiness is little understood.

Perceived meaning of life and satisfaction with life are both appraisals of the quality of life. Their relation can be considered from the following perspectives.

Need-theory of happiness holds that we feel better when innate needs are being fulfilled and that this affective experience gives rise to greater satisfaction with life (Veenhoven, 2009 ). One such innate need is presumed to be a need for meaning Steger and Frazier ( 2005 ); Routledge and FioRito ( 2021 ). If so, the perceived meaning of life will go together with satisfaction with life, and this correlation will be universal. A positive correlation can also be expected if meaning adds to happiness through the gratification of other needs, for instance, if a sense of mission pushes to active involvement in life and as such caters to needs for social respect and the use of one's potentials. In this instrumental perspective, one can also think of a negative effects of a sense of meaning on life satisfaction. A strong sense of mission can interfere with the gratification of other needs, such as in the case of Catholic priests who choose to forego sexual contact.

Next, there are several cognitive views on happiness, one of which holds that the satisfaction with one's life as a whole results from the summing of satisfactions with parts of life in a “bottom-up” process. Part satisfactions concern domains of life, such as family and work, as well as satisfaction with aspects of life, such as its richness or uniqueness (Andrews and Withey, 1976 ). In that context, the perceived meaning of life can be seen as an aspect evaluation of life. Seeing life as meaningful will then add to life satisfaction, while seeing life as meaningless will detract from it. In the cognitive view, satisfaction with that aspect of life will depend on the degree to which life fits a want for meaning, which can draw on an innate need for meaning but can also be a cultural phenomenon.

The effects of the perceived meaning of one's life on satisfaction with life are likely to vary across persons and situations. Contingencies will exist for the positive and negative effects and for the effect through gratification of innate needs as well as for meeting learned wants. One of the personal moderators will be the aptness to believe in a cause and the ability to cope with philosophical doubt about the meaning of life. Situational moderators will be in culture; a sense of meaning is more likely to add to the happiness in cultures that value living a meaningful life and provide practicable models to do so.

Next to the effects of perceived meaning on satisfaction with life, there can be effects of life satisfaction on perceived meaning in life. These “top-down” effects are also likely to be contingent on personal and situational characteristics.

Questions on correlation

In this study, we started by answering some questions on basic facts.

Is there a correlation between the perceived meaning of life and satisfaction with life?
If so, is that correlation positive or negative?
How strong is this correlation?
How variable is this correlation across persons and situations?
Do the correlations differ across components of happiness?
What aspects of meaning are most/least associated with happiness?
What sources of meaning are most/least associated with happiness?
Does seeing meaning relate differently to happiness than searching for meaning?

We sought answers to these questions by taking stock of the available research findings. Selection of such findings required that we be clear about what we mean by “perceived meaning of life” and with “satisfaction with life” and that we establish how these phenomena can be measured. We did that in section “Concepts”. Next, we reviewed the available research findings on the relationship between the perceived meaning of life and happiness, drawing on a finding archive, the World Database of Happiness. We described that source in section “Method of this research synthesis” and reported the findings in section “Results”.

Questions about causation

Having reviewed the observed correlations between meaning and happiness, we considered the following questions about the causality behind the relation between the perceived meaning of life and satisfaction with life in section “Discussion”:

Is there an innate need for meaning?

How does the perceived meaning of life otherwise affect satisfaction with life?
How does satisfaction with life affect the perceived meaning of life?
How strong are these effects relatively?
Why is the correlation positive at the micro-level of individuals, but negative at the macro-level of nations?

Difference from common reviewing

Our approach differs from common practice in research review, which starts with theoretical questions and next presents empirical findings that support or oppose hypotheses. The disadvantages of that procedure are: selective presentation of the available research findings, often involving “cherry picking”, and underreporting of the findings that do not fit a hypothesis.

In this study, we started taking stock of facts in section “Results” and next considered what these data tell about some questions about causation in the relation between the meaning of life and happiness in section “Discussion”. As the reader will see, this allows for a complete overview of the available research findings, which can easily be updated. This inductive approach reveals findings that are likely to escape theoretical imagination, such as in this case, that the correlation is positive at the micro-level of individuals but negative at the macro-level of nations.

In the widest sense, the word “happiness” is seen as denoting “living a good life”, while the term “meaning of life” is taken to refer to what a life contributes to something good beyond that life. As such, there is a conceptual overlap between these notions; meaning is part of happiness. A correlation between living a good life and living a meaningful life is therefore implied but can hardly be demonstrated empirically since we cannot measure how “good” a life is and neither how much “good” of a life contributes to other sakes than that life itself.

In this study, we focus on happiness and meaning in the more limited sense of subjective appraisals of one's life, respectively, with perceived meaning of one's life and satisfaction with life . These are measurable phenomena. We will further avoid the use of the words “meaning” and “happiness” here since these suggest a wider objective worth. We will deal with subjective perceptions of one's life and what we want to determine is how these subjective appraisals relate.

