Human Needs
Perceptions are largely determined by needs and desires. In other words, we see what we want to see. Like the mirrors at amusement parks, we distort the world; the distortion is in relation to our needs and desires. Perceptual behavior is no exception to the all-pervasive influence of needs.
The influence of need in shaping perception has frequently been studied in the experimental laboratory. An example is a study In which subjects in various stages of hunger were asked to report what they saw in ambiguo:ls black and white drawings flashed before them for very short periods of time. The results of the expedment showed that as hunger increased up to a certain point, the subjects saw more and more of the ambiguous figures as articles of food. Thus the hungry subjects "saw" more steaks, salads, and have sandwiches than subjects who had just eaten.
For all everyday example of the effects of needs on perception, consider two men looking through a store window at a display of automobile accessories. One man needs a tire and the other some antifreeze. Both men are exposed to the same objects ir: the window display. The first will notice the bland; tread, and price of the tires and generally neglect the other objects. The second will be able to tell you all about the antifreeze preparations and will have little informatio about anything else. What was clearly perceived by each of these
was detennined by his particular need. If you need to buy a car, yo will see structural characteristics, colors, and styling of automobiles that are missed completely by a person who has no interest in buying a car.
