Mary Douglas, Purity and Danger (quoted in ‘Evocative Objects: things we think with’ by Sherry Turkle):
‘Perceiving is not a matter of passively allowing an organ – say of sight or hearing – to receive a ready-made impression from without, like a palette receiving a spot of paint. Recognising and remembering are not matters of stirring up old images of past impressions.
It is generally agreed that all our impressions are schematically determined from the start. As perceivers we select from all the stimuli falling on our senses only those which interest us, and our interests are governed by a pattern-making tendency, called schema.
In a chaos of shifting impressions, each of us constructs a stable world in which objects have recognisable shapes, are located n depth and have permanence.
In perceiving, we are building, taking some cues and rejecting others. The most acceptable cues are those which fit most easily into patterns that are being built up. Ambiguous ones tend to be treated as if they harmonised with the rest of the pattern. Discordant ones tend to be rejected.
If they are accepted, the structure of assumptions has to be modified. As learning proceeds objects are named. Their names then affect the way they are perceived next time.: once labelled, they are more speedily slotted into pigeon holes in the future.
As time goes on and experiences pile up, we make a greater and greater investment in our system of labels.
Slingshot