As a teen I remember a time when I would visit a grocery store that had arcade games in the back. On a particular day, an older guy around 25-30 was playing a game called Street Fighter with me. I thought he was nice as he paid the required quarters for me to continue to play when my money ran out. One thing I observed was his constant looking around and the hooded sweater he had on. I attributed it to him waiting for a friend and the fact that it was cold outside. After a few games he told me to keep playing walked off leaving a few extra quarters for me to play. I had been in the store for some time and had to return home so decided to leave. When walking to the front of the store I saw the guy who was playing the video game with me holding a gun and robbing the store. I was in shock and disbelief as my first interpretation was that he was a nice guy. I was misled by the idea that my perception was perfect (Lilienfeld et al., 2014). I had always thought I could easily guess the type a person someone was based off the first few minutes of interacting with them. This was a misperception I corrected after that very day. I was blinding by a few nice gestures and thought the world is “precisely as we see it” (Lilienfeld et al., 2014).      

References

Lilienfeld, S. O., Lynn, S. J., Namy, L. L., & Woolf, N. J. (2014). Sensation and Perception. InPsychology: From inquiry to understanding  (3rd ed., p. 126).