The document describes an experiment where world-renowned violinist Joshua Bell performed incognito at a Washington D.C. metro station. Over 45 minutes, he played some of the most intricate pieces of music ever written using a $3.5 million violin. However, very few people stopped to listen, and he only collected $32 from the performance. The experiment highlighted how context and preconceptions influence perception, as most commuters did not recognize the talent in front of them. Perception is shaped by both external factors like environment and internal factors like beliefs, attitudes, and expectations.

1. PERCEPTION
Jiwan Jyoti Maini
Faculty, MIMIT Malout
Email: jjmaini2001@yahoo.co.in

2. “ WE DON’T SEE THINGS AS
THEY ARE, WE SEE THINGS
AS WE ARE.”

3. Blind Men & Elephant

6. • One of the most famous versions of the 19th Century was
the poem "The Blind Men and the Elephant" by
John Godfrey Saxe (1816–1887).
American poet John Godfrey Saxe based this poem, on a
fable that was told in India many years ago. It is a good
warning about how our sensory perceptions can lead to
some serious misinterpretations; especially when the
investigations of the component parts of a whole, and their
relations in making up the whole, are inadequate and lack
co-ordination.
• And so these men of Hindustan Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion Exceeding stiff and strong, Though
each was partly in the right And all were in the wrong.

7. The poem begins:
V.
I. The Fourth reached out his eager hand,
It was six men of Hindustan And felt about the knee.
To learning much inclined, "What most this wondrous beast is like
Who went to see the Elephant Is mighty plain," quoth he;
(Though all of them were blind), "'Tis clear enough the Elephant
That each by observation Is very like a tree!"
Might satisfy his mind VI.
II. The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
The First approached the Elephant, Said: "E'en the blindest man
And happening to fall Can tell what this resembles most;
Against his broad and sturdy side, Deny the fact who can,
At once began to bawl: This marvel of an Elephant
"God bless me!-but the Elephant Is very like a fan!"
Is very like a wall!" VII.
III. The Sixth no sooner had begun
The Second, feeling of the tusk, About the beast to grope,
Cried: "Ho!-what have we here Than, seizing on the swinging tail
So very round and smooth and sharp? That fell within his scope,
To me't is mighty clear "I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
This wonder of an Elephant Is very like a rope!"
Is very like a spear!" VIII.
IV. And so these men of Indostan
The Third approached the animal, Disputed loud and long,
And happening to take Each in his own opinion
The squirming trunk within his hands, Exceeding stiff and strong,
Thus boldly up and spake: Though each was partly in the right,
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant And all were in the wrong!
Is very like a snake!"

8. Perception.. A social experiment
April 9, 2010
THE SITUATION
In Washington, DC, at a Metro Station,
on a cold January morning in 2007, this
man with a violin played six Bach pieces
for about 45 minutes.
During that time, approximately 2,000
people went through the station, most
of them on their way to work.
After about 3 minutes, a middle-aged
man noticed that there was a musician
playing.
He slowed his pace and stopped for a
few seconds, and then he hurried on to
meet his schedule.

9. About 4 minutes later:
The violinist received his first dollar. A woman threw money in
the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.
• At 6 minutes:
A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then
looked at his watch and started to walk again.
At 10 minutes:
A 3-year old boy stopped, but his mother tugged him along
hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the
mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his
head the whole time. This action was repeated by several other
children, but every parent – without exception – forced their
children to move on quickly.
• At 45 minutes:
The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and
listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued
to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.

10. • After 1 hour:
He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed and no
one applauded. There was no recognition at all.
• No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the
greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most
intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million
dollars. Two days before, Joshua Bell sold-out a theater in Boston
where the seats averaged $100 each to sit and listen to him play the
same music.
This is a true story. Joshua Bell, playing incognito in the D.C. Metro
Station, was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social
experiment about perception, taste, and people’s priorities.
• This experiment raised several questions:
*In a common-place environment, at an inappropriate hour, do we
perceive beauty?
*If so, do we stop to appreciate it?
*Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

11. • One possible conclusion reached from this
experiment could be this:
If we do not have a moment to stop and
listen to one of the best musicians in the
world, playing some of the finest music ever
written, with one of the most beautiful
instruments ever made . . ..
• How many other things are we missing as we
rush through life?

