1. Our Perception is Our Reality By Lisa Polydoros Speech 104 Professor Marteney

2. There is more to lifethan what we perceiveOn a cold January morning in 2007, a man played a violin in abusy Washington D.C. subway station during rush hour.Passersby stopped to watch for a minute, if that, andthen some threw change into his violin case as a tip.After he was done playing, there was no applause,he just walked away quietly with the $32 hehad made from tips for 45 minutes of playing.No one had noticed him leaving.If you had seen this, what would you think? That he is ahomeless man trying to earn some money, right?So did everyone else. But, in fact

3. it was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. AND he had just played 2 days earlier in a sold-out Boston theatre with tickets costing about $100 each. AND he was playing a piece by Bach that is one of the most intricate pieces of music ever written. AND the violin he was using was worth $3.5

4. Consider this What else might we be missing everyday? My Perception, is my REALITY. Your perception is your REALITY. We either place value on things to give them value, or do not place value on things and then they have no value.

5. What is YOURPerception? No 2 people perceive the same situation exactly the same way We each take different meanings from different environmental messages everyday We each use the perception process to accomplish this

6. The PerceptionProcess First we select data from the environment using our senses and filter out the rest Second we sort the information by organizing and prioritizing according to our uniquely individual past experiences Third we interpret the data by assigning meaning to it based on our past experience

7. RecognizingData:We recognize data: Psychologically by our mood and state of mind Physically by our physical condition (senses, age, health, fatigue, hunger, etc.)

8. OrganizingData: Language helps us organize data The more limited our vocabulary, the more limited our reality

9. Factors that Influencehow we interpret data Formal learning teaches us the socially correct view of our environment. Experiences are informal learning occurrences. Expectations are perceptions that we expect to conform to. Closure is making sense out of data and filling in missing information if necessary. Selective Perception is using heuristics as mental shortcuts to interpret the environment. Patterning uses new perceptions to reinforce our current reality to avoid cognitive dissonance.

10. RealityTesting Reality Testing is necessary to narrow the differences in perceptions between people. It is necessary to realize that each persons interpretation of a perception is not fact.

11. RealityTesting Communication narrows the gap between peoples perceptions. comparing realities lets us know if our perceptions are reasonable examining a variety of realities might lead to the discovery of a more accurate reality reevaluate your data if your reality cannot be validated by others be sure to compare realities with a variety of people, not just those who are like-minded

12. RealityTesting Become a better listener Empathetic listeners can recreate anothers perspective by putting themselves in their position Deliberative listening is for gathering information and content

13. Stasis We all want a reality we are comfortable with Stasis is a reality on a particular subject it is the absence of change in one more realities for an extended period of time it is the existing state of things it is physical and/or emotional contentment it is our comfort zone We perceive the world according to our stasis We defend our reality as being the most accurate