Satisfaction with life

We follow the definition of life satisfaction as the overall appreciation of one's life as a whole ; in other words, how much one likes the life one lives. This concept is at the basis of the World Database of Happiness, our data source. A detailed delineation is found here .

Components of life satisfaction

In assessing how much we like the life we live, we draw on two sources of information: how well we feel most of the time and the degree to which we perceive that life brings us what we want from it. These sub-appraisals are referred to as “components” of life satisfaction, which are an affective component called hedonic level of affect and a cognitive component called contentment . The differences between overall life satisfaction and these components are explained in more detail here . In this study, we explore whether the relationship with the perceived meaning of life differs across overall life satisfaction and these components.

Measures of life satisfaction

Since life satisfaction is something we have in mind, it can be measured using questioning. Some common questions are as follows:

° Taking all together, how happy would you say you are these days?
° On the whole, how satisfied are you with the life you lead?
° Would you say that you are usually cheerful or dejected?
+ Particularly excited or interested in something?
– So restless that you couldn't sit long in a chair?
+ Proud because someone complimented you on
something you had done?
– Very lonely or remote from other people?
+ Pleased about having accomplished something?
– Bored?
+ On top of the world?
– Depressed or very unhappy?
+ That things were going your way?
– Upset because someone criticized you?
(Affect balance computed subtracting negative from
positive “yes” responses)
° How is your mood today? (repeated several days)
° How important was each of the following goals in life in the plans you made for yourself in early adulthood?
° How successful have you been in the pursuit of these goals?

Perceived meaning of life

While life satisfaction is a rather clear concept (how much you like the life you live), the perceived meaning of life is a more ambiguous notion. The word “meaning” has different connotations, which cannot be captured in one distinct concept. This leaves us with a set of aspects of perceived meaningfulness, which can be considered separately or in sum.

Aspects of perceived meaning of life

When interpreted as an answer to the existential question of why we live , perceived meaning refers to the role of human life in evolution and one's place in that context. This involves philosophical reflection in which not everybody will engage. When interpreted as what one lives for , it refers to a sense of mission, such as a better life for one's children, which involves some good beyond one's own life. This is referred to as the perceived usefulnes s of one's life. However, the meaning of life is also seen in a sense of direction , which does not necessarily imply contribution to a greater good, such as getting rich. Other aspects or perceived meaning of life are the significance of one's life to the good or the bad or the uniqueness of one's life. These differences are reflected in the questions used in research on the perceived meaning of one's life.

Another topic that is often addressed in studies on perceived meaning is a sense of coherence . We see this as a matter of personality integration and will not consider it in this study.

Measures of perceived meaning of life

Like life satisfaction, perceived meaning in life can be measured using questioning, typically asking respondents to endorse or not statements such as the following:

I feel my life is meaningful.
My life has no clear purpose.

Note that these terms are not synonymous, meaning does do not always require a purpose (direction), and a purpose can be meaningless (useless). Next to such items on either meaning or purpose in questionnaires, several measures combine these aspects, either in one question or in multiple questions.

My personal existence is utterly meaningless, without purpose.

Some questionnaires also contain items on other aspects of the meaningfulness set, such as these items in the Purpose in Life test (Crumbaugh and Maholick, 1969 ).

In achieving life goals I've made no progress whatever (vs progressed to complete fulfillment).
My life is: empty, filled only with despair (vs running over with exciting things).
If I should die today, I'd feel that my life has been completely worthless (vs very worthwhile).
In thinking of my life, I often wonder why I exist (vs always see reasons for being here).

The more aspects of meaning addressed in a questionnaire, the less clear it becomes what it measures. An additional problem for this study was that such questionnaires also contain items close to happiness, such as the item on suicidal ideation in the Purpose in Life test.

Next to the above questions on the degree of perceived meaning of life, there are also questions on the satisfaction with one's sense of meaning. These things do not necessarily go together; one can see little meaning in one's life but nevertheless be satisfied with that. Other aspects of perceived meaningfulness are the search for meaning and perceived sources of meaning .

All this presumes that people have an idea about the meaning of their life, which is not the case, at least not for young children. So, further variable aspects of the perceived meaning of life are the degree to which one gives it a thought and, if so, how much one is concerned with the issue.

Method of this research synthesis

The first step in this review was to gather the available research findings on the relationship between the perceived meaning of one's life and satisfaction with life. The second step was to present these findings in an uncomplicated form. For both steps, we used the World Database of Happiness, which is an online “finding archive” on happiness in the sense of life satisfaction. The structure of this source is depicted visually in Figure 1 , and a more detailed description is found here .

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Homepage of the world database of happiness. https://worlddatabaseofhappiness.eur.nl . Source: World Database of Happiness. Reproduced with permission.

