Experience of Living in the Cities
The word individual perception in social psychology refers to the various mental mechanisms people use to shape perceptions of other people and the things they see. It not only entails how they shape these encounters, but also the different conclusions that they derive from their perceptions concerning people and things. Considering the many times’ people render judgments on a person or something every day, they start creating initial impressions instantly when they meet new people or encounter a new object. For example, it’s effortless for a person to draw conclusions about a cashier at a grocery store they go to even though they know nothing or very little about this person just by using their perceptions. People’s perceptions allow them to reach snap judgments and decisions, but it can also lead to other people’s distorted or stereotyped views. In this case study, age and gender are discussed as factors that determine people’s perception and how they perceive things.
It’s essential for people to understand why they see things the way they do and if their age and gender have anything to do with their perceptions. The gender and age perspective explores the effect that gender has on the incentives, social roles, and experiences of people. Effective implementation of the international and national organizations’ plan, program, and project objectives are directly influenced by the gender effect, which, in addition, impacts the social development process. Gender is an integral part of every aspect of the economic, social, daily, and private lives of individuals and communities, and of the various roles that society imposes on men and women. To a lot of people, perception becomes their reality, and thus it has profound effects on them. They do not understand why things or people are the way they are and what causes them to tick. By conducting the case study below, the paper seeks to describe the connection between the above variables vividly.
To collect data on the study, a group of20 people of different ages, races, gender, and status were requested to draw a map of New York City to determine their perception of the city. All the participants were given enough time to respond to the request. To avoid bias or duplication, each individual was given enough space to themselves to make sure that the result was their original work. After all the participants were done, drawn maps were collected and compared. The result was grouped in terms of age, gender, race, and status. To analyze the data, the entire four factors were carefully considered and the effects they had on the people’s perception of the city of New York.
It was founded that the participants provided a different perception of the city. This was profoundly affected by their racial background, age, gender, and income. For most young people, their maps were a depiction of a lively city with a lot of clubs and bars, campuses, and parks. The older participants showed a bustling city with a lot of traffic, offices, parks and museums, statutes, and also surrounded by suburbs. In terms of race, it was founded that most people color did not present much in their maps about how they perceived the city. Instead, their significant concentrations were in the suburbs and the parks surrounding the town where most of the work. White participants hand better-presented maps on their perception, with most of them showing commercial and business offices where they must have been before. Most of the middle class earning participants had little to draw on their maps. Men and women also presented a different perception of how they perceived the city. Most maps presented by men were more detailed than those presented by women.
According to the above-collected date, it can be seen that age, gender, race, and income are all factors that contribute to people’s perception and their view of things. The young people are at their prime years in life, and thus all they are looking for is a good time, and this can be seen in the maps presented. Although they might walk in the streets of the cities each day, their eyes are fixated on clubs and bars, campuses and parks where they hang around with friends. Their perception is controlled by those things that are important to them. On the other hand, older people are more concerned with life, and thus their perception is affected by the things they see, such as traffic, workplaces, homes, and things that are family-oriented. White people are better privileged compared to people of color, and thus, their perception of things is controlled by places they go to or aspire to go. This is the same case for people with low to medium income, which in this case, the large number are the people of color. Lastly, gender also contributed to people’s perceptions in a significant way. Men were observed to be more observant concerning various things and vice versa.
In conclusion, a person’s perception and view of things are greatly affected by their age, gender, race, income, and other factors. Two people can be looking at the same model of an object and yet see very distinct things in their minds. When people see something, they interpret them in their minds and conclude how they will perceive it. The participants were all told to present a map of New York City, and they all presented different drawing that was guided by their perceptions and the things they had seen or heard about. The perception of a person and their view of things can there be said to be dependent on external and internal factors in a person.
Work Cited