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1. Perception
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 George and Jones, 2005: p.105. In this definition, we can define it as a way of a person to get the data from environment
through the stimuli. Thus, the person thinks and interprets the data meaningfully. Perception can be seen as the person’s way in viewing the environment and also as
the response to the stimuli or surrounding. The response itself occurs in the person’s awareness to the incoming data from the stimuli through sensory receptors. The
response will be interpreted as meaningful information about the stimuli called perception.
Gibson 1982 views that a person does not perceive stimuli or retinal images or sensations or even just things; what heshe perceives is things that can eat, or write
with, or sit down on, or talk to p. 60. It does not only perceive the size or distance of objects. The person perceives whether something is within arms’ reach and whether it
will fit into the grasp. What they perceive are the functional relations between self and world. In other words, they perceive things after experiencing a certain activity
which later gives us impact or impression. According to Altman, Valenzi, and Hodgetts, perception begins from the
selection of the data from the stimulus through the sensor 1985: p. 86. The process allows the individual to interpret the data. Each individual has different way to
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interpret the data. All depends on the clarity and familiarity of the stimuli of physical characteristics needs and values, knowledge, feeling, and past experiences.
There are four important factors influencing a person’s perception according to Altman et al. 1985: pp. 86-91.
1 Selection of Stimuli A person focuses only on a small number of all the stimuli surrounded. It
means selection. Each person has different selection of stimuli according to the familiarity, the characteristics, and the experiences. Each person focuses on a small
number. This process is called selection and is one reason why people perceive things differently – each person selects specific cues and filters, or screen, out of others.
2 Organization of Stimuli The second factor influencing the perception is organization. After the data is
released, it is arranged to be meaningful information. According to Altman et al. 1985, the brain brings order the data by selecting certain items and putting them
together in a meaningful way based on the experiences pp. 87-88. 3 The Situation
A person’s expectations, a situation, and past experience affect what the person perceives. Perceiving a situation accurately is related to how a person adjusts
his or her behavior to the situation. 4 The Person’s Self- Concept
Altman er al. 1985: p. 90 states that the way individual feels and perceives is known as self-concept. The way the person sees himself or herself affects the
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