Perception: Difference between revisions

Misperception, and thus miscommunication, can hurt feelings or create conflict. This article focuses on how subjective experiences and interpretations can lead to misperception, and it introduces seven strategies for clear communication to avoid them. Active listening, channel choice and the positive sides of silence would be some of them. Creating a culture of clear communication can fosters strong relationships, reduce conflict, and allows effective teamwork.

In following article, the assumption is made that the subjects, which are humans, do not have any perceptual filters. Which means that no sensorial organ or part of the nervous subsystem reduces the capacity to observe the environment. <ref name="ref26"/>

You are in a positive mood, sending a text message to your friend „I will be there tonight” and the reply is a single „k“. Now you are confronted with two facts, the first you know and the second you don’t. 1. He acknowledged your message and ended the conversation. 2. He was busy and unable to respond longer. Unknowing of the second fact, you are shaken up. You perceive the „k“ as dismissive.

What went wrong in this communication chain, how did a positive scenario turn bad in your head?

The interaction between systems using a code. This shared code is a necessity for communication to work. It is quite complex and has many different layers, like physical, cultural, or sematic. In this article, the focus lies on merely the transmission of information from a sender to a receiver, but nowadays we could extend these interactions to a far more complex network. <ref name="ref22"/>

The internal response to any kind of stimulus. First, the subject might only be a living observer, experiencing things. With a following reaction which will likely produce a change in the structures of which the subject is aware of. The moment this happens it becomes aware of the perceived and does not just perceive. <ref name="ref25"/>

Keep in mind the perception of an observation is partly the result of the viewpoint and methodology of the observer. So called perspective. All what seems to be objective perception of real facts and events is filtered by the biological features of the observer and their psychocultural achievements. <ref name="ref27"/>

Same as with the many layers of communication there are also different layers of perception. Any kind of sense can be perceived and create a response. Not only the outer senses, but also internal for example feelings and emotions can be perceived. <ref name="ref40"/>

=== '''The Influence from Perception on Communication''' ===

A transmitter is sending a lot of information in their message, and the receiver won ‘t be able to take it all in. Thus, the information gets selected based on our experiences, interests, and expectations. Short the relations in our brain. <ref name="ref24"/>

Should the transmitter and receiver have a different perception of the situation, two different realities allowing interpretation, misperception might arise.

To understand the principle of the conceptual situation better let ‘s elaborate. The inner understanding of everything is based in concepts. The moment new information is perceived the concept will be newly formed and the next perception is then again influenced by the built concept. A, through perception, formed and consolidated concept will not suddenly change through new perception. Why is that? It is called survival mechanism. The constancy of perception is a condition for survival. A surviving system will always try to strengthen and stabilise the own perception algorithm. <ref name="ref23"/>

=== '''The Influence from Communication on Perception''' ===

Thus, be careful how-to communication. Negative and positive language can influence the perception and thus based on the idea of connotation might invoke a very positive or negative feeling in one’s reality.  

Thus, effective communication has to be a communication which avoids misperception. This is only possible through a very clear, even nonverbal communication. Besides it is important to not underestimate empathy, the ability to put yourself in the communication partner’s position.  

Another typical misperception which sadly is far to present is found in the stereotyping of media in criminal cases. There are certain Journalistic routines in place. Standardized story scripts, familiar stereotypes, so called “pack journalism” and the reliance on public officials. These lead to reporters creating less competitive news organizations, but a more homogeneous coverage. Looking at crime coverage, media routines tend to facilitate a pro-prosecution wall. This can lead to masses forgetting about the presumption of innocence and changing the term to a presumption of guilt. Without a discussion, there can’t be balance, but only unfair one-sided treatment. So 27 percent of suspects in crime stories get described using prejudicial information, and with that missing information, which leads to misperception.<ref name="ref33"/>

Misperceptions most of the time arise to a lack of knowledge. The importance of media literacy and critical thinking skills in education is already emphasized on through research. And there are even strategies around how to implement or improve education. <ref name="ref42"/>;<ref name="ref39"/>;

Students should be enabled to form their own informed opinions and challenge misperception. Evaluating sources, identifying bias and seeking factual information may very well be the foundation. Education which incorporates diverse perspectives and promotes open dialog could help students to tackle complex issues and understand the nuances behind them. Education is essential for removing misperceptions.  