Selection of studies

We could draw on an existing collection of reports of research on our topic, available in the collection of correlational findings of the World Database of Happiness, subject section Meaning of life . This collection is gathered using the following steps:

Scientific publications on happiness are gathered continuously in the context of the World Database of Happiness. The selection criterion is that happiness in the sense of life satisfaction is addressed.
Selected publications are included in the Bibliography of Happiness and their main topics are noted using a subject classification. One of the subject categories in the Bibliography is Perceived meaning of Life .
Publications are selected from this collection that reports an empirical investigation using an acceptable measure of happiness. This procedure is described in more detail here .

We updated the collection, which left us by 30 April 2022 with 28 publications , which together reported 75 studies (one publication reported 47 studies). These studies are listed in Table 1 . Together, they yield 171 separate findings on which we focus in this study.

75 studies in which a correlation between perceived meaning and life satisfaction was assessed.

Description of research findings

The findings obtained using a valid measure of happiness are described on electronic “finding pages”, using a standard format and terminology. Each page has a unique Internet address, to which we have linked in the text of this review. An example of such a finding page is presented in Figure 2 .

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Example of a finding page. https://worlddatabaseofhappiness.eur.nl/studies/andrews-withey-1976-study-us-1973-1-228/ . Source: World Database of Happiness. Reproduced with permission.

Format of this review

In this review, we started by summarizing the research findings in Table 2 in which the observed statistical relationships are presented in + , – , or 0 signs. These signs link to finding pages in the World Database of Happiness. If you click on a sign, one such finding page will open.

171 findings on the relation between perceived meaning of life and satisfaction with life.

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Meaning of signs: + positive and significant. + positive, non-significant. 0 unrelated. − negative, not significant. − negative, significant. +|− positive in one subgroup, negative in another. +/+ positive on two measures of happiness. +/− positive before control, negative after.

Organization of the findings

In Table 2 we first sorted the findings by the research method used and present these in three separate columns. We distinguished (1) cross-sectional studies, which asses same-time relationships between the perceived meaning of one's life and satisfaction with life, (2) longitudinal studies, which assess change in life satisfaction following change in meaning, and (3) experimental studies, which assess the effect on induced change in meaning on life satisfaction. In Table 2 , we also distinguish between studies at the micro-level, which assess the relation between meaning and life satisfaction of individuals, and studies at the macro-level, which link average meaning in nations to average life satisfaction of citizens.

Presentation of the findings

The observed quantitative relationships between the perceived meaning of one's life and satisfaction with life are summarized in three possible signs: + for a positive relationship, – for a negative relationship, and 0 for a non-relationship. Statistical significance is indicated by printing the sign in bold . Each sign contains a link to a finding page in the World Database of Happiness on which the reader can find more detail.

Some of these finding pages appear in more than one cell of the tables. This is the case for pages on which both a “raw” (zero-order) correlation is reported and a “partial” correlation in which the effect of control variables is removed.

Advantages and disadvantages

The advantages of such representation are as follows: (1) an easy overview of the main trend in the findings, in this case, the many + signs, (2) access to full detail behind the links, (3) an easy overview of the white spots in the empty cells in the tables, and (4) easy updates, by entering new signs in the tables, possibly marked with a color.

The disadvantages are as follows: (a) that much detail is not directly visible in the + and – signs, (b) in particular not the effect size and control variables used, and (c) that the links work only in electronic texts.

This review technique has been applied in earlier syntheses of research on “Happiness and Private Wealth” (Jantsch and Veenhoven, 2019 ), “Happiness and Healthy Eating” (Veenhoven, 2021 ), and “Happiness and Consumption” (Veenhoven et al., 2021 ).

An overview of the 171 research findings is presented in Table 2 . We can now inspect what these findings tell us about the correlation between the perceived meaning of life and satisfaction with life.

Degree of perceived meaning in life and satisfaction with life

Most of the findings are on this topic. Correlations at the micro-level of individuals are presented in the upper part of Table 2 and one correlation at the macro-level of nations is at the bottom of this table.

Is there a correlation?

Yes, there is. Of the 171 observed relationships, only one found no correlation (0) and 15 studies observed a correlation that did not reach statistical significance. The other 155 findings denote a significant correlation.

Direction of the correlation

Plus signs (+) dominate in Table 2 , denoting that the perceived meaning of life typically goes with greater satisfaction with life; however, there is a notable exception. Although correlations at the micro-level of individuals are positive, a study at the macro-level of nations found a negative correlation between the average degree of perceived meaning and average life satisfaction. We will discuss this phenomenon in section “Why a negative correlation at the macro level of nations between perceived meaning of life and average satisfaction with life?”

Strength of the correlations

A total of 136 findings are expressed in a comparable correlation coefficient. These, quite sizable, effect sizes are presented in Table 3 . The average correlation between the perceived degree of meaning and life satisfaction at the micro-level is +0.36.

