Thus, it is because of perception, we can find out why one individual finds a job satisfying while another one may not be satisfied with it. When we buy something, it is not because it is the best, but because we take it to be the best. It is because what we hear is not what is really said, but what we perceive as being said. (i) Perception is very important in understanding the human behaviour, because every person perceives the world and approaches the life problems differently- Whatever we see or feel is not necessarily the same as it really is. Perception is a subjective process, therefore, different people may perceive the same environment differently based on what particular aspects of the situation they choose to selectively absorb, how they organize this information and the manner in which they interpret it to obtain a grasp of the situation. Thus, perception is not just what one sees with the eyes it is a much more complex process by which an individual selectively absorbs or assimilates the stimuli in the environment, cognitively organizes the perceived information in a specific fashion and then interprets the information to make an assessment about what is going on in one’s environment. Perception is determined by both physiological and psychological characteristics of the human being whereas sensation is conceived with only the physiological features. It correlates, integrates and comprehends diverse sensations and information from many organs of the body by means of which a person identifies things and objects, the sensations refer to. Thus, visual perception refers to interpreting the image of the external world projected on the retina of the eye and constructing a model of the three dimensional world.”įrom the above explanation it becomes clear that perception is something more than sensation. This visual image of the external thing becomes perception when it is interpreted in the visual cortex of the brain. For example, when we see something, the visual stimulus is the light energy reflected from the external world and the eye becomes the sensor. In other words, sensation involves detecting the presence of a stimulus whereas perception involves understanding what the stimulus means. “Perception refers to the interpretation of sensory data.

Perceive perception definition