Framing and the Construction of Perception

Now, for the third instalment of The Internet Paradigm, the framing and the construction of perception is all about how we, users of media, are constantly building our knowledge and expanding the information that is stored in our minds. New concepts introduced to us tend to be more difficult to fathom, whereas the those that are simply extensions of what we already know tend to be less challenging.

People have no conceivable way of coping with the volume of stimuli that impinge upon their sense, or with the volume and complexity of the data they have to analyse, without some kind of simplifying preconceptions about what to expect, what is important, and what is related to what.

Richards Heuer

A frame of mind is defined as a cognitive concept that helps organise and interpret information. This is where association chains come into play. These are notions that help us conceptualise and respond to information input. Things like linking people, objects, and places with other ideas we have come across in our lives are all a part of association chains. They work together to form a coherent perception of reality, which we call our perceptual frame. As humans, we are not able to process every single piece of information given to us. So in order to conceptualise as much information as we can, we must filter and prioritise the (sometimes) complex information that we confront in everyday life. When are brains are at a fragile state, this may be quite straining to our minds, which often leave us in that familiar state of confusion.

Having a different perspective changes everything.