 You know in communication. There's nothing we like more than a good process. Everything is a process and it's true there's a transactional model of communication and That explains how the communication process works and we also have a a process where we can explain What happens during perception when we perceive something when we're experiencing something? So I'd like to break that process down for you a little bit so that we can understand What's happening when we engage in perception and when other people engage in perception? so The process of perception starts with selection selection just means you know we're identifying which stimuli we're going to pay attention to There's so many stimuli that were bombarded with at all times that that we can't pay attention to all of them So we have to focus in on which ones we choose to so Selection just says these the stimuli these this is the thing I'm going to pay attention to right now and I'm going to kind of ignore the others as much as possible But this is what's going to receive the bulk of my attention right now. That's selection then we engage in what's called? organization Organization is basically just kind of categorizing things as we as we as we come across things as we experience things You know we see a dog coming towards if we say that's a dog. I've seen a dog before that's what it looks like It's not a car. It's not a you know a desk. It's not we know whatever it's it's that's a dog Right in the same way we see a person coming at us. We know that's a person and a car We know basically what they look like. So we just kind of broadly categorizing things in organization Then interpretation we start to apply and assign meaning to those things right to what we're seeing We start to get a little deeper and apply Some sort of meaning and and first some sort of meaning from those things So when we see that dog coming towards us Interpretation is what says oh, I want to give that dog a hug I love dogs because of my experiences with animals and dogs and I just love dogs I want I want to pet that dog and I want to you know play fetch with it and all that kind of stuff But it's also the same thing that makes somebody else see that dog and think well I've been bitten before I've had bad experiences. This is a you know caution caution caution This is a fight or flight moment. We need to be aware of this dog. It's dangerous right could be dangerous So so we come to these different interpretations based on our own experiences and our own knowledge and our own Feelings about that situation and so we all come to you know This is where we really start to see a lot of divergence in Perception is in interpretations when we apply that specific meaning because we're applying it from our own perspective We also then can engage in negotiation This happens a lot of times in groups Especially if you think about a group memory that you may have like a time You would out with your friends and we're with you know a family story that's been told over and over again Over time that story will change just slightly right a little bit each time and and but you kind of need the the Agreement of the others to do so to say that you know Well, that was funny or no it wasn't funny or you're funny or you're not funny or whatever You need the agreement of other people you have to almost kind of negotiate these things with them negotiate a shared understanding of What's happening then right so we can sometimes engage in that process with other people that as part of this process We're gonna focus on the first three for the for the purposes of this video We're gonna focus on selection organization and interpretation just understanding the negotiation is there at times as well But it's what I'd like to do is to show you a few pictures and run through a little exercise We'll show you how this works because these things happen just like that like the snap of a finger We move through all three of these stages and we get from selection and interpretation just so quickly So let me let me show you some examples here So take a look at this picture for me if you would just take a look at this picture. What are you seeing? What are you seeing? This is one of those pictures if you haven't figured it out already it has a couple of different images and it's kind of a You know it's got those dual images in it. So some of you may be seeing a Young woman what we would describe as a young woman looking off into the distance, right? You're only seeing a part of her face other people may be seeing an older woman and And you can see her face in profile You can see fully half of her face Which looks like an older woman there some of you may be seeing both and that's okay There's nothing wrong with you if you're only seeing one or the other if you're seeing both That's that's not the point, but there there are multiple images here, right? So but so for those of you if you've seen the older woman, let's let's take that as an example Tell me about her What what can you tell me about this older woman? First of all we're calling an older We don't even know that right but but first I mean so selection says pay attention to this image Selection says pay attention to this image. This is what I'm seeing. This is what we're paying attention to right now Organization says that's a person. It's not a dog. It's not a rabbit. It's not a car. It's not a building. It's not a table It's not a desk. It's whatever it's a person, right? I've seen a person before and that's what it looks like So organization says okay. This is a person and then interpretation starts to take over and tell us about that person And and so is this an older woman and what does older mean? The older I get the less old she seems to me because I'm getting closer to her age, right? But so but some people would describe her as an older woman Some people say which when I ask that question some people say she's a witch and then I ask why and they said well She's got a bump on her nose and a big nose and that makes me look like a witch She just looks like a witch and she looks like which some people just say well, she looks sad And looks like she's you know, maybe in the morning. Maybe she's in a funeral But wait and the truth is we don't know any of this, right? This is all interpretation. That's what we're at with interpretation We start to find individual meaning we make meaning out of what we're experiencing what we're seeing what we're hearing what we're tasting So forth we make meaning