Post 1: Perception

Hey there guys! Its been a long time since I've used Blogger (since 2004 actually), so here's my first academic come-back entry.

Amazing Sidewalk Art

The sidewalk artist is Julian Beever. He is an English artist well-known for his chalk art on the pavement in England, France, Germany, Australia, Belgium, and the United States. These life-like chalk drawings are actually amazing 3-D illusions. The artist perfectly blends the colours with the existing background. Bet you guys thought they were not mere drawings right? The impression these pictures gave us made us think that they really pop out from the floor.

There are a number of factors to influence our perception. It includes attitudes, motives, interests, past experiences and expectations. When we observe people, we attempt to develope explanations of why they behave and act in certain ways. Our perception and judgment of a person's actions, therefore, will be significantly influenced by the assumptions and also guided along by stereotypes, we make about the person. Perceiving and interpreting what others can be a hassle and therefore we use a number of shortcuts for making it more manageable.

We judge someone on the basis of our perception of the group to which he or she belongs. Groups where individuals associate themselves such as a gangster group, school clique and family background do affect our judgement. In organizations, we frequently hear comments that represent stereotypes based on gender, age, nationality and even weight. One of the problems of stereotypes is that they are so widespread, influential and impactful, despite the fact that they may not contain a shred of truth or may be irrelevant.

So guys, let's not be too blatant and brash with our perceptions.