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PERCEPTION
A Theoretical Perspective
The word Perception comes from the Latin words perception, percipio,
meaning receiving, collecting, action of taking possession, apprehension
with the mind or senses.
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many schools of yoga, perception is one of the methods of knowledge
from sensory experience, which man shares with the lowest living beings,
up to the transcendental perception of ultimate reality claimed by great
mystics and seers of the world.
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perceptual environment - like sounds, colours, shapes, textures, etc. but
other variables too which reside within the perceiver and are usually
labeled organismic variables. Thus perception is a result of stimulus
variables and organismic variables.
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1.2 Perception and Public Opinion
Public
Public according to Hold Reinhart & Winston, New York, may
designate any loose association of individuals held together by common
interests, common cultural base and various mechanical means of
communication. It lacks formal institutionalization and is transitory,
amorphous and relatively unstructured association. Robinson defines
Public as any group of people who have a common interest.
Public Opinion
Holt Reinhart & Winston has defined opinion as belief or conviction
more verifiable and stronger in intensity than mere hunch or impression
but less valid and stronger than truly verifiable or positive knowledge.
Thus there is a difference between a fact and an opinion. Keeping in mind
the difference between fact and opinion, public opinion may be defined
as beliefs, convictions or views of individuals on matters or issues of
widespread or public interest and concern.
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of the community necessarily irresistible, showing its power everywhere
and the power which gives sense to the letter and life of the law without
which the written law is a mere husk.
The Public Opinion, as per Cantril, has three major phases i.e. rise of
the issue, discussion, proposed solutions and arrival at consensus.
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of a majority of the people, or, in the absence of an effective majority, the
viewpoint of an effective minority.
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or collecting further information on the subject through various sources
start crystallizing into a conviction and is accepted by the majority of the
people leading to formation of a public opinion.
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Thus perception is the first impression which may be true or not but
if allowed to settle it becomes a conviction or belief leading to formation
of opinion. Once an opinion is formed it becomes like a hardboiled egg
which is very difficult to change. Perception or impression, the first step
in opinion formation can be formed by experience, by the issue concerned,
the utterings of professionals, politicians or statesmen or the people within
the organization and travel to affect the largest number of people. The
acts and responses of the opinion makers upon the mass and of the mass
upon them is the most crucial part of the whole process by which opinion
is produced. There is no doubt that it affects the behavior of public and
media towards organizations.
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There is clearly an interplay between attitude and perception.
Perception is influenced by attitude, and change and development of
attitude is dependent upon the way a source person and his message are
perceived. Yet the two concepts are separate.
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For an organization the formation of attitude of public is a slow process
which becomes permanent when perceptions are allowed settle which
may be generated through delivery of services, fulfilling the mandate or
any other interaction. It also depends upon the communication patterns
and the related components of the perception of the organization. If the
communication is steady and is in consonance with performance, the
perceptions will match reality and thus develop the right opinion, attitude
and behavior of public towards the organization.
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guided by social categories perspective, which holds that there are groups
in the social world who tend to react to any particular media message
in similar ways.
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Effect of Audio Visual Media on Perception
According to Jennings Byant, Graber (1996) noted that audio-visuals
in the news are uniquely successful in creating a sense of reality and a
sense of actually witnessing an event makes these images powerful
tools for manipulating media audiences. For example image of atrocities
inflicted on women or children evoke sympathy. The recent reporting
and coverage of CWG scams created hatred for Sh. Suresh Kalmadi, the
Chairman of Organising Committee much before he was proven guilty.
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In a research study titled Expanding the Organisation Public Relations
Scale the relationship between the service provider and customer was
studied through survey. It was found that such relationship had four
dimensions / components (i) Anthropomorphism i.e. the way organization
demonstrates positive human qualities (i.e trustworthiness, open and
willing to invest in the relationship) which can be construed to be good
customer relations (ii) Professional benefits / Expectations represent a public
perception of professionalism of the organization which can be construed
as image (iii) Personal commitment is wanting to maintain relationships,
feeling linked to the organization. In simple words it can be construed as
creating identity where employees as well as customers identify with the
organization (iv) Community Improvement meaning thereby that the
organization is working for good of the community. The result from this
research also established that an organizations relationship with the public
is multi-dimensional.
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