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attitudes, needs, and values, different individuals will perceive—that is,
attribute meaning to—virtually any complex stimulus differently based on
the different cognitive structures. For example, a given newspaper article,
movie, radio programme, or TV presentation can be viewed by a number of
individuals, and each one will come away with a somewhat different inter-
pretation of what he or she has been exposed to. Perception refers to be a
psychological activity by which individuals organize meaningful interpre-
tations of sensory stimuli they receive from their environment. Variations
in cognitive structure cause individuals to put together different patterns of
meaning and interpretation for any given pattern of stimuli such as media
presentation.
Similarly, members of specific social categories who support subcultures
will attribute distinctive patterns of meaning to particular media content.
For example, in US, often news stories about capital punishment, racial
discrimination, school dropouts, and other social issues have an impact on
black people in ways that are not the same as the interpretations of whites.
Veterans of World War II read different meanings into media messages about
Germans and the Japanese than do young people who did not participate in
that conflict.
Selective perception and attribution of meaning are also influenced by
social relationships. Parents with young children may interpret a particularly
violent or sexually explicit TV programme with a different set of sensitivities
than do childless people. Lovers may read deep shared meanings into songs
or movie scenes that might leave others yawning.
Thus, the principles of selective perception are that the people of distinct
psychological characteristics, sub-cultural orientations, and social network
membership will interpret the same media content in very different ways.
Selective perception has been linked to sets of variables in literally thousands
of studies conducted by social scientists, and it is one of the most significant
of all the factors for understanding the selective influence theories.

selective attention

People screen out media content in which they have little or no interest and
attend to what they like, for example, those motivated to keep up with cur-
rent events pay more attention to the news than do those with little interest
and understanding. Similarly, those with deep concerns about their health
pay closer attention to content dealing with medical issues than do those
who are more reluctant.
Members of different social categories select the programmes depend-
ing on their social strata. For example, religious broadcasts hold little inter-
est for secular audiences but are enthusiastically received by the devout.
Those with limited education and income may avidly follow wrestling on

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