136 findings on strengths of correlation between perceived meaning of life and satisfaction with life.

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Significant correlations printed in bold.

Variability across cultures

Since most correlations are positive, variability is in the size of the correlations. The OECD study among high school pupils covers 50 nations from different parts of the world. In Table 4 , we marked the coefficients observed in different parts of the world using colors. No systematic difference appeared.

117 findings on strengths of correlation between perceived meaning of life and satisfaction with life in Africa , Asia , Latin America , Middle East , and Western nations (Australia, Europe, and North America).

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Similarity across components of happiness

Likewise, we visualized a possible difference across components of happiness in Table 5 , marking the correlations with overall life satisfaction as Blue , with affect level as Red , and with contentment as Purple . We also found no clear difference.

136 findings on strengths of correlation between perceived meaning of life and satisfaction with life distinguishing between overall life satisfaction , hedonic level of affect , and contentment .

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Difference across questions on “meaning”, “purpose”, and “significance”

Most studies used questions on multiple aspects of the perceived meaning of life; only 25 of the 136 correlates in Table 3 are about the correlation between single aspects of perceived meaning and happiness. These correlates are presented in the top segment of Table 3 . No great differences appeared, although the correlations with questions about “meaning” tended to be stronger than the correlations with questions about “purpose” and “existential significance”. We will come back to this difference in “How does satisfaction with life affect perceived meaning of life?”

Pursuit of meaning and satisfaction with life

The findings on this matter are reported in the middle rows of Table 3 . Interest in the meaning of one's life appears to be unrelated to life satisfaction. At first sight, the reported pursuit of meaning was found to be unrelated to life satisfaction. After controlling for the presence of meaning, the correlation became negative. A comparison across nations also showed a negative correlation in rich countries but a positive correlation in poor countries. We will come back to this latter phenomenon in section “Why a negative correlation at the macro level of nations between perceived meaning of life and average satisfaction with life?”

Perceived sources of meaning and satisfaction with life

The findings on this subject are reported in the lower part of Table 3 . All the correlations were positive, but there was a difference in strengths. Seeing meaning in social bonds was most strongly related to life satisfaction, as in the cases of “interpersonal relations”, “community”, and “society”. The low correlation with seeing meaning in “family” does not fit this pattern. Life satisfaction is related equally strongly to seeing meaning in life itself, such as in the cases of “health” and “personal development”. The weakest correlations were with seeing meaning in “spirituality and religion” and with “work”.

What do these correlational findings tell us about the causal interplay between the perceived meaning of one's life and satisfaction with life?

At first sight, the findings fit the theory that we have an innate need for meaning (cf. section “Questions on correlation”) and that therefore, the more meaning we see in our life, the more satisfied we are with it. Not only are the correlations positive and sizable as we saw in Table 3 , but they also appear to be universal, given the little variation across countries seen in Table 4 . The strong correlations with affect level, which we saw in Table 5 , can also be interpreted as resulting from need gratification, especially in the context of Veenhoven's ( 2009 ) theory of happiness in which the affective component reflects the gratification of universal human needs.

However, we also met with a finding that contradicts this theory. A lot of people appear not to care about the meaning of their life and are still reasonably happy. This was observed in the study of DeHart et al. ( 2022 ) among the general public of the Netherlands, where 20% agreed with the statement “the meaning of life is a subject that does not interest me very much”. Although marginally less happy than their fellow citizens who disagreed with this statement, these people were still quite happy with an average of 7.47 on the 0–10 scale of life satisfaction. So, the quest for seeing meaning in one's life is not universal and not very pressing.

At a more theoretical level, one can also doubt that there is an innate need for seeing meaning in one's life. A “need” is not just a “want” or a “preference” but something that is required for survival and which has, for this reason, become an innate part of human nature. This is the case for our needs for food and social belongingness and can also be seen to apply to the need to use and develop our potentials. The survival value of the perceived meaning of one's life is less obvious, in particular when situated in the life situations of our early forefathers. Because of their survival value, needs were linked with strong affective signals. The affective signals that attend the perceived meaning of one's life are typically less strong than those of hunger and loneliness.

An alternative explanation for the universal quest for meaning is that it is a consequence of human cognition, self-awareness in particular. Because we know that we are, we tend to wonder why we are and whether our life serves any other good beyond our own life. Although these questions come to mind, we can live without convincing answers. Seen in this light, the quest for meaning can be better seen as an evolutionary unintended by-effect of the otherwise highly functional capacity of cognition. This interpretation fits the distinction Wentholt ( 1995 ) makes between innate “organic needs” which we share with most primates and “universal strivings” which come forth from human self-awareness.

How does perceived meaning of life otherwise affect satisfaction with life?

If not automatically in response to the gratification of an innate need, how else can seeing the meaning of life contribute to satisfaction with life? One possibility is that a sense of meaning is pleasant, even if not required. In this respect, the perceived meaning of life is comparable to the enjoyment of arts, not a basic need either, but even so a source of satisfaction.

