Every day, a huge amount of information falls upon every person. We are faced with new situations, objects, phenomena. Some people cope with this stream of knowledge without problems and successfully use it in their interests. Others are difficult to remember at least something. In many ways, this situation is explained by a person’s belonging to a certain type according to the way information is perceived. If it is served in a form uncomfortable for humans, then its processing will be extremely difficult.
What is information?
The concept of “information” has an abstract meaning and in many respects its definition depends on the context. Translated from Latin, this word means "clarification", "presentation", "familiarization". Most often, the term “information” is understood to mean new facts that are perceived and understood by man, and are also considered useful. In the process of processing this first obtained information, people gain certain knowledge.
How is information perceived?
The perception of information by a person is an acquaintance with phenomena and objects through their impact on various senses. By analyzing the result of the impact of an object or situation on the organs of vision, hearing, smell, taste and touch, the individual receives a certain idea about them. Thus, the basis in the process of perceiving information is our five senses. At the same time, past human experience and previously acquired knowledge are actively involved. Turning to them, it is possible to attribute the obtained information to already known phenomena or to single out from the general mass in a separate category. The ways of perceiving information are based on some processes related to the human psyche:
- thinking (seeing or hearing an object or phenomenon, a person, starting to think, realizes what he is faced with);
- speech (the ability to name the object of perception);
- feelings (various types of reactions to objects of perception);
- will (human ability to organize the process of perception).
Presentation of information
According to this parameter, information can be divided into the following types:
- Text . It is presented in the form of all kinds of characters, which, combined with each other, allow you to get words, phrases, sentences in any language.
- Numeric . This is information represented by numbers and signs that express a particular mathematical action.
- Sound . This is directly oral speech, thanks to which information from one person is transferred to another, and various audio recordings.
- Graphic . It includes schemes, graphs, drawings and other images.
Perception and presentation of information are inextricably linked. Each person tries to choose exactly the option of submitting data that will ensure their best understanding.
Ways of human perception of information
At the disposal of man there are several such ways. They are defined by five senses: vision, hearing, touch, taste and smell. In this regard, there is a certain classification of information according to the method of perception:
- visual;
- sound;
- tactile;
- taste;
- olfactory.
Visual information is perceived through the eyes. Thanks to them, various visual images enter the human brain, which are then processed there. Hearing is necessary for the perception of information coming in the form of sounds (speech, noise, music, signals). The sense of touch is responsible for the perception of tactile information. Receptors located on the skin, allow you to evaluate the temperature of the studied object, the type of its surface, shape. Taste information enters the brain from the receptors in the language and is converted into a signal by which a person understands which product it is: sour, sweet, bitter or salty. The sense of smell also helps us in understanding the world around us, allowing us to distinguish and identify all kinds of smells. The main role in the perception of information is played by vision. It accounts for about 90% of the knowledge gained. The sound method of perceiving information (broadcast, for example) is about 9%, and the rest of the senses are responsible for only 1%.
Types of perception
The same information received in any particular way is perceived by each person differently. Someone after a minute reading one of the pages of a book can easily retell its contents, while the other will remember almost nothing. But if such a person reads the same text aloud, he will easily reproduce what he heard in memory. Such differences determine the characteristics of the perception of information by people, each of which is inherent in a certain type. There are four of them:
- Visuals.
- Audiences.
- Kinesthetics.
- Discretes.
It is often very important to know what type of perception of information is dominant for a person and what is characterized by it. This greatly improves mutual understanding between people, makes it possible to quickly and fully convey the necessary information to your interlocutor.
Visuals
These are people for whom vision is the main organ of senses in the process of cognizing the world and perceiving information. They perfectly remember new material if they see it in the form of text, pictures, diagrams and graphs. In the speech of visuals, words are often found that are somehow related to the characteristics of objects according to their external attributes, the very function of vision (“we will see”, “light”, “bright”, “will be visible”, “it seems to me”). Such people usually speak loudly, quickly, actively gesturing at the same time. Visuals pay great attention to their appearance, their surroundings.
