The Four Stages In The Perceptual Process

There are four stages in the perceptual process: information attention and selection, organization of information, information interpretation, and information retrieval. Information attention and selection involves the screening of the vast amount of information bombarding a person to determine the information on which he/she will actually focus. Organization of information involves the use of schemas –– person, script, and person-in-situation –– to efficiently organize the information that is perceived. Information interpretation involves giving meaning to the information that is perceived. Information retrieval involves accessing information that is stored in memory. Information attention and selection, organization of information, and information interpretation form part of a person’s memory and contribute to the information stored there.155.
Suggested Answer: The common distortions found in the perceptual process are: (1)stereotypes or prototypes –– the tendency to assign abstract features of a category to individual members of that category; (2) the halo effect –– the tendency to use one attribute of a person or situation to develop an overall impression of the individual or situation; (3) selective perception –– the tendency to single out those aspects of a situation, person, or object that are consistent with one’s needs, values, or attitudes; (4)projection –– the tendency to assign one’s personal attributes to other individuals; (5)contrast effects –– the tendency to distort perceptions of a person when that individual’s characteristics are viewed in relation to others who have been recently encountered and who rank higher or lower on the same characteristics; and (6) the self-fulfilling prophecy –– the tendency to create or find in another situation or individual that which one expects to