In this view, the perceived meaning of one's life is one of the appraisals of life aspects that contribute to one's satisfaction with life as a whole, and as such is comparable to the perceived “richness of life”, which also goes with greater satisfaction with life (Oishi and Westgate, 2021 ). In section “Questions on correlation”, we depicted this mechanism as a “bottom-up” effect.

A related effect seems to be that a sense of meaning can help us to cope with misery, a heuristic being “My life is full of suffering, but I live for a good cause”. In this way, a sense of meaning keeps us less unhappy than we would have been otherwise. This mental comfort can have a price when the quest for meaning leads to behaviors that undermine other sources of happiness, such as when one's health is sacrificed for a cause. In such cases, a sense of meaning can reduce happiness on the balance. This could be one of the reasons why the average sense of meaning tends to be higher in countries where average happiness is low, as we will discuss in more detail in section “Why a negative correlation at the macro level of nations between perceived meaning of life and average satisfaction with life?”

This brings us to the wider instrumental value of perceiving meaning in one's life, which positive psychologists typically see as a “strength”. In this view, a sense of meaning facilitates functioning by adding a moral premium to one's activities, which helps us to get involved and overcome dips. In that context, the main causal mechanism will be “activity”, also known as “fully functioning”. Activity appears to be the main determinant of life satisfaction, be it that more activity is not always better. We feel best at a personal optimum between boredom and anxiety (Csikszentmihalyi, 1995 ).

A sense of meaning can also affect life satisfaction more indirectly by fostering other mental strengths, such as your identity and self-esteem. It can also affect social conditions for happiness, such as your social prestige and in that way possibly marriage chances. Again, such effects will not always be positive.

How does satisfaction with life affect perceived meaning of life?

The observed correlations between perceived meaning of life and satisfaction with life should not be interpreted too easily as a causal effect of the former on the latter, since reversed causality is likely to be involved in this case.

One causal mechanism is certainly that meaning of one's life is often seen in one's life as such. We saw in Table 3 that “health” and “personal development” are seen as sources of meaning. Even more, telling is the qualitative study done by Kok et al. ( 2015 ) among Malaysian youngsters, in which about half of the respondents appeared to see meaning in leading a happy life, thus implying a correlation with life satisfaction.

Another causal effect of life satisfaction on perceived meaning is found in Fredrickson's ( 2004 ) “Broaden and Build Theory” of positive affect, which draws on a large body of empirical research. When we feel good, our adaptational repertoire “broadens” in several ways: Good mood enhances activity and makes us more aware of what goes on in other people and will make us more creative in solving problems. This results in the long-term “building” of more resources, both career-wise and in personal relations. As such, life satisfaction adds to one's chance of doing meaningful things.

Apart from adding to the actual meaningfulness of one's life, life satisfaction will also affect your mere perception of how meaningful your life is. The meaningfulness of one's life is an intangible object, the perception of which is highly vulnerable for the observer's mental set. As such, it is likely that happy people tend to see more meaning in their lives than unhappy people, irrespective of the actual meaning of their lives. In this context, it is worth remembering Table 3 , in which we see stronger correlations of life satisfaction with general statements of “meaning”, than for more specific aspects of meaning, such as “purpose” and “existential significance”.

A related effect seems to be that the issue of the meaning of one's life will present itself more urgently when one is unhappy and wonders “What is this suffering good for?” and “Why do I live?”. Since convincing answers to such questions are often not available, unhappy people tend to become more aware of a lack of meaning in their lives and some will attribute their unhappiness to this lack. This will also boost the correlation between the perceived meaning of life and satisfaction with life.

The effect of perceived meaning on life satisfaction and of life satisfaction on perceived meaning of life

As yet, we lack data to provide an answer to this chicken and egg problem, all we can say is that the one experimental study, undertaken so-far, suggests that there is a causal effect of perceived meaning of life on satisfaction with life. This is the case of training in seeing meaning, where the experimental group gained more happiness right during the training than the control group. See column “experimental” in Table 2 . Apart from the weaknesses of this experiment, this is not to say that there is no effect of life satisfaction on perceived meaning, nor that this effect is less strong.

This is worth further investigation, both for the sake of intellectual curiosity and for priority setting in therapy and education. If life satisfaction is the main determinant in this relationship, it is better to foster life satisfaction than to preach meaning. We expand further on this in section “Implications of the top-down effect”.

Why a negative correlation at the macro-level of nations between perceived meaning of life and average satisfaction with life?

Although the perceived meaning of life has been found to relate positively to satisfaction with life at the micro-level of individuals, one study at the macro-level of nations found a negative relationship, with a correlation between average sense of meaning and average life satisfaction of −0.33.

