Influences on Perception

Some notice an old woman first, and others a young lady.

When someone thinks about the word and concept of perception the concept of relativity may come to mind. This is so because the perception of something may differ between individuals. This difference is caused by multiple influences such as culture, age, gender, life experiences and situations, among others. 

The first aspect that would affect and influence my perception would be the fact that I’m a woman. Somehow being a woman gives you certain qualities that will affect the way you observe. In my case, I quickly observe the neatness and how well the object, idea or subject portrays itself.  Also have a tendency to have empathy with others. Another factor would be my age. With only 20 years of age I might not have the enough “reason” or urge to acknowledge nature and life to the fullest. Each year that passes, the normal human being realizes more of what life is really about and focuses more on living in to the fullest.  Older people, who have much more experience in years, are able to acknowledge life and the shortness of it. Depending on the age a person has their priorities will vary and affect the way the perceive things. With this we get to the combination of age and health; fatal combination. Because physically I’m probably in my best years, I will see things with less risk and physical harm. While a person with 50 years old might see a roller coaster as an invitation for dizziness, I on the other hand see it as an adventure. 

Another factor would be my bachelor’s concentration on operations management.  Because of the studies and emphasize on business I’m prone to focus on more administrative details other than arquitectural or biology details.  The details I give much more emphasize are those that have to do with my concentration. For example, everywhere I go the organization and processes taken to accomplish a certain task or service take a huge part of the analysis my brain makes. Therefore when it comes to perceiving something, my perceptions go straight to tactical and practical elements.

Then come the experiences in life. If you are old doesn’t mean you have all the experience in the world, you’ve had more time to experience different situations, but that not necessarily have experience them all. And maybe, a younger person has had some experiences you have not had yet. In the past six months my family and I have had two assaults. The first one was in October when a thief entered my house, meanwhile I was sleeping. When I woke up he was in the living room and instead of staying inside I confront him. Two months later my sister and father as the entered our house were point at with a gun. Thankfully nothing bad occurred. Yet these two incidents have affected the way we perceive things. We are much more aware of what’s happening in our surroundings.

Puerto Rican Flag

Another factor that will influence you way of perceiving is your culture. Culture takes a huge part of your identity and is probably the main element that forms your identity. In my case as a Puerto Rican the way of celebrating is throwing a huge party.

Another aspect would be also your biological formation. Focusing on the eyes only, people have different eye construction that affect the way they see. Take for example the famous blue/black or white/gold. The colors were not only affected by the light, the contrast, and the device from where you were looking but also the variation on the construction of the eye.  In conclusion each and everyone’s way to perceive things are different and unique.