12. Quotes
• “Change the way you • “To change ourselves
look at things and the effectively, we first had to
things you look at change our perceptions.”
change.” ― Stephen R. Covey, The
7 Habits of Highly
― Wayne W. Dyer Effective People

13. • “I believe I am in Hell, • “Life is 10 percent what
therefore I am.” you make it
― Arthur Rimbaud and 90 percent how you
take it.”
― Irving Berlin

14. Perception
Perception is the process of receiving
information about and making sense of the
world around us.
It involves deciding which information to
notice, how to categorize this information and
how to interpret it within the framework of
existing knowledge.

15. What is Perception ?
• A process by which individuals
organize and interpret their
sensory impressions (stimuli)
in order to give meaning to
their environment.
• People’s behavior is based on
their perception of what
reality is, not on reality itself.

16. Perception
You can see a white vase as figure against a
black background, or two black faces in
profile on a white background

17. What do you see?
Now what do you see?

18. AMBIGUOUS FIGURES
CAN BE SEEN IN DIFFERENT WAYS TO MAKE
DIFFERENT IMAGES. BEST KNOWN AMBIGUOUS
FIGURE IS “OLD WOMAN/YOUNG WOMAN,” BY E. G.
BORING

19. WHAT IS PERCEPTION?
YOUR
interpretation of reality
after information/stimuli is …

20. CONT..
Filtered out
 Selected
 Organized
 Defined
….using YOUR existing…

21. CONT..
Knowledge
Needs
Beliefs
Values
Assumptions
Attitudes.

22. PRICE/QUALITY RELATIONSHIP
The perception of price as
an indicator of product
quality (e.g., the higher
the price, the higher the
perceived quality of the
product).

24. SOME MARKETING VARIABLES
INFLUENCING CONSUMER
PERCEPTION
Nature of Product
Physical Attributes of Product
Package Design
Brand Name
Advertisements & Commercials
Position of Ad
Editorial Environment

25. DISTORTING INFLUENCES
Physical Appearances
Stereotypes
Irrelevant Cues
First Impressions
Jumping to Conclusions
Halo Effect

26. HOW CONSUMERS HANDLE
RISK
Seek Information
Stay Brand Loyal
Select by Brand Image
Rely on Store Image
Buy the Most Expensive Model
Seek Reassurance

27. The Perceptual Process
1. Sensation 3.Organization
– An individual’s ability to – The process of placing
detect stimuli in the selected perceptual
immediate environment. stimuli into a framework
2. Selection for “storage.”
– The process a person 4.Translation
uses to eliminate some of – The stage of the
the stimuli that have perceptual process at
been sensed and to retain which stimuli are
others for further interpreted and given
processing. meaning.

28. • Perceptual Process Selecting Stimuli
External factors : Nature,
Receiving Stimuli Location,Size,contrast,
(External & Internal) Movement,repetition,similarity
Internal factors : Learning,
needs,age,Interest,
Organizing
Interpreting Figure Background ,
Attribution ,Stereotyping, Perceptual Grouping
Halo Effect, Projection ( similarity, proximity,
closure, continuity)
Response
Covert: Attitudes ,
Motivation,
Feeling
Overt: Behavior

29. Factors influencing perception
A number of factors operate to shape and sometimes distort
perception. These factors can reside in the perceiver, in the
object or target being perceived or in the context of the
situation in which the perception is made.

30. • Factors influencing Perception
Factors in the perceiver
• Attitudes
• Motives
• Interests
• Experience
• Expectations
Factors in the situation
Perception
• Time
• Work Setting
• Social Setting
Factors in the Target
• Novelty
• Motion
• Sounds
• Size
• Background
• Proximity
• Similarity

31. Perceptual organization
• It is the process by which we group outside stimuli
into recognizable and identifiable patterns and whole
objects.
• Certain factors are considered to be important
contributors on assembling, organizing and
categorizing information in the human brain. These
are
- Figure ground
- Perceptual grouping

32. Figure-Ground Illustration
•Field-ground differentiation
– The tendency to distinguish
and focus on a stimulus that
is classified as figure as
opposed to background.

