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remain; researchers are still concerned, for example, with the relative contributions of innate and learned factors to the perceptual process. Lindsay
Donald, 1977 According to psychologists Passer and Smith 2004:134, perception is an active,
creative, process in which raw sensory data are organized and given meaning. Passer and Smith’s definition is just about George and Jones’ definition. George
and Jones 2005: 105 explain that perception is the process by which individuals select, organize, and interpret the input from their senses vision, hearing, touch,
smell, and taste to give meaning and order to the world around them. According to them, there are three components influencing individual’s perception toward
the matter that is actually perceived; they are 1 the perceiver, 2 the target of perceptions, and 3 the situation in which the perceptions takes place George
Jones, 2005: 105.
b. The Factors Influencing Perceptions
The perceptions tend to be subjective. People tend to “respond to the same stimuli in different ways” Altman Valenzi, 1985: 91. Because of its
subjectivity, sometimes people’s perceptions tend to be bias, while the meaning of bias is a systematic tendency to use or interpret information in a way that results
in inaccurate perceptions. According to George and Jones, there are six factors causing bias perceptions. 1 Primacy effects. Primacy effects are the initial pieces
of information that a perceiver has about a target. Those affect on the perceiver’s perceptions and evaluation of the target. 2 Contrast Effect; which are the
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perceiver’s perceptions of others influence the perceiver’s perceptions of a target. 3 Halo effect. The perceiver’s general impression of a target influences his or
her perceptions of the target on specific dimensions. 4 Similar-to-me effect. People perceive others who are similar to themselves more positively than they
perceive those who are dissimilar. 5 Harshness, leniency, and average tendency. Some perceivers tend to be overly harsh in their perceptions, some overly lenient.
Others view most targets as being about average. 6 Knowledge of predictor. Knowing how a target stands on a predictor of performance influences
perceptions of the target George Jones, 2005: 118.
c. The Process Creating Perceptions
Altman and Valenzi explain the perceptual process generally. According to them, the perceptual process was begun from the selection of the data from
stimulus by individual’s sensor Altman Valenzi, 1985: 86. Furthermore, they state that “the sensor selects the data from stimulus and allow individual to
interpret to the sensory message” that is received Altman Valenzi, 1985: 86. Altman and Valenzi summarizes the perceptional process in Figure 2.1.
Figure 2.1 The Perceptional Process Altman, 1985: 86
Stimuli Behavioral
response Sensors
selection of stimuli
Perceptions, organization, and
interpretation of stimuli
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d. Relationship between Perceptions, Learning and Thinking
