Group Presentation Definition of Terms

12 be seen that everybody may perceive something in different ways based on their senses. In addition, perception is the opinion that comes first in human mind unconsciously. When someone sees a thing, she or he will perceive something about that. Ponty 1996 describes perception as the thought about perceiving p. 38. He says , “Perception would be a judgment, which, however, is unaware of the reasons underlying its own formation, which amounts to saying that the perceived object presents itself as a totality and a unity” Ponty, 1996, p. 42. It can be seen that perception is similar to the opinion that everyone has in mind automatically. According to Noe 2004, perception is not something that happens to an individual, or in an individual; it is something that an individual does. He says “Perception is input from world to mind, action is output from mind to world, thought is the mediating process. If the input-output picture is right, then it must be possible, at least in principle, to disassociate capacities for perc eption, action and thought” p. 3. What a person perceives is determined by what that person does or knows about Noe, 2004. It means the experience and knowledge of a person will also determine his or her perception. Moreover, Altman, Valenzi and Hodgetts 1985 say that perception is someone’s view of reality and the process which enables every person to understand and cope with the environment in which he or she lives with p. 85. Goldstein 2009 13 also states, “Another reason to study perception is that it can help people become more aware of the nature of their own perceptual experiences” p. 5. It means, in order to give opinion or share knowledge about something, people should have experienced it first so that they can perceive something real. By perceiving something people can also be more aware on it. Consequently, the way that someone is perceived on something will determine his or her behavior.

b. Factors Influencing Perception

There are some factors which can influence the perception of a person. Altman, et al. 1985 present four factors which influencing perception. They are selection of stimuli, organization of stimuli, the situation, and self-concept p. 86. 1 Selection of Stimuli According to Altman, et al., 1985 people focus on a small number only from all of the stimuli surrounded. This process is called as selection process. Every person selects stimuli based on the specific cues and filters, or screens, out the others. It is the reason of why each person can perceive things differently Altman, et al., 1985. 2 Organization of Stimuli The second factor that can influence the perception is organization of stimuli. Based on the theory of Altman, et al. 1985, the data are arranged to be meaningful information after selected. People’s mind try to bring order the data by selecting