Judgment shapes perception as both an unconscious and a conscious process. This natural part of perception is relevant as a filtering function, for example, and thus is the cause of the selectivity of the perceptual process. Faulty judgment is present, for example, in people with dysmorphophobia.
What is judgment?
Judgment shapes perception as both an unconscious and a conscious process. Human perceptual structures enable people to form a picture of situations and their environment. From the perspective of evolutionary biology, perception is synonymous with the chance of survival. His senses determine whether man recognizes dangers and opportunities in time and, on the basis of this, can proceed to a reaction-like action. The process of perception is closely interwoven with the process of judgment for precisely this reason. To perceive without making judgments is an impossibility. Perception is not only the first instance of forming an opinion about a situation and the environment, but itself takes place on the basis of filtering processes and thus unconscious judgments. This phenomenon is known as selective perception. Out of all the stimuli that affect us, we select what is perceived and what reaches the human consciousness in the first place. Because of the immense number of permanently acting stimuli, such filter processes are necessary in order not to flood the brain with stimuli. As a filter process, the assessment of stimuli is a relevance assessment, which is primarily made by prior experience. At the same time, cognitive judgment programs also play a role in the further processing of percepts that reach consciousness. These judgment programs correspond mainly to irradiation, the halo effect, and attribute dominance, and help in the conscious formation of opinions about what is perceived.
Function and task
The filtering processes and unconscious judgments in the perceptual system allow people to perceive only what is deemed relevant in the current situation. Patterns play an increased role in this process, especially those whose complexity is located between a perfect symmetry and an absolute lack of structure. For this reason, humans blank out the ticking of the clock, for example, as long as it does not break through the monotony. Likewise, the confused sound of rain outside the window is blanked out as long as no pattern structure can be recognized in it. From the point of view of evolutionary biology, the unconscious search for patterns has helped humans to survive. The fact that he can recognize patterns is partly responsible for his survival. But it is not only the search for patterns that shapes human perception as a filter. The personal experiences, expectations, interests and attitudes of humans also play a role in the evaluation and selection of the incoming sensory impressions. Socialization, for example, can be named as a first assessment filter. In addition to education, experiences with one’s own family, school and circle of friends or work group shape a person’s own world views and values. Like the way of thinking, the way of perceiving is already shaped by these experiences. In addition to values and opinions, the social environment shapes interests and prejudices, for example, all of which come into effect as judgment filters of perceived sensory impressions. For example, attention is directed on the basis of interests. For this reason, people tend to see what they themselves possess or at least what they have already dealt with. The judgment instance of perception considers familiar or expected things to be particularly relevant in this context. A second judgment filter is feelings. The emotionally positive connection to a person lets the person recognize the positive in all actions of the same. The same is true the other way around. In addition, extreme fear or high nervousness usually shapes perception with a heightening of the senses. From an evolutionary-biological point of view, this phenomenon is again related to the increased demand for attention and readiness to react in dangerous situations. The environment of the human being also influences the unconscious evaluation of the perceptual stimuli, so in particular the social role or situational power structures. Through these filters, the sensory organs take in only a part of all possible stimuli. In the sensory memory, perceptions are tested for their usefulness and, when usefulness is recognized, pass into short-term memory for further processing.Further processing corresponds to a fragmentation of the information into small units. These units are processed separately and, for example, amplified, mitigated, or evaluated before they are reassembled. One of the cognitive judgment programs for this process is, for example, attribute dominance, which makes a single characteristic the decisive factor for forming an opinion. On the basis of judgment by irradiation, humans infer from the properties of a single feature to other features, and because of the halo effect, preexisting judgments determine the judgment of new percepts and their individual attributes.
Diseases and ailments
The judgment of percepts can be disturbed in various ways. Because it is shaped by experience and socialization, traumatic events, for example, can lead to grotesque judgments of sensory stimuli. Psychology is concerned with such perceptual disorders. Dysmorphophobia can be mentioned as an example of disturbed perceptual judgment. This body dysmorphic disorder causes a disturbed self-perception. One’s own appearance is judged as malformed. Those affected live with the fear of their apparent ugliness and react accordingly absurdly to their environment. Many of those affected already have a negative attitude towards their own person before the disease. In such a case, the affected person sees in the mirror what he ultimately expects of himself, namely ugliness. Patients develop a hatred of their own body and repeatedly experience themselves in the mirror as a horrible “me”. A realistic assessment of their own person and related perceptions is impossible for them. Their environment often perceives the affected persons as attractive, but for the affected persons themselves, their own body image is associated with disgust. Thus, there is a great discrepancy between the self-image and the external image. In public, those affected often feel constantly observed and despised, which leads to fear of contact with other people. The disease often begins during puberty, when adolescents are often very insecure about their own appearance. In some cases, psychological injuries caused by the environment play an increased role in the development of the disease and become so entrenched that they enter the perception filter as a judgment factor. A similar example of a perceptual distortion of the self that takes place because of disturbed perceptual judgment is anorexia.