Although counter-intuitive at first sight, this is not uncommon. A similar pattern is observed with religion, although religious people are typically happier than the non-religious, average happiness tends to be lower in the most religious countries of the present-day world (Berg and Veenhoven, 2009 ), even though in the unhappy-religious countries the most religious people are still the happiest.

An explanation of this phenomenon holds that the main function of religion is to cope with misery and that people, therefore, tend to be more religious in miserable nations, which are typically less developed nations. Note that the abovementioned study also found a negative correlation between the perceived meaning of life in nations and their economic development, in which the relationship was mediated by average religiousness (Oishi and Diener, 2014 ). Religion may reduce the pain of miserable conditions, but not enough to provide a satisfying life. This medicine may also be worse than the disease, such as when religion inhibits cultural modernization, which societal pattern appears to fit human nature better than the traditional orientations that were functional in the agrarian phase of the development of human societies (Veenhoven, 2010 ).

In this case of perceived meaning, a related explanation is that the question about the meaning of life presents itself more in miserable conditions, in which little meaning can be found in one's life, life being full of suffering. In such contexts, there is more demand for meaning beyond one's own life, such as “saving the country” or “spreading the gospel”. Cultures respond to this demand by providing ways to see meaning in misery and glorifying them. As in the case of religion, some ways to meaning can bring people “from the frying pan into the fire”, for example, in the case of drawing them into a holy war.

This explanation fits the micro-level finding that time spent thinking about the meaning of life relates positively to life satisfaction in poor countries but negatively in rich countries as can be seen here .

Implications of the top-down effect

Satisfaction with life tends to foster a sense of meaning in one's life (cf. section “How does satisfaction with life affect perceived meaning of life?”), and this top-down effect should be acknowledged in programs that aim to promote meaningfulness, such as currently in moral education.

Over the ages, education has not only involved the passing of knowledge but also included “character building”, in the context of which much attention has been devoted to “moral education”. Parts of this, traditionally religious inspired, education lives on in present-day positive psychology, in positive education in particular, since there is a moral component in notions of “positive mental health”. In the contemporary post-modern climate, there is less emphasis on the passing along of particular norms and values but more attention on developing a personal moral orientation. A view on the meaning of one's life is part of such orientation, and consequently, training in seeing meaning has been developed, an example of which is found here .

While the emphasis in moral education is to provide examples of leading a just life, there is growing attention to the development of the strengths and skills needed to live a just life. This shift links up with the notion of “performance character” (Lickona and Davidson, 2005 ) and fits the focus on strengthening strengths in positive psychology. People perform typically better when feeling good and for that reason Lawton et al. ( 2021 ) plea for including student wellbeing as a goal in moral education.

Given the probable effects of life satisfaction on perceived meaning in life (cf. section “How does satisfaction with life affect perceived meaning of life?”), moral educators should consider fostering the life satisfaction of their students, including positive affect, which mental state is typically not cherished by moral educators. For this purpose, moral educators can draw on the rich research on happiness education from positive psychology (Bergsma et al., 2021 ).

Seeing meaning in one's life tends to go together with greater satisfaction with that life, at least at the micro-level of the individual. At the macro-level of nations, it goes with lower average life satisfaction. The relation between the perceived meaning of life and satisfaction with life is bi-directional and involves several causal mechanisms. An innate need for meaning is unlikely to be involved.

Data availability statement

Author contributions.

YS, YE, and RV were involved in the gathering and description of the research findings. Most of the text was written by RV. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

1 (+) signifies the positive emotions, and (–) signifies negative emotions.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The handling editor declared a past co-authorship with author RV.

Publisher's note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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Psych 256: Cognitive Psychology SU 15

Making connections between theory and reality, perception and everyday life.

By: Ecaterina Suvorova

Perception, it affects the way we view everything around us, but how does it actually work? What makes us see things differently from others? How does perception affect our behavioral processes? Relating perception to our everyday life might be easier than one might think, the way we view the world and everything around us has a direct effect on our thoughts, actions, and behavior. It helps us relate things to one another, and be able to recognize situations, objects, and patterns.

A few weeks ago I opened my social media account to a new image that was flooding the internet, the infamous dress photo. I looked at the image and the caption underneath stating “ Is the dress white or gold, or black and blue?”, along with thousands of comments flooding the feed about the color of the dress. I almost thought it was a joke, clearly the dress is white and gold!, or so I thought. Still skeptical over this photo, I asked my boyfriend what color does he think the dress is, he answered black and blue, we automatically got into a debate over the dress. How can this dress be black and blue? Naturally I had to research further, and the reason why we see different colors goes back to perception.

Within days of the dress photo, there were millions of Google results of people, news channels, and scientists explaining the reason of the color perception difference. One such article was posted in time magazine listing a few reasons, why we see the colors different. Based on one research, as we get older we are less sensitive to blue light, therefore we see the dress as white and gold (Nietz, J. 2015). Another research reported in Science Daily states that based on color consistency theory, although the dress might indeed be blue and black, if the picture was taken in a room which has blue color hues, the blue in the dress might be reflecting a white color, which makes some people see it as white and gold. Although there are different opinions on the perception of the dress, experts agree that the only person able to identify the correct color of the dress, is the person who sees it in person.

