Subjective Factors of Perception

Sometimes perception is determined not only by the physical characteristics of stimuli but by the characteristics of the perceiver. Several different characteristics of the perceiver have been intensively studied. These are;

1. Motives or needs

   When people are motivated, they tend to see and hear what they want to hear. Our motives or needs may also lead us to expect to perceive certain things. In other words, we may be set to perceive the word in ways that agree with our motives and match needs.

2. Interests and values

   Interests and values have a great deal to do with perception. We attend to those aspects of our world that relate to our interests. A botany professor and a sailor in park attend to quite different aspects of stimuli involved. The botany professor may attend to the particular flora found to the park; the sailor attends to the fauns found in the park scarcely noting that there are even trees.

3. Past Experience

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   Much of our daily activity is dependent upon past experience. We have learned to react to cues and symbols rather than to total original stimuli. Thus, in most situations, perception is largely a process of inference based on past experiences. On seeing a moving outline in the sky, we infer it to be an airplane although we cannot actually see what it is. On hearing a rhythmic sound and without tuning, we assume the sound to be coming from the exhaust of a car.

4. Age

   Age brings a change in perception as well. There is a vast deference in perception of things between a newborn infant and an elder person. A child perceives a moon in quite a different way as compared to a young person.

5. Preparatory Set

   This refers to a person’s readiness to respond to one kind of sensory input, but not to other kinds. For instance, a husband who is expecting an important telephone call may hear the telephone ring in the night, but his wife may not. The wife, n the other hand, may be more likely to hear the baby crying than the telephone.