1. What is it?

2.  Is the readiness to perceive something in accordance to what we expect it to be.  Expectancy can influence perception in the following ways: Context Motivation Emotional State Past experience Cultural factors

3.  Refers to the setting or environment in which a perception is made.  Imagine you see a bright light flash across the sky that has a tail streaking behind it. How would you interpret this stimulus in:  Outback central Australia?  A war zone?  A ship at sea?  Melbourne’s Yarra River on New Year’s Eve?

4.  Refers to processes within us which activate behaviour that is directed towards achieving a particular goal.  Opposing football fans will often perceive two different events of one action. For example the difference between “holding the man” and “holding the ball”.

5.  How we are feeling can influence the way we perceive visual information.  For example a child who is afraid of being in a darkened bedroom may interpret a shadow of their dressing gown hanging on the back of a door as a ghost.

6.  Refers to our personal experiences throughout life, this includes everything learned by experience, both intentionally and unintentionally.

7.  Refers to the influence of culture and way of life on the way we perceive visual information.  For example before the people of Malawi had been exposed to photographs they were unable to perceive a dog from a black and white photograph.