What is selective perception?
The tendency to selectively interpret what one sees on the basis of one's interests, background, experience, and attitudes is known as selective perception. Individuals engage in selective perception because it is impossible for them to assimilate everything they see and can take in only certain stimuli. However, they do not choose randomly. Rather, they select according to their interests, background, experience, and attitudes. Selective perception allows them to speed-read others, but not without the risk of drawing an inaccurate picture. Seeing what they want to see, they can draw unwarranted conclusions from an ambiguous situation.