Human Perception: Selection Attention: What you attend to Perception: How you interpret Retention: What you remember “Self-fulfilling prophecy:” Acting in ways that confirm your (or others) expectations

Which way is the door swinging?

Human Perception: Interpretation the concept of constructivism: “...we organize and interpret experience by applying cognitive structures call schemata.” Prototypes: clear representative examples Personal constructs: bipolar dimensions Stereotypes: predictive generalizations Scripts: guides to actions based on personal knowledge (experience and observation)

Human Perception: Interpretation Attributions: causal accounts that explain why things happen and why people behave the way they do Self-Serving Bias: we construct attributions that serve our personal interests

Human Perception: Influences Physiology Culture: “…beliefs, values, understandings, practices, and ways of interpreting experience that are shared by a number of people.” Social Roles: “…that others communicate to us.” Cognitive Abilities: Complexity? Person-Perception v. Empathy

Human Perception: Competence Recognize all perceptions are subjective Avoid mindreading by actively check perceptions 1. Describe what you are noticing 2. Ask what it means Distinguish between fact and inference Monitor the Self-Serving Bias