How People Perceive Differently

Many people perceive thoughts differently because they all have different view of the world. After reading the text, Communications in a Changing World, I learned how people can interpret things differently. There are steps of perception everyone goes through which includes interpretation, selection, and organization. As I showed a picture to three different people, they all had different words that described the picture and this explains how people perceive thoughts differently. Everyone in life has different views of the world because of their experiences and beliefs.
People went through many obstacles in life which alters their belief system. Once their belief system has been constructed, they are in a habitual cycle which makes them hard to be same with others. No people are alike. We are all different people. With this knowledge, I believe that people view things according to their habitual lifestyle. For example, a person who are stereotypical may view people or judge them by race or individual’s character. These people will tend to view society as if everyone did not come from the same family but different places and everyone is categorized.
However, some people may view things by emotions and actions. People perceive things differently as the author states, “Just as self-concept, identity, and physical factors act as filters on our perceptions, our personality also affects how we perceive others” (Dobkins, pg. 68). Many people are brought up in different cultures and background. Even though I may have friends that grew up with me in the same culture, we are different because our nationality might be different. We can eat different food and have our own unique styles.

Our interests are different. How we look and feel is different. All three people I showed the picture to came up with different words because they all were in different states and brought up differently in life in general as the author states, “We like things that are recognizable or similar to us” (Dobkins, pg. 70). First guy I interviewed goes by the name Jimmy. He looked at the picture and described how the person in the picture was behaving. He came up with words such as “chilling”, “sitting”, “relaxing”, “distracted”, and “resting”.
Jimmy used most of the words that describes the person’s action. He was not stereotypical at all. The second person I interviewed goes by the name of John. John however came up with words such as “black”, “afro”, “double-eye lids”, and “old”. John was being more stereotypical and described the person as if he belongs in a different family group. The third guy I interviewed goes by the name of David. David used words such as, “bum”, “poverty”, “frustration”, “hilarious”, “afro”, and “guilty”.
He perceives that because the man in the picture is African American, he may be doing something harmful to the society as he mentioned the word “guilty”. Also, he used the word “poverty” which may represent how he views African Americans as people who are poor. The words he also used was the word “bum” which indicates that David may feel that there are a lot of African Americans on the streets without homes. I do understand where David came from because he lived all of his life in Downtown Los Angeles. Media influences people to perceive differently about certain group of people in the world.
As in Los Angeles, there is always a news about someone shooting in Downtown Los Angeles and most of the time the people who commit crimes are either Hipic or African Americans. Just because the person is African American does not mean he commits crime or he is a bum. The person in the picture clearly determines that he is not a bad person. But just because of his race, David thinks he is someone bad. However, Jimmy did not use any words that were stereotypical. He only used words that described the person’s actions.
By this analysis, people perceive differently by the way they operate their views and belief system. People tend to cooperate by approximately determining their belief system and that is how they feel comfortable as the author states, “we often put ourselves in familiar situations, see the same patterns, and focus on the same senses in ways that are predictable and comfortable” (Dobkins, pg. 73). People may perceive differently by how they feel at the exact moment of time. When shown the picture if the person is at a negative state, they will look for negative words.
When the person is in an excited or happy state of mind, they will look for words that are more positive. Although media repetition may alter one’s mind about views of different nationalities, a person’s state can distract how they analyze things of this world. For example, a person in a good state may present happier motives and bring excitement and joyful emotions to the table. However, a person with a negative state of mind may extract bad energy that may bring people around them down. A person’s state may alter how they perceive things differently.
Jimmy and John may have used more positive words because they may be in a positive state of mind at the moment. However, David may have been in a negative state of mind at the moment he was interviewed. I do believe that people have their own ways of beliefs and view systems but the emotions they feel at the moment definitely do have some type of impact towards their perception as the author states, “As individuals, we bring the composite of our self-concept and identity, physical characteristics, and personality into every communicative setting” (Dobkins, pg. 68).
In conclusion, everyone in this world perceives differently. Everyone has their own core belief systems embedded into their lifestyle. This is due to their experiences in their lifetime. Media and other sources may impact one’s belief systems. Maybe some people might have been hurt by certain ethnic group of people. Jimmy, John, and David whom I interviewed all had different words that describe the picture. In this regimental paper, I have described how these three people perceived differently because of their different belief system, state of mind, and experiences.