Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsOverviewHow It WorksTop-Down ProcessingForces of InfluenceReal Life Impact

Table of ContentsView All

View All

Table of Contents

Overview

How It Works

Top-Down Processing

Forces of Influence

Real Life Impact

Close

A perceptual set refers to a predisposition to perceive things in a certain way. In other words, we often tend to notice only certain aspects of an object or situation while ignoring other details.

What Is a Perceptual Set?

For example, think about the last time you started a new class. Did you have any expectations at the outset that might have influenced your experience in the class? If you expect a class to be boring, are you more likely to be uninterested in class?

Inpsychology, this is what is known as a perceptual set.

A perceptual set is basically a tendency to view things only in a certain way.

What exactly is a perceptual set, why does it happen, and how does it influence how we perceive the world around us?

Functional Fixedness as a Cognitive Bias

How do psychologists define perceptual sets?

Sometimes, perceptual sets can be helpful. They often lead us to make fairly accurate conclusions about what exists in the world around us. In cases where we find ourselves wrong, we often develop new perceptual sets that are more accurate.

Sometimes, our perceptual sets can lead us astray.

If you have a strong interest in military aircraft, for example, an odd cloud formation in the distance might be interpreted as a fleet of fighter jets; whereas, someone else may see it as a group of migrating ducks in flight.

In one experiment that illustrates this tendency, participants were presented with different non-words, such assael. Those who were told that they would be reading boating-related words read the word as “sail,” while those who were told to expect animal-related words read it as “seal.”

If we expect something to appear in a certain way, we are more likely to perceive it according to our expectations.

Existingschemas, mental frameworks, and concepts often guide perceptual sets. For example, people have a strong schema for faces, making it easier to recognize familiar human faces in the world around us. It also means that when we look at an ambiguous image, we are more likely to see it as a face than some other type of object.

Researchers have also found that when multiple items appear in a single visual scene, perceptual sets will often lead people to miss additional items after locating the first one. For example, airport security officers might be likely to spot a water bottle in a bag but then miss that the bag also contains a firearm.

How Bottom-Up Processing Works

Below are examples of various forces of influence:

Real-Life Examples

Researchers have shown that perceptual sets can have a dramatic impact on day-to-day life.

In one experiment, young children were found to enjoy french fries more when they were served in a McDonald’s bag rather than just a plain white bag.In another example, people who were told that an image was of the famed “Loch Ness monster” were more likely to see the mythical creature in the picture, while others who did not have the expectation of seeing a sea creature, saw only a curved tree trunk.

“Once we have formed a wrong idea about reality, we have more difficulty seeing the truth.

As previously mentioned, our perceptual set for faces is so strong that it actually causes us to see faces where there are none.Consider how people often describe seeing a face on the moon or in many of the inanimate objects that we encounter in our everyday lives.

As you can see,perceptionis not simply a matter of seeing what is in the world around us. A variety of factors can influence how we take in information and how we interpret it, as stimuli are filtered through our personal knowledge, expectations, emotions, and context.

12 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Biggs A, Adamo S, Dowd E, Mitroff S.Examining perceptual and conceptual set biases in multiple-target visual search.Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics. 2015;77(3):844-855. doi:10.3758/s13414-014-0822-0Nolan SA, Hockenbury SE.Discovering Psychology. Worth Publishers, 2021.Hardy M, Heyes S.Beginning Psychology. Oxford University Press; 1999.Gaspelin N, Luck SJ. “Top-down” does not mean “voluntary”.J Cogn. 2018;1(1):25. doi:10.5334/joc.28Sanford R.The effects of abstinence from food upon imaginal processes: A preliminary experiment.J Psychol. 1936;2(1):129-136. doi:10.1080/00223980.1936.9917447Bruner J, Minturn A.Perceptual identification and perceptual organization.J Gen Psychol. 1955;53(1):21-28. doi:10.1080/00221309.1955.9710133de Bruïne G, Vredeveldt A, van Koppen PJ.Cross-cultural differences in object recognition: Comparing asylum seekers from Sub-Saharan Africa and a matched Western European control group.Appl Cogn Psychol. 2018;32(4):463‐473. doi:10.1002/acp.3419Lazarus RS, McCleary RA.Autonomic discrimination without awareness: A study of subception.Psychological Review.1951;58(2):113–122. doi:10.1037/h0054104Barlow FK, Hornsey MJ, Thai M, Sengupta NK, Sibley CG.The wallpaper effect: The contact hypothesis fails for minority group members who live in areas with a high proportion of majority group members.PLoS One. 2013;8(12):e82228. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0082228Solomon MR, Russell-Bennett R, Previte J.Consumer Behaviour: Buying, Having, Being.Frenchs Forest, NSW: 2013.Campbell S.The Loch Ness Monster: The Evidence. Prometheus Books; 1997.Myers DG.Psychology. 7th ed. Worth Publishers; 2004.

