Perception, Oh!
Jagadeesh Raj
Educator, researcher, trainer, and author with rich experience in academics and administrations spanning nearly four decades. Committed to quality with a focus on customer.
How do we perceive what we see? An interesting question. But, the answer could be elusive, as perception depends upon many factors, both intrinsic to a person and extrinsic. Fine, well taken. How does it matter, somebody would ask.
While perception is largely intrinsic, sometimes, it can be manipulated or even forced upon individuals by clever people. When we are in a group, the individual perception is replaced by the group's perception. This is attributed to herd mentality, but contagious to such an extent in a group, that everyone in the group follows what others are doing. This act overtakes individual freedom and renders everyone to be submissive to a common perception. Why does this happen?
Again, there may be several reasons. While individuals do have their own logical processing of information they receive from other sources, they may be willingly or unwillingly be following instructions received from others. Such instructions override their individual feeling or emotions, and leads to a different perception. Is it possible to escape this effect?
When a person is working in an organization, the person is expected to follow what the employer says, and not to question further. This sounds like autocracy or even authoritarian. On the other hand, when the person is free to act, he or she may be more logical and sensitive. In such cases, their perception and subsequnet behaviour tends to be different to a large extent.