Three things are essential in adjusting to day-by-day situations. First, perception involves the view of the situation. Second, communication relates to interaction with others. Third, problem solving means doing something about the situation.
Perception means organizing sensory information in an orderly and meaningful manner. We perceive the same things in different ways, at different times. Past experience influences perception. To ignore a person's past experience is to ignore a major determinant of perception, and to make the unwarranted assumption that everyone perceives the world in the same way. Through set we'pay attention to certain features of a situation. We see and hear what we want to see and hear because much of perception is determined by needs and desires.
Emotional states are related to perception; they may even influence perception before the individual is aware of the stimulus. In getting to know the world, one selects stimuli to react to, a process we call "attention." Attention is gained through change and through repetition; intensity of the stimulus, as well as the novelty of it, is a powerful determinant of attention. Differences or contrasts help focus attention; social suggestions may cause people to attend to a particular stimulus. Control of distraction is important to the perceptual process because efficiency may be hampered by taking attention away from a task at hand. Illusions are errors in perception. They are misleading in that we may get a false meaning from the signs received from our sense organs. Illusions dramatically illustrate the fact that perception can play tricks on us.
The basic principles of perception are often brought to our attention by advertising and supported through other ingredients of the marketing mix. Decisions are influenced by advertising attempts to control the ways in which we build up buying habits. The mix also involves selling and customer service, credit and pricing. Beliefs, which influence buying, are important in the mix.
Communication means different things at different times to all of us, but it is always a two-way street of giving and receiving. Language is at the center of communication, but we also communicate through the visual arts and through music and literature. There is communication in marriage through sharing common interests, friendships, and levels of aspiration.
We communicate at different levels. At the verbal level we use words, with demonstrative meaning, and we communicate at the level of feelings. At the level of understanding we deal with perception. The behavior level is characterized by the roles we play. At the interaction level we relate to the organizational climate.
Language is more than just the use of words; it reflects both the personality and the environment of the person speaking or writing. Language reinforces our ways of feeling, thinking, and behaving. We tend to favor communications which are positive and boost our ego. Communication also relates to the size and education of audience and to individual beliefs. We can get an information overload. Good communication means the opposite of being ignored; it is a.product of social interaction. Communication is a complex process involving stimuli, interpretations, and reactions with a feedback system.
The human being is basically an efficient information processor who, over time, builds up problem spaces that relate to different kinds of problems. Progress in problem solving comes as the new gets integrated with the old. Problem solving is an orderly process, whether we are dealing with something technical or with human relationships.