The bottom-up processing approach, is the processing that begins with stimulation of the receptors (Goldstein, B. 2010). Lets look at bottom-up processing in terms of the mysterious dress. Although we are all able to perceive the fact the dress is a dress, the way that we see the dress is different. The way that the color is reflecting in the eye, causes us to perceive it in different colors. We recognize that the image is a dress, one our brain perceives the dress as a dress, we start paying attention to its color, which is the feature we are focusing on, because everyone’s perception is different, the way that the dress is reflected in our eye our brain recognizes it in different colors.

In conclusion, understanding perception is important because it affects our everyday life. Something as simple as a color of a dress can cause such debate amongst people. The bottom up processing is one of the approaches that can help us explain why, and how people can perceive things differently. All people are different from one another, so naturally our perception will sometimes differ as well. It is interesting to see just how much our perception differs.

Goldstein E. B. (2010). Cognitive Psychology: Connecting mind, research, and everyday experience. Wadsworth Publishing.

Stout, D. (2015). This may be why you’re seeing the dress as white and gold. Time Magazine. Retrieved from: http://time.com/3725528/dress-explainer-white-gold-blue-black-science/

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Essays About Life: Top 5 Examples Plus 7 Prompts

Life envelops various meanings; if you are writing essays about life, discover our comprehensive guide with examples and prompts to help you with your essay.

What is life? You can ask anyone; I assure you, no two people will have the same answer. How we define life relies on our beliefs and priorities. One can say that life is the capacity for growth or the time between birth and death. Others can share that life is the constant pursuit of purpose and fulfillment. Life is a broad topic that inspires scholars, poets, and many others. It stimulates discussions that encourage diverse perspectives and interpretations.

5 Essay Examples

1. essay on life by anonymous on toppr.com, 2. the theme of life, existence and consciousness by anonymous on gradesfixer.com, 3. compassion can save life by anonymous on papersowl.com, 4. a life of consumption vs. a life of self-realization by anonymous on ivypanda.com, 5. you only live once: a motto for life by anonymous on gradesfixer.com, 1. what is the true meaning of life, 2. my life purpose, 3. what makes life special, 4. how to appreciate life, 5. books about life, 6. how to live a healthy life, 7. my idea of a perfect life.

“…quality of Life carries huge importance. Above all, the ultimate purpose should be to live a meaningful life. A meaningful life is one which allows us to connect with our deeper self.”

The author defines life as something that differentiates man from inorganic matter. It’s an aspect that processes and examines a person’s actions that develop through growth. For some, life is a pain because of failures and struggles, but it’s temporary. For the writer, life’s challenges help us move forward, be strong, and live to the fullest. You can also check out these essays about utopia .

“… Kafka defines the dangers of depending on art for life. The hunger artist expresses his dissatisfaction with the world by using himself and not an external canvas to create his artwork, forcing a lack of separation between the artist and his art. Therefore, instead of the art depending on the audience, the artist depends on the audience, meaning when the audience’s appreciation for work dwindles, their appreciation for the artist diminishes as well, leading to the hunger artist’s death.”

The essay talks about “ A Hunger Artist ” by Franz Kafka, who describes his views on life through art. The author analyzes Kafka’s fictional main character and his anxieties and frustrations about life and the world. This perception shows how much he suffered as an artist and how unhappy he was. Through the essay, the writer effectively explains Kafka’s conclusion that artists’ survival should not depend on their art.

“Compassion is that feeling that we’ve all experienced at some point in our lives. When we know that there is someone that really cares for us. Compassion comes from that moment when we can see the world through another person’s eyes.”

The author is a nurse who believes that to be professional, they need to be compassionate and treat their patients with respect, empathy, and dignity. One can show compassion through small actions such as talking and listening to patients’ grievances. In conclusion, compassion can save a person’s life by accepting everyone regardless of race, gender, etc.

“… A life of self-realization is more preferable and beneficial in comparison with a life on consumption. At the same time, this statement may be objected as person’s consumption leads to his or her happiness.”

The author examines Jon Elster’s theory to find out what makes a person happy and what people should think and feel about their material belongings. The essay mentions a list of common activities that make us feel happy and satisfied, such as buying new things. The writer explains that Elster’s statement about the prevalence of self-realization in consumption will always trigger intense debate.

“Appreciate the moment you’ve been given and appreciate the people you’ve been given to spend it with, because no matter how beautiful or tragic a moment is, it always ends. So hold on a little tighter, smile a little bigger, cry a little harder, laugh a little louder, forgive a little quicker, and love a whole lot deeper because these are the moments you will remember when you’re old and wishing you could rewind time.”

