Discussion+Questions+for++for+The+Task+of+Perception

Back to Home>Back to Perception and Language = Discussion Questions for "The Task of Perception" =

//After you read the selection from Reuben Abel's book, __Man is the Measure__//, consider and discuss the below questions.

1. Explain the quote from pg. 34, "Perception is active inquiry, not passive reception". What does this say about the process of perception?

2. Can we ever be sure that our perception of a series of stimuli is the **correct** one? Can we all perceive something in the same way?

3. Abel contends that perception is an act of finding a solution to a problem. How can the different knowledge communities that I belong to impact how I //solve// the world around me? How do my beliefs influence my interpretation? What happens when I interact with someone whose identity is different from mine?

4. If sensory input only gains meaning once I interpret it and my interpretations are influenced by my established beliefs and knowledge about the world, what would happen if I encountered something that I have never seen before? Would I ignore it or simply identify it as something I already knew. In other words if you had never heard of or seen an elephant, would your brain interpret it as a fat, grey horse? Put another way, would you really recognize an alien if it didn't look like the Hollywood conception of one?