R8

Quote: “The mechanisms of perception go to a lot of trouble to ensure that what we see corresponds to what is usually out there” (p.200). The elements that make up our perceptions of what we deem ‘reality’ may not always be accurate. This quote makes me think of how the media shapes our perceptions of the world we live in. Through images, concepts, and ideas continuously displayed through different outlets of media, we can actually believe something to be real and make generalizations of a concept that is in actuality false.

Question: The article discusses the concept and formation of language and placing objects, people, ideas, and images into categories/labels to be able to easily identify and retrieve it at a later date. My question, (which closely mirrors a question mentioned in the article) is the following: does placing a label on objects and/or people lead to misconceptions? Furthermore, would the elimination of labels and categories in which we place people change the way we perceive others? Could that stop forms of discrimination?   

Personal Connection: As noted in the article, there is pretty much no way around labels and categories because it is how the human brain accommodates new information that is taken in. The human brain takes new information and tries to pair it with something that has previously been experienced; it is then stored under a specific category and awaits retrieval. In Touch with Reality made me think about what the article states as naive realism: “we see things as they are” (p.198). In my school-based practicum sight, i've noticed that it can be easy to “see things as they are” instead of taking into consideration the whole picture. For instance, a parent who never comes to their child’s Admissions and Release Committee meetings and is often difficult for school personnel to reach may appear to be a negligent parent. On the surface, it would be easy to say that the parent is not acting as an advocate for his/her child, but there could very well be some unknown factors such as the demands of the parent’s job, the health of the parent, lack of transportation, and the like. If not careful, it is very easy to ‘see’ what we want to see in any given situation. This further supports the idea that what our brain tells us to see may not always be an accurate depiction of the situation at hand.   

Outside Connection: The following video is a brief description of gestalt perception, which further supports some of the information provided in the article.