12 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Biggs A, Adamo S, Dowd E, Mitroff S.Examining perceptual and conceptual set biases in multiple-target visual search.Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics. 2015;77(3):844-855. doi:10.3758/s13414-014-0822-0Nolan SA, Hockenbury SE.Discovering Psychology. Worth Publishers, 2021.Hardy M, Heyes S.Beginning Psychology. Oxford University Press; 1999.Gaspelin N, Luck SJ. “Top-down” does not mean “voluntary”.J Cogn. 2018;1(1):25. doi:10.5334/joc.28Sanford R.The effects of abstinence from food upon imaginal processes: A preliminary experiment.J Psychol. 1936;2(1):129-136. doi:10.1080/00223980.1936.9917447Bruner J, Minturn A.Perceptual identification and perceptual organization.J Gen Psychol. 1955;53(1):21-28. doi:10.1080/00221309.1955.9710133de Bruïne G, Vredeveldt A, van Koppen PJ.Cross-cultural differences in object recognition: Comparing asylum seekers from Sub-Saharan Africa and a matched Western European control group.Appl Cogn Psychol. 2018;32(4):463‐473. doi:10.1002/acp.3419Lazarus RS, McCleary RA.Autonomic discrimination without awareness: A study of subception.Psychological Review.1951;58(2):113–122. doi:10.1037/h0054104Barlow FK, Hornsey MJ, Thai M, Sengupta NK, Sibley CG.The wallpaper effect: The contact hypothesis fails for minority group members who live in areas with a high proportion of majority group members.PLoS One. 2013;8(12):e82228. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0082228Solomon MR, Russell-Bennett R, Previte J.Consumer Behaviour: Buying, Having, Being.Frenchs Forest, NSW: 2013.Campbell S.The Loch Ness Monster: The Evidence. Prometheus Books; 1997.Myers DG.Psychology. 7th ed. Worth Publishers; 2004.

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Biggs A, Adamo S, Dowd E, Mitroff S.Examining perceptual and conceptual set biases in multiple-target visual search.Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics. 2015;77(3):844-855. doi:10.3758/s13414-014-0822-0Nolan SA, Hockenbury SE.Discovering Psychology. Worth Publishers, 2021.Hardy M, Heyes S.Beginning Psychology. Oxford University Press; 1999.Gaspelin N, Luck SJ. “Top-down” does not mean “voluntary”.J Cogn. 2018;1(1):25. doi:10.5334/joc.28Sanford R.The effects of abstinence from food upon imaginal processes: A preliminary experiment.J Psychol. 1936;2(1):129-136. doi:10.1080/00223980.1936.9917447Bruner J, Minturn A.Perceptual identification and perceptual organization.J Gen Psychol. 1955;53(1):21-28. doi:10.1080/00221309.1955.9710133de Bruïne G, Vredeveldt A, van Koppen PJ.Cross-cultural differences in object recognition: Comparing asylum seekers from Sub-Saharan Africa and a matched Western European control group.Appl Cogn Psychol. 2018;32(4):463‐473. doi:10.1002/acp.3419Lazarus RS, McCleary RA.Autonomic discrimination without awareness: A study of subception.Psychological Review.1951;58(2):113–122. doi:10.1037/h0054104Barlow FK, Hornsey MJ, Thai M, Sengupta NK, Sibley CG.The wallpaper effect: The contact hypothesis fails for minority group members who live in areas with a high proportion of majority group members.PLoS One. 2013;8(12):e82228. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0082228Solomon MR, Russell-Bennett R, Previte J.Consumer Behaviour: Buying, Having, Being.Frenchs Forest, NSW: 2013.Campbell S.The Loch Ness Monster: The Evidence. Prometheus Books; 1997.Myers DG.Psychology. 7th ed. Worth Publishers; 2004.

Biggs A, Adamo S, Dowd E, Mitroff S.Examining perceptual and conceptual set biases in multiple-target visual search.Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics. 2015;77(3):844-855. doi:10.3758/s13414-014-0822-0

Nolan SA, Hockenbury SE.Discovering Psychology. Worth Publishers, 2021.

Hardy M, Heyes S.Beginning Psychology. Oxford University Press; 1999.

Gaspelin N, Luck SJ. “Top-down” does not mean “voluntary”.J Cogn. 2018;1(1):25. doi:10.5334/joc.28

Sanford R.The effects of abstinence from food upon imaginal processes: A preliminary experiment.J Psychol. 1936;2(1):129-136. doi:10.1080/00223980.1936.9917447

Bruner J, Minturn A.Perceptual identification and perceptual organization.J Gen Psychol. 1955;53(1):21-28. doi:10.1080/00221309.1955.9710133

de Bruïne G, Vredeveldt A, van Koppen PJ.Cross-cultural differences in object recognition: Comparing asylum seekers from Sub-Saharan Africa and a matched Western European control group.Appl Cogn Psychol. 2018;32(4):463‐473. doi:10.1002/acp.3419

Lazarus RS, McCleary RA.Autonomic discrimination without awareness: A study of subception.Psychological Review.1951;58(2):113–122. doi:10.1037/h0054104

Barlow FK, Hornsey MJ, Thai M, Sengupta NK, Sibley CG.The wallpaper effect: The contact hypothesis fails for minority group members who live in areas with a high proportion of majority group members.PLoS One. 2013;8(12):e82228. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0082228

Solomon MR, Russell-Bennett R, Previte J.Consumer Behaviour: Buying, Having, Being.Frenchs Forest, NSW: 2013.

Campbell S.The Loch Ness Monster: The Evidence. Prometheus Books; 1997.

Myers DG.Psychology. 7th ed. Worth Publishers; 2004.

Meet Our Review Board

Share Feedback

Was this page helpful?Thanks for your feedback!What is your feedback?HelpfulReport an ErrorOtherSubmit

Was this page helpful?

Thanks for your feedback!

What is your feedback?HelpfulReport an ErrorOtherSubmit

What is your feedback?