out of those things through interpretation But everybody's gonna end up maybe on a slightly different page Even if we agree that there's an old woman to young woman We would probably maybe disagree about little, you know details of what we're seeing there Let me give you another example Thank you. Look at this picture. Let's this image You have seen this one before it's getting some of the one of those dual images So if you if you're seeing Both things then you're seeing, you know kind of a cup or or a chalice in the middle there and In the black and then in the the outline of that in the white You can kind of see two faces especially toward the bottom the bottom half of the image There's two faces kind of facing one another and So we can take this either way What you know people some people call a chalice some people call it a cup some people call it a vase And and so, you know, what is it? I mean, I don't know it's in the picture It's a kind of up to interpretation right selection says pay attention to this picture organization says that's a container of some sort and Then interpretation says well, that's a chalice obviously It's you know, it's like out of Arthurian legend or you know something like that or it's a vase If you're florist, maybe you see a vase if you're a history buff, maybe you see a chalice for old days You know just depends on the person we get into interpretation or we get into those faces What are those faces doing? Are they getting ready to kiss or they're getting ready to fight? Are they just staring at each other or they you know, is it to men or is it to women? Is it man or woman? Is it we don't know I don't know but interpretation takes over and where our interpretation goes Leads us down these roads based on our experiences and our our own history and our knowledge and so forth Well, I'll come to a slightly different interpretation probably each of these things Okay, those were some silly examples. Let me just show you some pictures real quick actual pictures of people Okay, I'm gonna go through these fairly quickly. I just want you to take a quick glance and And and see what you can see about them just gather some general impressions, you know So what do we see there What are we seeing? So the first three we kind of you know fairly well dressed right first three were fairly well dressed as opposed to this last one The last person here gets a lot of comments about you know, it kind of looks homeless Some people say it looks like a gym teacher I get that but most people say yeah He kind of looks a little Little rough a little disheveled, you know, so if you saw this person How would you react differently than if you saw those other people that I showed you or the first three people that were dressed in You know suits or nice outfits How would you if you saw them walking down the street toward you or you were walking toward them? How would you react differently? Would you react differently at all? and you know, so What will we do? Well, it may surprise you to know and so we may figured that or may have seen this already But the first person that you saw and this person are actually the same person That they they brought in this is actual He was a homeless person a homeless man and they brought him in and and you know clean him up a little bit groomed him and Combed his hair and and gave him a suit to put on to kind of make a point You know the longer I leave this picture up there the more you'll begin to see that There are some ways you could spot that and maybe you did spot that the first time around um, you know to Would be able to to see that maybe this picture wasn't quite right but the point is our our You know through selection Organization to go interpretation then you know leads us to these different impressions these people selection said pay attention to these pictures Organization said well, that's a person these are people. I'm showing you pictures of people But then interpretation said okay, that's a business person. That's a business person This is a homeless person and what you know, what does that mean to you? For some of us it means, you know Across the street because we don't want to get hassled and we're worried about safety and things like that For other people it means, you know, you get out your wallet and you give them something or you offer to Bring them some food or something and just you know and do what you can Some people just keep walking don't do either. You don't cross the street, but you don't stop either You just keep going It just depends on the person depends on where you're at in life depends on your interpretation of the situation Your comfort level all that kind of stuff. So um, so we go through the same thing with people though selection organization interpretation And it does happen just like that just as quick as you can snap your fingers We move through all three of those Those parts of the process selection organization and interpretation I mentioned before that there's you know, those are the steps selection organization interpretation negotiation And uh, and you know, if we were walking down the street together, then we could negotiate kind of what you know What that experience was what that person was how we should have handled it and all that kind of stuff, but um Again the first three are what we're focusing on in this video And uh, and this is something we do, you know millions of times a day probably when we're perceiving things every time We engage in perception But remember so is somebody else and their interpretation is going to be based on Their own experiences their own life their own knowledge their own all of that kind of stuff, right? So be aware of that that interpretation may vary greatly depending on your frame of reference depending on your background If you have questions about the perception process or anything else related to perception Please feel free to email me I'd be happy to answer any questions that I came in that way in the meantime I hope this gives you kind of a new perspective or understanding on what happens when we perceive And especially the understanding that when we get to that last section that interpretation Things are going to vary based on on on your own outlook your own history your own frame of reference then so Take that into consideration the next time you wonder Well, that's not how I see it. How could that person possibly come to that different of an interpretation? That's because it's all part of the perception process