Selective perception

Overview

Selectiveperceptionreferstotheprocessinwhichindividualsperceivecertaininformationtheywanttoperceivethroughmediainformationandautomaticallyignoreotheroppositeinformation.Broadlyspeaking,eachofusmoreorlesshasthiskindofperceptualbehavior,becausewhenwe"seethings"arebasedonourownunderstandingandreference.Itcanalsobeunderstoodashowweclassifyandunderstandperceptualinformationbypreference.Thatistosay,selectiveperceptionisakindofbiastosomeextentbecauseweunderstandinformationinourownway.Psychologistsbelievethatthisprocessisactuallyautomatic,thatistosaysubconscious.

Selectiveperceptioncanalsobeconsideredapsychologicalcognitivebiasthatcanaffecthowweperceivethings.Whenhumansmakejudgmentsanddecisions,theywillbedistortedandmisledbyaseriesofcognitivebiases,perceptionbiases,andmotivationalbiases.However,humansdonotfeelthattheyaremisled.However,itiseasyforpeopletoperceive(orevenexcessivelyperceive)thebiasesofothersinmakingjudgments.Thereisanexplanationthatpeoplereceivetoomuchstimulusinformationintheirdailylives,sotheycannotpaythesameattentiontoeverything,sotheycanonlychooseinformationthatisusefultothem.

Classification

Selectiveperceptionisdividedintotwocategories:

• Lowlevel-Perceptualalertness:Perceptualalertnessisalsocalledperceptualalertness,whichreferstoThethingisthatpeoplearemorelikelytobeawareofstimulirelatedtotheircurrentneeds.Forexample,ifyouwanttobuyacar,youtendtopaymoreattentiontocar-relatedadvertisementsthanbefore.

• Highlevel-Perceptualdefense:Perceptualdefensereferstoatendencyofpeopletoprotectthemselves.Thistendencymakesiteasierforpeopletopayattentiontothosethingsthatcansatisfytheirneeds,andturnablindeyetothingsthathavenothingtodowithsatisfyingneeds.Forexample,heavysmokerswillrefusetoaccepttheimageoflungssufferingfromlungcancer.