This essay explains that some things and events only happen once in a person’s life. The author encourages teenagers to enjoy the little things in their life and do what they love as much as they can. When they turn into adults, they will no longer have the luxury to do whatever they want.

The author suggests doing something meaningful as a stress reliever, trusting people, refusing to give up on the things that make you happy, and dying with beautiful memories. For help with your essays, check out our round-up of the best essay checkers .

7 Prompts for Essays About Life

Essays About Life: What is the true meaning of life?

Life encompasses many values and depends on one’s perception. For most, life is about reaching achievements to make themselves feel alive. Use this prompt to compile different meanings of life and provide a background on why a person defines life as they do.

Take Joseph Campbell’s, “Life has no meaning. Each of us has meaning, and we bring it to life. It is a waste to be asking the question when you are the answer,” for example. This quote pertains to his belief that an individual is responsible for giving life meaning.

For this prompt, share with your readers your current purpose in life. It can be as simple as helping your siblings graduate or something grand, such as changing a national law to make a better world. You can ask others about their life purpose to include in your essay and give your opinion on why your answers are different or similar.

Life is a fascinating subject, as each person has a unique concept. How someone lives depends on many factors, such as opportunities, upbringing, and philosophies. All of these elements affect what we consider “special.”

Share what you think makes life special. For instance, talk about your relationships, such as your close-knit family or best friends. Write about the times when you thought life was worth living. You might also be interested in these essays about yourself .

Life in itself is a gift. However, most of us follow a routine of “wake up, work (or study), sleep, repeat.” Our constant need to survive makes us take things for granted. When we endlessly repeat a routine, life becomes mundane. For this prompt, offer tips on how to avoid a monotonous life, such as keeping a gratitude journal or traveling.

Many literary pieces use life as their subject. If you have a favorite book about life, recommend it to your readers by summarizing the content and sharing how the book influenced your outlook on life. You can suggest more than one book and explain why everyone should read them.

For example, Paulo Coelho’s “The Alchemist” reminds its readers to live in the moment and never fear failure.

Essays About Life: How to live a healthy life?

To be healthy doesn’t only pertain to our physical condition. It also refers to our mental, spiritual, and emotional well-being. To live a happy and full life, individuals must strive to be healthy in all areas. For this prompt, list ways to achieve a healthy life. Section your essay and present activities to improve health, such as eating healthy foods, talking with friends, etc.

No one has a perfect life, but describe what it’ll be like if you do. Start with the material things, such as your house, clothes, etc. Then, move to how you connect with others. In your conclusion, answer whether you’re willing to exchange your current life for the “perfect life” you described and why. See our essay writing tips to learn more!

Maria Caballero is a freelance writer who has been writing since high school. She believes that to be a writer doesn't only refer to excellent syntax and semantics but also knowing how to weave words together to communicate to any reader effectively.

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Home / Essay Samples / Science / Sense / The Role Of Sense Perception In Our Life

The Role Of Sense Perception In Our Life

Category: Psychology , Science
Topic: Perception , Sense

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Psychology Discussion

Essay # 1. Introduction to Perception:

Essay # 2. Phenomenological and Gestalt View on Perception :

Essay # 3. Perceptual Organisation :

Figure and Ground Relationship :

Essay # 4. Transactional Approach to Perception:

Essay # 5. Depth Perception:

Empiricistic and Nativistic Views :

Feature Analysis :

Essay # 6. Constancy in Perception:

Essay # 7. Perception of Movement :

Essay # 8. Development of Perception :

Essay # 9. Errors of Perception:

1. Illusions :

2. Hallucinations :

Essay # 10. Studies on Perception:

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Types of Perception

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Recap of the Perception Process

Factors Influencing Perception

Are Perception and Attitude the Same?

Tips to Improve Perception

Potential Pitfalls of Perception

History of Perception

Perception: Impact on Everyday Life

Life and Its Experiences. Personal Perception. Essay

1.1. Definition of Life

1.2. Importance of Personal Perception

2. Section One: Understanding Life

2.1. The Complexity of Life

2.2. The Purpose of Life

2.3. The Interconnectedness of Life

3. Section Two: Personal Perception

3.1. Influence of Personal Background

3.2. Subjectivity in Perception

3.3. The Role of Emotions in Perception

3.4. Cognitive Biases and Perception

4. Conclusion

Recent articles

Financial Performance Appraisal for Etisalat UAE Report

How Your Perception Is Your Reality, According to Psychologists

The pros and cons of negative perception

How to switch to a more positive perception of life

2. Have compassion for yourself and others

3. Have a willingness to see things differently

4. Activate your pause button when triggered

5. Enlist support

6. Look for patterns

Perceiving Is Believing

Perceived meaning of life and satisfaction with life: A research synthesis using an online finding archive

Yasmine Eid

Ruut Veenhoven

Associated Data

Introduction