Perception: Meaning, Definition, Principles and

Factors Affecting in Perception!

Everyday different stimuli around us will be stimulating
our sense organs. Many of these stimuli are received by
our sense organs and are converted into sensations.

These sensations are transmitted to the concerned parts of

brain.

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In turn the brain will interpret these sensations. It is only

after such interpretation we understand what the stimulus
is.

Hence in understanding the world around us, attention

occurs first, followed by sensation and finally
interpretation by brain.

This process of ‘interpretation of stimulus is known as

perception’. So perception involves two processes:
sensation interpretation. But interpretation of any
stimulus requires past experience also. For example, a
child who has not seen an elephant earlier either in photo
or directly cannot identify that animal, whereas another
child who has seen earlier will identify the animal easily.

Hence, perception may be defined as “a process of

interpretation of a present stimulus on the basis of past
experience”.

Perception is not as simple as said here. It is an integrated

approach. It is a synthetic process where different
physiological and psychological processes are involved.
For example, the accuracy of sense organs, clarity of
sensations, mental set of an individual, etc. Otherwise our
perception may go wrong.

Principles of Perceptual Organisation:

William James American psychologist has said if we
understand the world as it appears to us, it will be a big
booming- buzzing confusion. Hence, we do not see the
things as they appear, but we see them as we want, i.e.
more meaningfully.

In perceptual process we select a particular stimulus with

our attention and interpret it. In the same way whenever it
is necessary many discrete stimuli in our visual field are
organised into a form and perceived more meaningfully
than they appear.

This phenomenon was well explained by Gestalt

psychologists. They believed that the brain creates a
coherent perceptual experience by perceiving a stimulus
as a whole than perceiving discrete entities. This is more
meaningfully stated in the gestalt principle as ‘the whole
is better than sum total of its parts’. This is explained
under many sub-principles of perception.

Figure-ground Relationship:
According to this principle any figure can be perceived
more meaningfully in a background and that figure cannot
be separated from that background. For example, letters
written with a white chalk piece are perceived clearly in
the background of a blackboard.

In the Figure 3.2, two faces can be seen in the background

of a white colour. So also the white background can be
perceived as a vessel in the background of two faces.

Grouping of Stimuli in Perceptual Organisation

As said above, according to gestalt principle, the objects
can be perceived meaningfully when they are grouped
together. There are some principles which are followed by
us in order to make our perception more meaningful.

They are as follows:

a. Proximity:
Proximity means nearness. The objects which are nearer
to each other can be perceived meaningfully by grouping
them. For example, the word ‘Man’, here though the
letters are discrete, when grouped together gives some
meaning. The stars in the Figure 3.3 which are nearer to
each other are perceived together as groups/single figure.

b. Similarity:
Stimuli need not be nearer to each other for perception. If
there is similarity in these objects, they are grouped
together and perceived, even if they are away. For
example, in this Figure 3.4 grouping will be done
according to similarity, i.e. all circles, squares and
triangles are grouped separately.

c. Continuity:
Any stimulus which extends in the same direction or shape
will be perceived as a whole Figure 3.5A and B. For
example, (A) in this figure though the curved line is
broken, it is perceived as a continuous line, so also
straight line is not seen with semicircles but as a
continuous line (B) the dots are perceived as existing in
the same line of direction continuously.

d. Closure:
When a stimulus is presented with gaps, the human
tendency is to perceive that figure as complete one by
filling the gaps psychologically. For example, in the Figure
3.6, the gaps are filled psychologically and perceived as
letters M and A, circle and a rectangle.

e. Symmetry:
Objects which are having symmetrical shape are perceived
as groups. For example, the brackets of different shapes
shown in the Figure 3.7 perceived meaningfully, because
they are grouped together and perceived as brackets.

Perceptual Constancy:
This refers to stableness in perception. We have a
tendency to perceive the objects as relatively stable and
unchanging in shape and size, inspite of a change in the
image that we receive.

For example, when we see a person from 5′ distance, the

size of the image in our eyes differs from the image of the
same person from 100′ distance.

Even then we perceive him as the same person. When we

see people and houses from the top of hill, the images will
be very small like Lillyputs. But we do not get confused by
this. We perceive them correctly according to their actual
size.

Perceptual constancy depends upon several factors like

past experience, expectancy, habits, motivations, cognitive
styles, learning, imagination, etc.

Types of perceptual constancy:

There are different types of perceptual constancies. They
are shape and size, brightness and colour, size constancy,
etc.

Depth Perception:
Ability of a person to perceive the distance is known as
depth perception. This is very important ability to judge
the distance between us and other people, objects and
vehicles moving particularly when we are on roads. This is
also known as third dimension. The other two dimensions
are left and right, and above and below.

Cues:
Depth perception is possible due to certain cues. These
cues help us to understand the distance between one
person and the other person or object.

These are of two types:

a. Monocular cues:
These are the cues that can operate when only one eye is
looking. Some of such cues are:

Linear perspective:
The distances separating the images of far objects appear
to be smaller. For example, imagine that you are standing
between railway tracks and looking off into the distance. It
appears that the tracks would seem to run closer and
closer together at the other end.

Aerial perspective:
The nearer objects appear clearer than the distant objects.
For example, a hill in far of distance appears farther away
because the details do not seem clearly.

Interposition:
When one object obstructs our view of another, the front
one appears nearer than the partly covered one. For
example, in the Figure 3.8—the hill which appears full is
definitely nearer than the partly seen.

Gradient structure:
A gradient is a continuous change in something- a change
without abrupt transitions. Usually the regions closer to
the observer have a coarse texture and many details. As
the distance increases, the texture becomes finer and
finer.

