Individual Factors in Perception

[Ready for Fall 2026]

Modified: 2026-07-29 11:52 AM CDST

• In addition to what the stimulus brings to the process of perception, all of us bring our own unique, personal experiences to each perceptual situation.
  • Those things that interest us are much more likely to be perceived.
    • When my wife and I go on an automobile trip, for example, I notice old cars while she notices furniture stores.
    • If you were to ask me about furniture stores or ask her about old cars at the end of the trip, you would get very different answers from each of us.

  • Motivation affects perception.
    • If I gave you a perceptual problem to solve you might keep at it for a short time.
    • But, if at the end of that time you still had not solved the problem you might give up.
    • But, if I offered you 20 bonus points toward your final grade, you would probably keep at it for a little longer.
  • All of us bring a wealth of expectations to any perceptual situation.
    • We expect that fly balls in a baseball game will eventually come down.
    • We expect that a sentence will have a subject, a verb, and an object.
    • We know what we are trying to write, so proof reading our own material is difficult.
    • We may perceive things that fulfill those expectations and not what they actually are.

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