The Perceptual Process

The perceptual process is something we engage in on a daily basis. It allows us to experience the world around us and also gain information about core properties and elements of the environment that are critical to our survival. The perceptual process involves  four stages which includes; Sensation, organization, interpretation  and, evaluation. The process is done with a speed so fast, its often not noticeable to us, and by the time we get to the evaluation stage, we pass judgement on what we perceive. 

There are several influences that could impact our perceptual process and of the several, there are three that stands out the most to me. The implicit personality theory, self fulfilling theory and the most effective of them all, stereotype are influences that I personally believe has more of an impact in my life. 

The implicit personality theory is the common expectations that we generate about a person after something of their central traits are known to us. The most common example would be the notion that happy people are also friendly. We are all guilty of this, as we all engage in similar assumptions. I often assume intelligent people are arrogant, quiet people are timid and aggressive people are stupid. with the implicit personality theory, it is very easy for one's assumption to end up being a fallacy.

Self fulfilling prophecy is mainly driven by expectation -which could be positive or negative- about a situation or event that affects our behavior in such a manner that it causes that expectation to be fulfilled. A classic example will be, if we start our day with the thought of having a bad day, such thinking may refine our actions, which could end up fulfilling our predictions. I recently had a Soccer game on Friday and prior to the game, I had this positive attitude towards it -I truly believed we could win- and being the captain of the team, I gave a wonderful motivational speech to my teammate which in my own opinion boosted the morale of my team and we ended up winning the game. 

Stereotype simply put, is to believe unfairly that all people or things with particular characteristic are the same. In my own opinion, this is the most influential when it comes to the perceptual process. We tend to classify people into various groups with race, gender, sex , and culture being the most common. Stereotypes could come across as being positive or negative. For instance saying black people are good at sports, men are strong and do all the work, women aren't as smart as men, girls are not good at sports, all Jews are greedy, French people are the best lovers etc are all stereotypes. I am African however, I have lived in England for a reasonable amount of years. I observed that most English and American people has this false picture of what Africa truly is. Just like Marshall Tebu revealed in his blog post, they seem to think we Africans, are a bunch of poor, unkempt, and Illiterate group of people that lives in the jungle, all of which is very wrong and untrue.

Writing this blog post has been very interesting as it shows how active we are in regards to the perceptual process. The Perceptual process is continuous and I believe It is something that we are inevitably going to do for the rest of our lives

My Authentic Self

Since time immemorial, man/woman have been in search of themselves. People claim to know themselves and then someone comes along and gives a completely different opinion from what they thought they knew about themselves, and they are more confused than they have ever been. Nobody actually knows everything about themselves because people tend to believe that they are without fault and blameless. Hence, they filter the good from the bad and claim all the good attributes, turning a blind eye to their faults.

The Johari window shows us that no matter how good we think we know ourselves, there are still certain things unknown to us. Other people see the good as well as the bad in us, and certain qualities we have that we are not even aware of.

My names are Christopher Isibor Ebigwu. My friends call me Bane. I would rather people call me Christopher instead of Chris. I went to military school at the age of 10 till 18 and lived in England for eight years after that. So yeah, I'm very independent. I am very vain, I love myself. I LOVE and play football, not that thing Americans call "football", the real FOOTBALL- as in soccer. I hate education because it is based on someone else's perspective. I like to make my own mistakes and learn from it. I like to feel, see, touch, perceive things and draw my own opinions and conclusions from them and not rely on someone else's perspective. I am proudly Nigerian. Even though I have been a victim of racial segregation several times in England, I am still proud of my skin color. I believe that I have not been racially profiled here yet because of my English accent. I am a typical Nigerian. Anybody older than me is Sir or Ma and I like to give people their respect because I want to be respected in return. I love my family but no so much that I could die for them. I am very authoritative, but then i'm African and most African men are. I hate people telling me what to do. I always want things to go my way and when they don't, I'm disappointed. When I tell someone to do something I want it done right away, immediately, because I am a perfectionist. I do not care about other people's opinion and I hate gossip.

But I can compromise and I am fun to have around. I might be stubborn, arrogant, vain and authoritative but then I consider other people's feelings. I do not let other people define me. I believe that people should not be defined by other people's opinions. I believe that I can adapt to any situation I find myself and mingle with anybody regardless of social status. I am an overcomer, an achiever, a SURVIVOR.

Introduction

Hello Mi name's Christopher Ebigwu, I am 28 years old from West Africa, the country of Nigeria to be precise. I moved to St George from England about a year ago to pursuit a degree in Computer Sciences with an emphasis on Design. Pre-St George, I lived in England for a period of seven years, where I received my first degree in the field of  Architecture. I am  the second child of six children by my parents and I am also a twin, I have got a twin sister. I really enjoy Sports such  as Tennis and Soccer however, I actually don't understand why Americans call it "Soccer" though, the Brits must be really upset as it's been called football in Europe. I also enjoy learning different cultures as it helps paint a picture of what we truly are as a race. I see myself as an explorer, for I like to experience things physically, I literally have to see with mi own eyes, touch with mi own hands and hear with mi own ears to fully understand what I perceive which is one of the reasons why I hate reading books simply because most of the time books are written from someone else's perspective. I would say that I am a very active visual learner, a monkey see monkey do sorta person. I love art in all its various forms from paintings, to animations, to fashion, and architectural masterpieces etc. I mean anything that triggers my creative ability. 

I hope undertaking this course or module rather would help unlock some of my hidden abilities that would help me become a better individual in the nearest future. Cheers.