Week 2 - Seeing and Perception

Seeing a Perception and two different things but both are linked and are inclined to work together.

When seeing is involved, the perception follows suit.

We see through our eyes and our brain receives the images that we see. Our brain then interprets this and thus, a perception is born.

In other words, perception is the interpretation of a visual stimulus and then it creates an identity. Add power relations such as cultural and social factors in space and time control, one will then have an individual perception, which is, more often than not, unique from another person’s interpretation of looking at the same image.

As stated by Christoph Teufal, (2010) in his book summarize titled Trends in Cognitive Sciences "A current consensus views social perception as a bottom-up process in which the human brain uses social signals to make inferences about another's mental state. Here we propose that, contrary to this model, even the most basic perceptual processing of a social stimulus and closely associated automatic responses are modulated by mental-state attribution. We suggest that social perception is subserved by an interactive bidirectional relationship between the neural mechanisms supporting basic sensory processing of social information and the theory-of-mind system. Consequently, processing of a social stimulus cannot be divorced from its representation in terms of mental states. This hypothesis has far-reaching implications for our understanding of both the healthy social brain and characteristic social failures in psychopathology"

For example, the picture below was taken from the front page of the Borneo Bulletin that was dated August 12, 2010.

Dramatic CCTV footage captures the snatch theft as the man, with the bracelet in his hand, runs out of the shop.

According to the news article by Sim YH taken from http://www.borneobulletin.com.bn/thu/aug12h2.htm as retrieved on 14 August 2010, it was stated that:“In a daring snatch theft rarely seen in Brunei, a gold bracelet worth $10,000 was stolen from a jewellery shop in Kiulap yesterday. Police are in the hunt for a man seen in an orange jump suit, who snatched the gold bracelet. According to a saleswoman at the shop, the man wearing an orange jump suit told her that he wanted to take a look at the bracelet that was on display. But little did she know that the man would snatch the bracelet and disappear. No sooner had she given the bracelet to the man, he took to his heels and ran to a car where someone was waiting for him. Another worker tried to give him a chase, but it was too late as the waiting vehicle sped off as soon as the thief got into it. The police have classified the incident as a snatch theft and are currently investigating. With regards to the theft, the police have advised the public to avoid buying cheap jewellery from strangers. The police have also sought help from the public and are urging anyone who may have information regarding the incident to report to the nearest police station or call the hotline 993”.

Now, orange jumpsuits are typically worn by employees of Brunei Shell Petroleum (BSP) and, to my understanding, BSP employees are paid handsomely for their services. My perception is that the man is either someone who works for the petroleum company or he might just be a random man who wears an orange jumpsuit to delude the shop assistant by letting her think that he actually wanted to buy an expensive piece of jewellery when taking into consideration that he is wearing an orange jumpsuit hence a worker of BSP hence he has enough money to afford pricey items.

However, another person might think differently.

My dad’s perception, upon seeing the photo, came to the conclusion that the man’s action will ruin BSP’s reputation.

This is what I mean by the power of relations that is the culture of Brunei in stereotyping BSP employees and branding them as wealthy people. It is accepted that BSP workers are people who have a stable job, a stable carrier and are financially stable. But what about the attitude?

My perception is that the man tried to manipulate the shop assistant with his appearance as a BSP worker whilst my dad’s perception is that the man is an actual BSP worker.

Though both perception’s and news article differs, the perception that the man’s orange jumpsuit relates him to a BSP worker is still the same.

Take a look at the next picture. It was taken from the front page of Media Permata (where I work) on August 11, 2010.

http://www.mediapermata.com.bn/rabu/aug11t2.htm

The photo is related to the announcement of the fasting month of Ramadhan, which started on a Thursday sometime last month.

It depicts religious officials attempting to sight the new moon to signify the start of the fasting season. It is obvious that two of the officers have their eyes closed, which means they might have accidentally closed their eyes when the photo was taken.

It is to my perception that the editor might have chosen the wrong picture to publish or that my colleague might have given him only this photo for publication. Or, perhaps, our editor might have used the photo prior to checking it for faults or even perhaps that the photographer responsible did not take a good photo.

My father’s perception, which I find funny, translates as: “This is why the new moon was not sighted. They have their eyes closed.” Apart from making me laugh, I had a shift in perception.

I later realised that, perhaps, our editor chose this particular photo to further symbolise the fact that the new moon could not be seen.

In reality, what we see does not tell the whole story.

These two different photos are subjected to many perceptions based on an individual’s knowledge, norm, beliefs, values and many other factors.

My perception is that seeing and perception tends to cooperate.

Without seeing then how are we able to perceive?

Bear in mind that there are those who come up with their own perception based on what they smell and hear.

These are my perceptions. What are yours?

Bibilography:

• Christoph Teufal, (2010). Summarize book titled Trends in Cognitive in Sciences, Volume 14, Issue 8, 376-382, 23 June 2010, Retrieved from http://www.cell.com/trends/cognitive-sciences/abstract/S1364-6613%2810%2900113-0

• Sim Y.H, (2010, Aug 14). Snatch Theft. The Borneo Bulletin. Retrieved from http://www.borneobulletin.com.bn/thu/aug12h2.htm.

• Ak Fairol Marali (Aug 2010). Puasa Bermula Esok. Media Permata. Reterieved from http://www.mediapermata.com.bn/rabu/aug11t2.htm