Historical actors often operate under incomplete information and biased interpretations. Even historical ideas themselves may be a source of misperception. And with this come important implications, since historical beliefs often are hardly immutable, it is very important to take effort in questioning harmful interpretations of history and avoid conflict causing perceptual distortions.<ref name="ref37"/>

In most of these cases fear, a strong belief on different opinions lead to immense dangers and devastating consequences.

Especially in science clear and accurate information are a must. Misperceptions can influence the public’s understanding of scientific advancements. The main problem lies in the gap between scientific complexity and public knowledge. Because of this there are often Myths which arise from conversation in between individuals. It starts with questions like “why do we give vaccines for diseases we don’t see” to “vaccines give our kids autism”. Later statement might very well be more of a correlation than a casualization.  <ref name="ref38"/>

A quick side note, I also found the question “what if my child is one in a million”. Is it not interesting how hard of a time we humans have when it comes to exponential percentage change.

Anyways to underline this issue, let me tell you something. While researching this topic I am noticing it is very easy to find statements about everything, but research, with terms the public understands is not.

While offering immense benefits, technological advancements can very well create misperceptions. All these tools to connect us accelerate the spread of misinformation. This itself is a smaller issue, but now algorithms often prioritize content that confirms existing beliefs, creating a sense of consensus on this misinformation. A known case is the fear of a robot takeover thanks to AI. To prevent misperception it is important to be exposed to divers’ information.<ref name="ref28"/>

Especially written texts, as we have seen at the very beginning in our case introduction can lead to misperception. A simple “haha” could be sarcastic, other short messages feel cold. I did not find a study, but after consulting with friends and family, which is obviously only a very small group, people seem to be significantly worse at detecting sarcasms in text messages, this can lead to hurt feelings or even conflict.  

This strategy is completely useless in texting, but exactly here we can see the importance of it. The tone of a voice, small facial expressions or body language are very important cues to perceive the message the sender tries to convey. Research by Albert Mehrabian even suggests that nonverbal communication accounts for a larger portion of a messages meaning, than the words themselves. <ref name="ref36"/>

Never assume someone’s knowledge, intentions or even emotions. Someone might be sleeping in class and the professor will assume “he is not caring about it”, meanwhile the student might have spent a rough night taking care of a sick family member.  

Misunderstandings often arise from the pressure to fill pauses or the urge to react impulsively. This is very common in our fast-paced constant moving world.  Silence plays a far more crucial role in social interactions than we are aware of. It gives individuals time to process information, formulate responses and understand emotions. <ref name="ref34"/>

Silence may feel uncomfortable initially. But it creates a more thoughtful and connected communication style. By embracing silence, we create space for reflection.

Whole message also emphasizes on focusing on nonverbal communication. Active listening allows the receiver to recognize facial expressions, body language which offer valuable insights into the true intentions.

To summarize misperceptions, arise because transmitter and receiver don’t have the same perception of a message. Information gets filtered through subjective experience, interests, and expectations. To prevent misunderstandings communication needs to become clear and absolute. Verbal and nonverbal. Empathy, the ability to take the perspective of the other party is helpful. This text focused on different areas where misperceptions can have negative results. Be it in social topics, historic events or in science communication. It also tries to find strategies to prevent, like open communication, the choice of the right channel and the usage of silence.  

Let’s get back to our case from the start and see how we could handle the communication chain now, after learning about the eight strategies. One idea could be to choose different channel. A quick phone call might work wonders. But in this case our friend was busy, so what now? Feedback! Don’t make an interpretation, a quick “is everything alright” could be the solution. Keep in mind, even if we do use these strategies, there will still be times, where a misperception will arise. Try to not fall into the trap and get worked up but use the strategies to clear them up!