A man lives, constantly knowing the reality surrounding him and the characteristics of his personality. In psychology, perception is a perception that is actively aimed at exploring the world. Since society is the main medium of a rational person’s life, social perception or the ability to know other people comes first.

What is perception briefly

In short, such a phenomenon lies in the ability to comprehend the world through the senses - vision, hearing, touch, smell and taste. For communication, auditory and visual perception is important.

This concept is most manifested in the psychology of communication. Social perception implies understanding of other people, penetration into their essence. The effectiveness of its implementation is provided by special mechanisms.

Definition of a term in psychology

The literal translation of the word perception from the Latin language means "perception." AT In psychology, the term implies an active reflection by the human consciousness of the external and internal world, surrounding people and phenomena, events and situations.

Social perception is a function of the psyche that allows an individual to perceive his personality and the surrounding society. The term belongs to the American psychologist J. Bruner. The feeling of inanimate objects is different from the understanding of the surrounding society. He may feel some pressure from the outside due to the fact that the social personalities that he explores are not indifferent to his assessment, seek to change it for the better. Perception is influenced by the “I concept”, in others what is inherent in the character of the observer himself is usually noticed.From the information of the surrounding world, a person remembers only that which relates to himself.

Human perception mechanisms

For effective communication, the interlocutor must be well understood. This is helped by special psychological mechanisms of social perception, which can conditionally be divided into 3 groups:

  • cognition of another person - identification, empathy, attraction;
  • understanding of oneself is reflection;
  • the ability to predict the development of the situation - psychoanalysis.

The process of understanding another person is influenced by one's own “I concept” or the answer to the question: “Who am I?” This system consists of models - "I structures" that allow you to organize the perception of the world. If a person considers himself an athlete, then in other people he will see the presence of sports skills. When a woman positions herself as a beauty, then accordingly she will begin to note in those around her the same features that she finds in herself.

The following factors influence the assessment of the interlocutor:

  • what a person looks like;
  • conversation style;
  • manner of behavior;
  • gestures.

Of great importance is the age of the observer.

For example, external characteristics are more important for children:

  • bright details in clothes or makeup;
  • unusual voice;
  • facial expressions.

Perceptions are influenced by professional attitudes, the tendency to evaluate others through the prism of their professional activities. Teachers notice the voice, the manner of presentation of the material, the police react to appearance, clothing.

Perception effects

There are interesting manifestations of inaccurate perceptions or perceptual effects, the knowledge of which helps to track our and other people's errors during communication:

  1. The “Barnum effect” is expressed in a person’s confidence in evaluating his personality if it comes from an authoritative, in his opinion, source — parents, psychologists, fortunetellers, magicians, etc.
  2. "Boomerang effect" is characterized by complete rejection of information. This happens with strong pressure on a person, forcing him to consent. Rejection also occurs with distrust or hostility to the informant. Especially clearly such resistance can be seen in 3-year-old children and adolescents who say: “No!” To any requirement of parents.
  3. "The effect of the first impression." Increased attention is paid to information obtained during the first meeting - appearance, manner of dressing. Beautiful people often deserve a flattering characterization. All subsequent impressions that contradict the original installation are discarded as erroneous.
  4. The “edge effect” is based on a person’s tendency to remember the first and last signals presented for sensation more quickly than those in the middle. The first and last meeting always flashes into memory.
  5. "Installation effect." Interpersonal perception depends on pre-received premises. These are the guidelines that determine the train of thought of the evaluator. That is, negative attitudes make it possible to find confirmation in appearance and behavior, while positive attitudes lead to a favorable opinion.
  6. "The effect of novelty." The first information received about a person for a long time determines the attitude towards him. All further communications take place through the prism of this information. Distortion can occur when communicating with a long-known person, if the latest information about her is more significant than previous knowledge.
  7. “The effect of stereotyping” is expressed in the tendency to form a stable image of a phenomenon or person. Given the lack of time, the adopted clichés allow you to quickly assess a new situation. Such patterns are formed at the age of 12 to 30 years due to education and culture.

There are also many other effects or errors that characterize social perception.

Manifestation with other people

When communicating with people, all of the above effects may appear that distort the truth of perception. The ability to track perception errors in a relationship allows a more objective analysis of another person and situation.

There is another interesting phenomenon that most often interferes with objective sensations, called the "projection effect." As a rule, a person ascribes to others his qualities of character. The projection is of two types - attributive and protective. At the first, the interlocutor is endowed with positive qualities characteristic of the most perceiving observer. If the negative qualities come to the fore in communication with an unpleasant person, they are also related to the observer. The psyche is designed in such a way as to evaluate oneself only positively, a person transfers his negative sides to another.

Positive and negative sides

Communication is often hindered not only by the effects of social perception, but also by being dominated by stereotypes that exist of two types - central and peripheral. The former are associated with basic principles; they do not change throughout life. The second type is less significant for such adaptation, therefore, it can be transformed. There are ethnic stereotypes that depend on the perception of certain nationalities. There is a stereotype of outgroup hostility, which consists in dividing people into friends and foes. Those who belong to their social group are predominantly significant. Distorted perception leads to neurosis and psychosomatic illnesses - this is the negative side of social perception.

A positive quality is manifested in the ability to adequately assess people and predict their behavior. The perception of others is affected by the experience gained in the process of life, as well as the principle of association. This means that any person is connected in the consciousness of another with someone substantial, who has come from past experience. Such involuntary associations are especially important in family life. The more positive similarities with a spouse, the better the prognosis for the duration of the marriage.

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