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DISCUSSION/RESPONSES COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY

Discussions are fundamental to shared learning, so please be sure to participate early and often!

After you have completed the Reading, and without reviewing your classmate’s responses, post your initial response to the following Discussion. Your post should be at least 200-250 words in length and should extend the discussion of the group supported by your course materials and/or other appropriate resources.

After you have submitted your initial post, take time to review your classmates’ responses and to respond specifically and substantially to at least two of them. Refer to the Discussion Rubric in Course Resources for specific grading explanation.

Perception

In this unit you learned about perception, with a particular emphasis on visual perception.

This week you will be discussing what you have learned about perception and why it is important for psychologists to understand. Please make sure you answer all parts of the questions below.

RESPONSE 1 AMANDA:What is perception?
Perception is when we use our senses to become aware of a situation or something that we know. It can be something that we have learned from previous experience or something that we see, smell, or hear. There are two types of perceptual stimuli. Distal stimulus is the actual object that you see, and proximal stimulus is the information that registers when you see that object.
Understanding perception is important because it helps psychologists to understand how a person feels about their environment and how they feel about it based on previous experiences. If someone has had a bad experience with the ocean, they may not view it as beautiful place to visit on vacation. It would bring up negative feelings and seem scary or dreadful to them. Perception can help a psychologist to help change the person’s perception of the ocean to a more favorable one.
It is also important to know what bottom up and top down processing is. Top down processing is when we store information from past experiences or previous knowledge to understand what we perceive. Bottom up processing is when we perceive our environment strictly from what is going on around us.

Matlin, Margaret W., Thomas Farmer. Cognition, 9th Edition. Wiley, 2016. [Purdue University Global Bookshelf].

RESPONSE 2 DANAE:Perception is the way that we interpret information from our senses. Perception uses knowledge previously learned, memory and sensory stimuli to enable you to understand information presented or the environment. To make sense of the world around you perception uses the top down bottom up method to process information. Bottom up processing processes information as it comes in. Sort of like data collection of information. Top down method refers to how we process information that our brain has stored previously and recognizes (Matlin, Farmer 2016). I think that perception is important for psychologists to understand because it is the way that we as individuals make sense of the world around us using our senses. In working with people on a case by case bases our perceptions are unique and can drastically differ. It is important for psychologists to have a good understanding of perception to better communicate to the clients views and understanding and serve them from that point. If you cannot see and understand things from another’s perception therapy might not be successful.