12 To create perception in our thought, it should be stimulated with stimulus.
Perception occurs whenever stimuli comes and activates the sense. Then the data should be selected to be interpreted into meaningful information. The way people
interpret information depends on several factors such as the clarity and familiarity of the stimuli, our physical characteristics, our needs and values, knowledge,
feeling, and past experience Altman, et al. 1985. After the perception was formed, it will lead people to take response based
on their perception. For example, for a student who sees chemist as the easiest subject in his school, he will enjoy to follow the class. While for the student who
sees chemist as a difficult subject, she will hate it and have no passion to follow the class. From the example, although the stimuli is the same, the behavior
resulted from the perceptual process may be different. In conclusion, perception will lead people to the different attitudes or
responses . In this study, the researcher is eager to know students’ perception on
peer feedback in Microteaching class. If the students have positive perception toward peer feedback they will show positive attitude toward it and vice versa.
This following figure is the summary of the perceptual process.
Figure 2.1. The Perceptual Process Gibson et al. 1985: 61
Attitude formed
Response behavior
The evaluation
interpretati on of
reality
Factors influencing
the perception
Stimuli
Observation of the stimuli
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c. Factors Influencing the Perception
There are some factors influencing people’s perception. According to
Altman, et al. 1985: 86-90, there are four important factors determining the formation of perception, those factors are:
1 Selection of Stimuli
According to Altman et al. 1985: 85 selection is the process when we focus on a particular subject from a number of subjects around us. The selection
of the stimuli is the process when we focus on a particular number of stimuli. In this process, our mind absorbs and selects stimuli, then we interpret or give
meaning to the data selected. Each person will select stimuli differently. For example, you are a teacher of 40 students and each of your students has different
style in learning. For some of your students, they can only study in a very silent condition so that they will be very frustrated when they face a noisy condition.
The other, however, can still study in a noisy situation. For these students, distractions will not bother the process of learning because they can focus only on
what they learn. This selection of stimuli is one reason why people see something
differently because each person selects and filters information differently.
2 Organization of Stimuli
The second factor influencing perception is how people organize the stimuli. Some specific cues that we have received should be arranged into
meaningful information. A person will group the selecting items based on
experience or familiarity.
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3 The Situation
Another factor influencing perception is situation. The background knowledge or past experience of someone will help people to understand the
situation. If people are familiar with the information that they obtain they will interpret and absorb easily. For example, a fresh graduate bachelor who has no
experience in working world would find difficulties to adapt with new atmosphere. They often find difficulties in the work time and rules compared to
their behavior in college.
4 Self-concept
According to Altman et al. 1985: 90, self-concept is the way people know and understand about themselves. Self-concept is very important for us
because it will influence us in perceiving or doing something. However, individual self-concept changes in line with the growth of the person.
Those are four main factors influencing perception according to Altman et al., Gibson et al. 1985: 64-67 adds three other factors influencing people
perception. They are:
1 Stereotyping
Stereotyping is one of the factors that can influence perception. Altman et al, 1985: 91, state that
“stereotyping is the process of categorizing people or things based on a
limited amount of information”. The limited information can be from family, society, or from books that influence people in drawing conclusion.
People who live in a small town will perceive that working in a big town is more