Audiences
For audiences, it’s much easier to learn what they once heard, rather than a hundred times seen. Features of the perception of information by such people lies in their ability to listen and remember well what was said both in a conversation with colleagues or relatives, and in lectures at the institute or at a workshop. Audiences have a large vocabulary, it is pleasant to communicate with them. Such people can perfectly convince the interlocutor in a conversation with him. They prefer quiet activities to active pastime, they like to listen to music.
Kinesthetics
Touch, smell and taste play an important role in the process of perception of information by kinesthetics. They strive to touch, feel, taste the item. Significant for kinesthetics and motor activity. In the speech of such people there are often words describing feelings (“soft”, “according to my feelings”, “grabbing”). For a kinesthetic child, bodily contact with loved ones is necessary. Hugs and kisses are important for him, comfortable clothes, soft and clean bed.
Discretes
The ways of perceiving information are directly related to the human senses. The bulk of people gain knowledge through sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste. However, the types of perception of information include one that is primarily associated with thinking. People who perceive the surrounding world in this way are called discrete. There are quite a few of them, and they are found only among adults, since logic is not well developed in children. At a young age, the main ways of perceiving information by discrete are visual and auditory. And only with age do they begin to think actively about what they have seen and heard, while discovering new knowledge for themselves.
Type of Perception and Learning
The ways people perceive information largely determine the form of training that will be most effective for them. Of course, there are no people who would receive new knowledge as a whole with the help of one sense organ or their group, for example, touch and smell. All of them act as means of perceiving information. However, knowing which sense organs are dominant in a particular person, enables others to quickly bring to him the necessary information, and the person himself can effectively organize the process of self-education.
Visuals, for example, need to present all new information in a readable form, in figures and diagrams. In this case, they remember it much better. Visuals usually do well in the exact sciences. Even in childhood, they perfectly stack puzzles, know many geometric shapes, draw well, draw, build from cubes or constructor.
Audiences, in contrast, more easily perceive information derived from spoken language. It can be a conversation with someone, a lecture, an audio recording. When teaching a foreign language for audiences, audio courses are preferable to a printed tutorial. If you still need to remember the written text, it is better to pronounce it out loud.
Kinesthetics are very mobile. It is difficult for them to concentrate on anything for a long time. It is difficult for such people to learn material obtained at a lecture or from a textbook. The process of memorization will be faster if kinesthetics learn to link theory and practice. It is easier for them to study such sciences as physics, chemistry, biology, in which a specific scientific term or law can be represented as the result of an experiment conducted in a laboratory.
Discretes take a little longer than other people to take note of new information. First they must comprehend it, correlate with their past experience. Such people can, for example, record a lecture by a teacher on a voice recorder, in order to subsequently listen to it a second time. Among discretes there are many people of science, since rationality and logic for them are above all. Therefore, in the process of learning, they will be closest to those subjects in which accuracy determines the perception of information - computer science, for example.
Communication role
The types of perception of information also influence how it is better to communicate with a person so that he listens to you. For visuals, the appearance of the interlocutor is very important. The slightest negligence in clothes can push him away, after which it will not matter what he says. Talking with the visual, you need to pay attention to your facial expressions, speak quickly using gestures, and reinforce the conversation with sketchy drawings.
In a conversation with the audience, there should be words that are close to him (“listen to me,” “sounds tempting,” “it says a lot”). The perception of information by a human audio depends largely on how the interlocutor speaks. The timbre of the voice should be calm, pleasant. An important conversation with the audio is better to postpone if you have a bad cold. Such people also do not tolerate shrill notes in their voices.
Negotiations with a kinesthetic should be carried out in a room with a comfortable air temperature, a pleasant smell. Such people sometimes need to touch the interlocutor, so they better understand what they heard or saw. You should not expect a quick decision from the kinesthetic immediately after the conversation. He needs time to listen to his feelings and understand that he is doing everything right.
Dialogue with discrete should be built on the principle of rationality. It is best to operate with rigorous scientific facts and rules. For discrete, the language of numbers is more understandable.