Perceptions

You may have noticed, that people usually see past your appearances? This is interesting because of the fact that we all form first impressions brought on by our personal perception of an individual. 

In psychology, the term perception refers to the different mental processes that we use to form impressions of other people. This includes not just how we form these impressions, but the different conclusions we make about other people based on our impressions.

How often do you make this kind of judgment every day? When you meet someone new, you immediately begin to develop an initial impression of this person. When you visit the grocery store you might draw conclusions about the cashier who checks you out, even though you know very little about this person.

We often form impressions of others very quickly with only minimal information. We frequently base our impressions on the roles and social norms we expect from people.

Physical cues can also play an important role. The salience (salience is the state by which an item stands out) of the information we perceive is also important. Generally, we tend to focus on the most obvious points rather than noting background information. The more novel or obvious a factor is, the more likely we are to focus on it.  

One of the mental shortcuts that we use when creating our impression of a person is known as social categorization. In the social categorization process, we mentally categorize people into different groups based on common characteristics. Sometimes this process occurs consciously, but for the most part, social categorizations happen automatically and unconsciously. Some of the most common grouping people use include age, gender, occupation, and race.

As with many mental shortcuts, social categorization has both positive and negative aspects. One of the strengths of social categorization is that it allows people to make judgments very quickly. Realistically, we simply do not have time to get to know each and every person we come into contact with on an individual basis. Using social categorization allows us to make decisions and establish expectations of how people will behave in certain situations very quickly, which allows us to focus on other things. 

The good news is that people over time can overcome their perceptions and this means that on any given day you can wear any old thing and they'll still get your best, feel your love, and know you rock.