The Perception - Artificial Human Sensors: Science and Applications - page 58

Figure 3.3. Social pattern is a natural process in society, however, it is influenced to a
certain degree of social bias. Photo courtesy and copyright Jesper Johansson c 2010.
Our expectations control what we pay attention to, and what seems to be for
the sake of convenience, the choice is not to perceive information that is not in
coherence with our expectations and earlier experience.
When growing up, we quickly learn to adopt specific socially accepted
behavioural rules and codes. From the media and during school lessons, we learn
the social perception patterns we need to absorb, to conveniently sort people,
groups and populations into categories. Later in life, as adults, we may under-
stand that these generalisations of detailed simplification have a social implication
that is maintained from generation to generation by the interpretation of a social
perception.
In social perception, different factors determine what we pay attention to.
The external affecting factors that influence the resolved and directed attention,
may be gender, clothes, appearance and age. In addition to the internal affecting
factors, e.g., gestures, voice characteristics, body carriage and facial expression,
result in how and why we notice a certain person. Also, a portion of our own
sphere of interest, expectation, as well as other influences contribute to the overall
impression.
The social perception is indeed a general element that is present in our daily