This happens very gradually and gives a cue about the

depth or distance. In Figure 3.9 the structures which are
nearer appear larger than the distant one which appear
smaller as the move away.
There are some other monocular cues also viz., movement,
shadow, etc.

b. Binocular cues:
Sometimes the depth can be perceived when both eyes are
used. This is called binocular cue. There are 2 binocular
cues:

1. Retinal disparity:
The image of the object which falls on both the retinas
differs. Disparity will be more when the object is closer
than when it is far away. Depending upon the
correspondence between the distance and the amount of
disparity, the depth can be perceived.

2. Convergence or divergence of eyeballs:

When the object moves nearer and nearer to our eyes, our
eyeballs converge, and as the object moves away from us
the eyeballs diverge. This process acts as a binocular cue
to perceive the depth.

Perception of Movement:
When a particular object appears in different places at
different times we understand that the object is in
movement. This process is called perception of movement.
Such an ability to perceive movement is gained from birth
itself as a natural process.

This is a most important ability. It is only by this ability the

organism can understand the world around and can
perceive the dangers / threats in the movement, so that it
can easily escape from such dangers.
Apparent motion:
Sometimes we perceive that the objects are moving. In
fact the objects are stationary, i.e. they will not be moving.
Hence the perception of an object which is not moving, as
an object moving is an illusion. For example, when we are
moving fast in a bus, the trees, plants and other non-
moving objects appear to move in the opposite direction.

In the same way, even the movements of figures in a film

appear to move, though they remain without movement.
Since moving pictures are taken continuously and the film
reel is run very fast, it produces a movement feeling called
stroboscopic motion or phi phenomenon.

Factors Affecting Perception:

There are individual differences in perceptual abilities.
Two people may perceive the same stimulus differently.

The factors affecting the perceptions of people are:

a. Perceptual learning:
Based on past experiences or any special training that we
get, every one of us learns to emphasise some sensory
inputs and to ignore others. For example, a person who
has got training in some occupation like artistry or other
skilled jobs can perform better than other untrained
people. Experience is the best teacher for such perceptual
skills.

For example, blind people identify the people by their

voice or by sounds of their footsteps.

b. Mental set:
Set refers to preparedness or readiness to receive some
sensory input. Such expectancy keeps the individual
prepared with good attention and concentration. For
example, when we are expecting the arrival of a train, we
listen to its horn or sound even if there is a lot of noise
disturbance.
c. Motives and needs:
Our motives and needs will definitely influence our
perception. For example, a hungry person is motivated to
recognise only the food items among other articles. His
attention cannot be directed towards other things until his
motive is satisfied.

d. Cognitive styles:
People are said to differ in the ways they characteristically
process the information. Every individual will have his or
her own way of understanding the situation. It is said that
the people who are flexible will have good attention and
they are less affected by interfering influences and to be
less dominated by internal needs and motives than or
people at the constricted end.

Extrasensory Perception (ESP):

Is there any way of knowing about the world in which the
information does not come through the senses? Some
people believe that is possible. But there are some
instances reported by people that they have experienced
some perceptions without the aid of their sense organs.
Psychologists have named the perception that occurs
without sensory stimulation as ‘Extrasensory perception’
(ESP).

This is otherwise known as sixth sense in common man’s

view. Some of the common phenomena in ESP are
clairvoyance, telepathy, meeting the souls, precognition,
psycho-kinesis, reincarnation, etc.

Though research is going on, the researchers are unable

to confirm them, because these experiences are not
repeatable for verification. In many instances they remain
as coincidences.

Errors in Perception:
As seen above perception is process of analysing and
understanding a stimulus as it is. But it may not be always
possible to perceive the stimuli as they are. Knowingly or
unknowingly, we mistake the stimulus and perceive it
wrongly.

It may be due to defect in our sense organs or defective

functioning of the brain. Many times the prejudices in the
individual, time of perception, unfavourable background,
lack of clarity of stimulus, confusion, conflict in mind and
such other factors are responsible for errors in perception.
There are two kinds of errors:

a. Illusion:
Illusion is a false perception. Here the person will mistake
a stimulus and perceive it wrongly. For example, in the
dark, a rope is mistaken as a snake or vice versa. The
voice of an unknown person is mistaken as a friend’s
voice. A person standing at a distance who is not known
may be perceived as a known person.

Most of our illusions are visual and auditory. But illusions

pertaining to other senses are also possible. See Figure
3.10 for some of the examples of visual illusions.

b. Hallucination:
Sometimes we come across instances where the individual
perceives some stimulus, even when it is not present. This
phenomenon is known as hallucination. The person may
see an object, person, etc. or he may listen to some voice
though there are no objects and sounds in reality.

Hallucinations pertain to all the sensations appear in

people, but visual and auditory hallucinations are more
common. Usually persons with unsound mind, emotionally
disturbed, alcoholics and those who are in confused states
may experience hallucinations. However, among abnormal
people and intoxicated persons hallucinations are very
common.

In addition to these errors, there are some abnormalities

in our sense perceptions called anaesthesia (no sensation),
hyperesthesia (excessive sensitivity) and paraesthesia
(distorted or wrongly localised sensation). In these cases
the tactile (skin) sensation is wrongly perceived.

Observation and Nurse:

Good and keen observational ability is an essential
characteristic of a nurse. The most important activities of
a nurse include observation of changes in pulse,
respiration, heart beat and blood pressure because they
indicate general condition of a patient. The condition of
the postoperative case, the emergency cases also require
accurate observation.

Observation involves attention and perception. The nurse

should always concentrate her attention on duties.

Distraction of attention may lead to serious consequences

like death of a patient. Attention helps to understand the
problems of patient. At the same time, accurate perception
helps the nurse to have a clear picture of the condition of
the patient.

While attending the emergency cases, during operations

and other serious conditions accurate perception of the
situations help the nurse to deal with the situation in an
effective manner.