People tend to think of perception as a passive process. We see, hear, smell, taste or feel stimuli that impinge upon our senses. We think that if we are at all objective, we record what is actually there. Yet perception is demonstrably an active rather than a passive process; it constructs rather than records “reality.” You construct how you choose to see the world.
We see no more than we expect to see. Our stereotyped notions block clear vision and crowd out imagination.
We make instantaneous judgments every day all predicated on what we see and hear based on our past experiences.
[J]ust a few moments’ thinking time can prime you to perform either better or worse than normal at both mental and physical tasks.