Perception

Perception-“The process by which individuals organise and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment” (Robbins et al, 2010).

I am generally a good at judge of people’s character but I misjudged someone which ultimately was a big mistake. One of my cousin’s came to live with us for a period of time. As she was my cousin I thought she would be loyal and trustworthy it turned out to be the opposite because of her I almost put into care. My initial judgement of her was that she was a nice person because she gave the impression that she was. She would always say and do the right things. In 2010 Mullins talked about cultural differences, he says “the way in which people interact are subject to cultural difference, cultural difference often leads to stereotyping”. This was the opposite for me because we were from the same place and share the same back ground I thought it would be ok to trust her. I suppose I did stereotype because I thought we would share the same values because we were from the same place but that wasn’t the case.

“We already know what we are looking for and are therefore ‘set’ to receive only that information which confirms out initial thoughts” (Mullins 2010). This was true in my case because I was looking for her to have the same interests and values as me I was blind to the fact that she was a liar. My perception of her was so wrong.

If I had the opportunity to redo this situation I would handle it differently. I wouldn’t be as trusting as I was. I would make sure I found out as much about her before I started to make judgment. I definitely wouldn't have let her stay in our house.

Reference

1.     Mullins. L. J. Published 1985. Latest edition (9th) 2010.Management & Organisational Behaviour. Essex. Pearson Education Limited