Nature of Logic and Perception Paper

On the other hand, does it not? The theory of perception says that people perceive images, events, and objects according to previous experiences and learning (Salmon, 2007). A child who has never seen chopsticks in his/her life would naturally have no idea of what it is, for the child it would be perceived as two wooden sticks, while to the Asians who uses chopsticks the same way we use spoons and forks, it would be perceived as a necessary eating utensil.

Logic on the other hand refers to the process of deriving inferences and conclusions from a given set of information or data which could be seen; either heard or experienced (Salmon, 2007). For example, if we have observed suspicious activity in one of the houses in the street we live in, and in another instance we overheard that the house is being watched by the police, then using logic, we can conclude that there must be some illegal activity in that house.

In this case, the first impression was of weird folks down the street and we did not cared much about it, but when a new set of information was given, the first impression was validated. Critical thinking is the process of assessing the validity, reliability, and integrity of a given argument and reasoning. It involves the ability to discern fact from assumptions and to arrive at decisions based on the analysis of the given argument or position regarding an issue or event (Salmon, 2007).

For example, when I told my friend that I was going back to school, my friend reasoned out that it would be too complicated and that I would not have enough time to be a good student. A critical thinker would probably point out that not having enough time to go to school does not necessarily mean that it would be complicated or that the argument is not logical since the conclusion does not follow the given statement. However, since my first impression was that my friend cared about me, what he was saying must be true.

I had decided to go back to school, and the next step was to look for a school that would be more accommodating to m status as a full time employee. I looked at a number of schools and I settled with the University of Phoenix. As I entered the university, my first impression was something like “Wow, they have nice buildings and there were hundreds of students here. ” I guess I was not really concerned about the classes and courses, I was too excited to be back to school that all I could think about was that the classrooms in those buildings surely would be comfortable, clean, and equipped with different technologies.

I also noticed the chatter and laughter of hundred of students in the campus, it was not the typical noise of teenagers, more of a mature buzz in a conference or a company party and I was right because when I looked closely, most of the students were adult learners who had returned to school. As I looked for the classroom for my first class of the day, I noticed that not all of the buildings and facilities were well maintained and not all of the rooms were occupied.

When I got to my classroom, I was dismayed to find that it was just a regular classroom, basic armchairs, a podium, and a board. However, when I had to look for the office of one of my teachers for a change of schedule, I noticed that the nice buildings contained university offices, and everything there was polished and gleaming. As the days went by, I noticed that the usual chatter and buzz I heard when I arrived at the campus had been replaced by silence and an occasional laughter.

I realized that most of the students did not attend classes as often as I did and some of them opted to have their course online. My first impressions turned out to be false and through additional information and experience, I was able to disconfirm my initial perceptions of the university. A person’s perception of events, situations, and images may easily be influenced by factors such as personal bias, prior experience, previous learning, and personal expectations (Waller, 2005).

Since my perception of going to school meant campus classes and interacting with students and teachers, I was not prepared for the reality that education nowadays does not occur only in the classroom anymore. My own expectations and prior experience with schooling had hindered me from making an accurate perception of the university’s set-up. Misperceptions could also easily be committed by people who are not very aware of the things that are occurring in his/her environment (Waller, 2005). For example, my niece was crying one day and holding her broken doll.

She was too distraught to be able to give a coherent answer to my question of what happened. Then the newspaper boy came and was apologetic and said sorry a number of times. I readily assumed that the newspaper boy run over my niece’s doll and I stood up and angrily shoved him the broken doll. The newspaper boy was surprised and said that he did not broke the doll, and that he just came from the other street and he was sorry that there was no paper left for us since he picked the wrong satchel with fewer number of papers.

It was my turn to say sorry to the newspaper boy and said that it was all right and I appreciated that he informed us that we were not going to have a copy of the day’s news. I was too blinded by my emotions to pay attention to the newspaper boy’s words and I was probably finding someone to blame for my niece’s pain. It turned out, my niece left the doll at the stairs, and when she woke up this morning, she accidentally stepped on it, she was crying very hard because she was afraid I was going to scold her since I was the one who gave her the doll.

As mundane as it may sound, I realized then that when people are emotional, it become difficult to think logically, much less critically. Thus, initial perceptions are just that, a preliminary to additional facts and information and it does not really last that long. References Salmon, M. (2007). Introduction to logic and critical thinking 5th ed. Boston: Thomson Wadsworth. Waller, B. (2005). Critical thinking: Consider the verdict, 5th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2005.

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