1. Perception is the process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions to give meaning to their environment. It involves both sensation (raw data from the senses) and higher-level cognitive processes that filter and interpret that data.
2. Several factors influence perception, including the perceiver's attitudes and past experiences, the target of the perception, and the situation.
3. Social perception involves how individuals perceive and get to know other people, and is influenced by characteristics of both the perceiver and the target as well as cognitive biases like the halo effect, contrast effect, projection, and stereotyping.