Perception vs Perspective – What is the difference?

One afternoon when I was just going through my diaries I came across this scribble “Perception changes situations while Perspective changes personality” this intrigued me to find the exact meaning of the quote with a definite interpretation to Perception and Perspective.

I searched for the brief meaning of both these words and they were by far the same. It really baffled me as to what is the real distinction between them and at what point do these deviate or coincide.

From my learnings and “Perspective” I drew out this synopsis.

Perception

Perception by definition means an idea, a belief or an image you have as a result of how you see or understand something – Oxford Dictionary

It is a process of sensory stimulus wherein the brain processes information of the target (Target may be a thing, person(s), situation etc.) based on its accumulated knowledge and understanding of the world and then gives its verdict about the target.

Perception is not reality rather is a verdict on reality. This means that whatever the perceiver may perceive about a target is just a percept idea and may not be the reality. 

It is extracted out of objective reality as “Perception is the verdict on the reality that was learned through senses”. And senses work in coordination with the information provided from the objective reality.

It can be understood with the help of a simple example,

Deepak and Sunil are two friends who went for a walk in the forest in their neighbourhood and come across a poor man striking the tree with an axe.

Here, Deepak who is an environmentalist immediately confronts the man and tries to stop the chopping of the tree. Whereas Sunil who belongs to an underprivileged family insists Deepak to let the woodcutter have the wood for his survival. 

In the above story, both Deepak and Sunil were independent of ethical thinking and acted on “Relatively Ethical behaviour (Ethical Relativism)” which clearly states that perception isn’t an Ethical verdict to a situation and also may not necessarily be based on rational thinking.

This concludes that Perception is a verdict on target based on the Knowledge, Capacity, Understanding and Experience of the perceiver about the world irrespective of ethicality or rationality.

Perspective

A particular way of considering something – Cambridge Dictionary

Perspective unlike Perception isn’t a sensory stimulus but is more of an internal process.

Perspective is when the perception’s verdict is viewed from a certain angle (Point of View) which may or may not be orthodox to the perceiver.

When a perceiver considers a different outlook to the percept verdict or the target as a whole it’s his Perspective.

Perspectives are the ideas irrespective of the general experiences of the perceiver. It is more of a conscious approach to target where all the capacitated views of the verdict are explored and analysed and the most suitable one is concluded.

The target is analysed to all the possibilities and the perspective is then affected by,

• The Situation
• Aims of the Perceiver
• The emotional state of Perceiver
• The physical state of Perceiver
• The psychological state of Perceiver
• Other external influences to the intellect.

Let’s understand with the help of Deepak and Sunil again

In this scenario, both of them already have a perspective to a Target but there can be a shift in verdicts if the perspective changes for either or both of them;

If Deepak is convinced with the idea of Sunil, he will have a change in the perspective wherein Deepak has a change in his emotional state and is sympathising with the woodcutter this makes him review his verdict and consider the best verdict depending on the current situation.

Whereas if Sunil changes his verdict and supports Deepak just because he wants to maintain his good friendship with Deepak then there is the personal “Aim” of Sunil in reviewing and changing his perspective thereby influencing his verdict.

Both perceivers already have a perspective to a Target based on their perception. Let’s call it the primary perspective when they start considering other viewing angles to the target; this gives them a different perspective distinct to the primary perspective.

So, we can conclude that Perspective is a Rotary Idea with the target being at the centre and the verdicts being influenced by Situations, Aims of the Perceiver, Emotional State, Physical State, Psychological State and other External Influences on Intellect.

Conclusion

Perception and Perspective are part of the same process wherein perception is the first step and perspective is the second. Subconscious verdict to a Target based on the accumulated knowledge and experience of the world is Perception while a review of the perception’s verdict from a particular angle is perspective.

Now coming to the quote, It should rather be,

“Experiences change Perception while Perspective changes Experiences. – Kunj R Atha”

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