Factors Influence Perception

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There are many ways to define the key term “perception”. According to the Oxford dictionary by Colman (2006), perception is defined as act, process or product of perceiving to become aware or gain knowledge of something through the senses, or to comprehend or grasp a stimulus. Richard (1983) claimed teachers’ perception as “the information, attitudes, value, expectations, theories, and assumptions about teaching and learning that teachers build up over time and bring with them to the classroom (p.66). Hence, perception may affect behavior (Atweh, Bleicker& Cooper, 1998; Calderhead, 1996; Cillessen&Lafontana, 2002, cited in Susuwele-Banda, 2005). Each researcher has their own point of view. In this study, perception was understood as “the human ability to process, interpret and attribute meaning to the information received via the sensory system i.e seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching” (Ladd, 2011, p.332). In other words,…show more content…
These factors relate to perceiver, perceived and situation (Khanka, 2006, p74). Internal factors reside in person concern which include one ’s needs, desires, personality and experience. Needs and desires are an individual ’s perception about stimuli is influenced by inter alia, his needs and desires at that time. Perception varies depending upon variations in his/her needs and desires from time to time. Personality of the perceiver affects what is attended or perceived in the given situation. As mentioned earlier, research studies suggest that secure individuals tend to understand or perceive others as warm and self-accepting individuals perceive themselves as liked, wanted and accepted by others. Experience and knowledge serve as basis for perception. While one’s successful experience enhances his/her perceptive ability, failure erodes his/her self-confidence. Successful experience also helps perceiver understand stimuli with more

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