My three most powerful factors when it comes to influencing my perception are: My mood, my own life experiences, and my mental illness. While the last one ties in with the first the two are different and cover different areas of my perception.
While reading the textbook one of the perception areas really stood out to me, mood. Part of that was for due to the first line stated in that section. “Our emotional state strongly influences how we view people events, and, therefore, how we communicate (Lount, 2010).” (Alder, Winder, Rosenfeld, & Proctor II, 2020, p. 89). Since I have found this to be the case with myself it struck a cord with me. Whether I’m happy, sad, irritated, calm, or in some other emotional state, it affects how I respond to things. When happy or calm my patience level is far higher than in situations where I’m sad or irritated. When having conversations with friends I assess my mood and inform them if my emotional state might make it more difficult for me to perceive what is being said in a positive light.
A personal example of this would be the difference between days when I am feeling happy and have no issue helping a coworker with the same thing multiple times versus days when I’m already irritated and am being asked to explain the same thing over and over. On the happy days I just see it as the coworker knowing I know how and so asking me to help them figure it out. On days when I’m already irritated it seems as though this same coworker is making no progress and isn’t bothering to retain what I’ve already explained several times.
When the textbook went through how we interpret things based on experiences I nodded my head in agreement though I was reading it to myself. The short part about personal experience was something that stood out to me due to the question asked. “What meanings have similar events held?” (Alder, Winder, Rosenfeld, & Proctor II, 2020, p. 84). For me this is something that actually causes problems for me. I have lived through some experiences that have left me wary of others. If situations are too similar to past ones I begin to struggle to cope.
I am instantly on my guard when people flirt with me via social media or other internet platforms. An old friend flirting to try to boost my self-confidence can have me struggling to breathe. I know logically that this person means me no harm, but my perception of the situation is too coloured by my past experiences for me to handle the situation logically.
Another example is that due to past experiences I now watch crowds carefully. I make sure I can see where the entrance and exit are. I get uncomfortable if I can’t see at least one door. I spent time where I had to hide and so I still watch for that same person as well as keeping an eye on escape routes should they become necessary. My perception of crowded places has changed due to this. I see them as something to endure rather than enjoy. If I’m not alone it becomes easier to relax in those same situations. This again is due to my perception of safety.
My world can easily turn upside down if I get an anxiety attack or find myself struggling to cope with a depression spiral. While I didn’t find a mention of these in the textbook reading, mental illness truly affects how the world is perceived. This can be to the level of what colours we see. (Harvard Mental Health Letter, 2010).
Anxiety makes me hyper aware of my surroundings. Noise seems louder, colours and movements can overwhelm me. An increase in sensory-perceptual has been found in those with generalized anxiety, ptsd, and other related anxiety disorders (Robinson, Vytal, Cornwell, & Grillon, 2013). Having my sensory perception increased definitely alters how I perceive things. What would normally be a comfortable buzz of noise becomes overwhelming. What would normally be an enjoyable interactive game becomes terrifying.
I have found that with all these things colouring my perception of the world around me and the people in it I have to keep an eye on what is affecting me. I watch for my mental illness triggers, I keep tabs on my mood, and I tell those I care about information about my past and how it could affect things so they aren’t taken off guard. By keeping myself aware I try to reduce misunderstandings both on my part and on the part of others around me.
References
Alder, R. B., Winder, C., Rosenfeld, L. B., & Proctor II, R. F. (2020). Interplay Fifth Canadian Edition. Oxford.
Harvard Mental Health Letter. (2010, November). The Quirky Brain: How depression may alter visual perception. Retrieved from Harvard Health Publishing: https://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/the-quirky-brain-how-depression-may-alter-visual-perception
Robinson, O. J., Vytal, K., Cornwell, B. R., & Grillon, C. (2013). The impact of anxiety upon cognition: perspectives from human threat of shock studies. Frontiers in Human Neroscience. Retrieved from PMC: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3656338/
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