PERCEPTION: THE BUSINESS OF CREATING MEANING

1. All scientific observations are open to question because scientists may see what they expect to see rather than what's there. That is, even scientists may be susceptible to
perceptual set:
A tendency to see what we expect to see.
•         To see how powerful perceptual set can be, watch this short video. Warning: Do not try what the man on the video does. It is illegal!
•         This 14-second video is a magical example of perceptual set
2. Asking people what they see may be more useful for finding out how they think (what perceptual hypotheses they have) than for finding out about the world. (This is the idea behind psychological projective tests like the Rorschach inkblot test and the TAT).
3. There is not a strong relationship between confidence and accuracy of observations (e.g., Eyewitnesses who are sure of what they saw are not much more likely to be right than eyewitnesses who are not sure of what they saw). So, saying "I'm sure I'm right" shouldn't be a convincing argument that your perception is accurate.
4. The value of perception checking and active listening. Don't assume that you are accurately interpreting what people say.

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