Topic: Perception & Sensation Aim: How do sensations & perceptions function and impact our behavior? Do Now: Describe the first thing that you notice in this picture?

What is Sensation: Sensation: When a stimulus activates a receptor Can you list some sensations? Perception: The organization of sensory information into meaningful experiences Can you name all of our senses? Absolute Threshold: the weakest amount of a stimulus required to produce sensation

Absolute Thresholds: Vision: seeing a candle flame 30 miles away on a clear night Hearing: hearing a watch ticking 20 ft away Taste: tasting 1 teaspoon of sugar dissolved in 2 gallons of water Smell: smelling 1 drop of perfume in a 3-room house Touch: feeling a bee’s wing falling a distance of 1 centimeter onto your cheek

Signal Detection theory Absolute thresholds are not really absolute. Things like motivation or physical state can effect what we sense. Are there any sensations (noises, smells, types of touch, etc. that you are more/less sensitive to?)

Top-Down Processing We form our perceptions starting with a larger object, concept, or idea before working our way toward more detailed information. In other words, top-down processing happens when we work from the general to the specific; the big picture to the tiny details, based on our experiences.

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Senselessness : Describe how the loss of each one of our senses limit a person’s ability to perceive the world around them.

Optical Illusions: A discrepancy between the appearance of a visual stimulus and its physical reality. Demonstrate that perceptions can be inaccurate are not simple reflections of objective reality.

Good Visual Tricks: http://www.echalk.co.uk/amusements/opticalillusions/illusions.aspx

Black dots or white?

Who’s taller?

Stare at this until the gray haze around the dot disappears…

The Stroop Effect: Read only the color of each word, not the word itself. Read as fast as you can!

Topic: Social Perceptions, communication and Stereotypes Aim: How do our impressions of people influence our interaction? Do Now: Review – how did we say first impressions influenced what we think about others?

Social Perception Discussion: What are the first things that you notice when meeting someone? In what ways do these things give you a general impression of this person? How does this differ in terms of friends, romantic interests, teachers, other adults, etc?

The Primacy Effect: The tendency to form opinions on others based on first impressions or things you are told ahead of time prior to actually meeting that person. Experiment: Students were told beforehand about a guest lecturer. All students were told the exact same things about the lecturer except for one quality: 1/2 students were told he was a “cold person” - the other 1/2 that he was “warm.”

Gestalt Psychology Gestalt psychologists focused on how we GROUP objects together. We innately look at things in groups and not as isolated elements. Proximity (group objects that are close together as being part of same group) Similarity (objects similar in appearance are perceived as being part of same group) Continuity (objects that form a continuous form are perceived as same group) How do you think this is applicable to how we see people?

Schemas: The knowledge or set of assumptions we develop about any person or event is known as a schema. For example, someone we view as intelligent - we also may view them as active, insightful, hard working, etc (this is your schema) Schemas can influence and distort thoughts, perceptions, and behaviors If a person you like smiles at you, how do you react? What about a person you don’t like or don’t trust does the same action?

Stereotypes: Schemas developed for an entire group Set of assumptions We believe they will help us identify how a person or group will act, think, or otherwise behave

Stereotype Threat Experience of anxiety in a situation where a person has the potential to confirm negative stereotypes about their social groups Operates whether person believes the stereotype or not

Attribution Theory: How we interpret and understand other people’s behavior Someone honks from behind you when a red light turns green. How might you react and how might you interpret his/her actions? Functional attribution error: attributing a person’s behavior to internal, rather than external factors

Self-Serving Bias: Tendency to attribute one’s own behavior to outside causes but attribute the behavior of others to internal causes… “I am smiling because it is a beautiful day….she is smiling because she’s a cheerful person” Actor-Observer Bias: Tendency to claim success is due to our efforts, while our failure is due to circumstances beyond our control. How do parents or teacher engage in this kind of action?

Non-Verbal Communication: Process through which messages are conveyed using space, body language, symbols, and facial expressions Most people are unaware of the messages they send out non-verbally

60 Minutes - Picking Cotton As we watch the following, think of how Jennifer’s perception of Ronald Cotton impacted this case?