33. PERCEPTUAL GROUPING
• Our tendency to group several individual stimuli into a
meaningful and recognizable pattern.
• It is very basic in nature and largely it seems to be inborn.
• Some factors underlying grouping are
-continuity
-closure
-proximity
-similarity

34. Person Perception: Making Judgments
About Others

35. Shortcuts in judging others
• Selective Perception : People selectively interpret what they
see on the basis of their interests, background, experience and attitudes.
• Halo Effect : Drawing a general impressions about an individual on
the basis of a single characteristic.
• Contrast Effect : Evaluation of a person’s characteristics that are
effected by comparisons with other people recently encountered who
rank higher or lower on the same characteristics.
• Projection : Attributing one's own characteristics to other people.
• Stereotyping : Judging someone on the basis of one’s
perception of the group to which that persons belongs.

47. PERCEPTION
Relationships: Perception
Different people have different perception. One man's meat
could be another man's poison. A couple bought a donkey
from the market.
On the way home, a boy commented, "Very stupid. Why neither
of them ride on the donkey?" Upon hearing that, the husband
let the wife ride on the donkey. He walked besides them.
Later, an old man saw it and commented, "The husband is
the head of family. How can the wife ride on the donkeywhile
the husband is on foot?" Hearing this, the wife quickly got
down and let the husband ride on the donkey.

48. Further on the way home, they met an old Lady. She commented,
"How can the man ride on the donkey but let the wife walk. He is
no gentleman."
The husband thus quickly asked the wife to join him on the donkey.
Then, they met a young man. He commented, "Poor donkey, how
can you hold up the weight of two persons. They are cruel to
you." Hearing that, the husband and wife immediately climbed
down from the donkey and carried it on their shoulders.
It seems to be the only choice left. Later, on a narrow bridge, the
donkey was frightened and struggled. They lost their balance and
fell into the river. You can never have everyone praise you, nor will
everyone condemn you. Never in the past, not at present, and
never will be in the future.
Never bother about what others say if your own conscience is clear.

49. Biggest Weakness Can Become Your
Biggest Strength
Sometimes your biggest weakness can become your biggest
strength.
Take, for example, the story of one 10-year-old boy who
decided to study judo despite the fact that he had lost his left
arm in a devastating car accident.
The boy began lessons with an old Japanese judo master. The
boy was doing well, so he couldn't understand why, after three
months of training the master had taught him only one move.
"Sensei," the boy finally said, "Shouldn't I be learning more
moves?"

50. "This is the only move you know, but this is the only move
you'll ever need to know," the Sensei replied.
Not quite understanding, but believing in his teacher, the
boy kept training.
Several months later, the sensei took the boy to his first
tournament.
Surprising himself, the boy easily won his first two
matches.
The third match proved to be more difficult, but after
some time, his opponent became impatient and
charged; the boy deftly used his one move to win the
match.

51. Still amazed by his success, the boy was now in the
finals.
This time, his opponent was bigger, stronger, and more
experienced. For a while, the boy appeared to be
overmatched. Concerned that the boy might get
hurt, the referee called a time-out. He was about to
stop the match when the Sensei intervened.
"No," the Sensei insisted, "Let him continue."
Soon after the match resumed, his opponent made a
critical mistake: He dropped his guard. Instantly, the
boy used his move to pin him. The boy had won the
match and the tournament. He was the champion.

52. On the way home, the boy and Sensei reviewed every move in
each and every match. Then the boy summoned the
courage to ask what was really on his mind.
"Sensei, how did I win the tournament with only one move?"
"You won for two reasons," the Sensei answered. "First,
you've almost mastered one of the most difficult throws in
all of judo. And second, the only known defense for that
move is for your opponent to grab your left arm."
The boy's biggest weakness had become his biggest strength.
http://reachstories.blogspot.in/2007/10/biggest-weakness-
can-become-your.html

53. Perception
Success Principle
• By simply turning his focus to one side, he would have
easily exited his prison. Rather, due to his intent on one
direction, he remained confined, captive. Every day in
our life we focus on one side of the problem, not looking
at it from others point of view. If there is any one secret
of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person's
point of view and see things from that person's angle as
well as from your own.
Motivational Quotes
• “ Perception is strong and sight weak. In strategy it is
important to see distant things as if they were close
and to take a distanced view of close things.”

54. What do you see?

55. Thank You!