Gender is a term used to refer to particular societal conditioned characteristics attributed to males or females. Sensation is the process by which the human sensory organs gather and transmit information to the brain while perception is the interpretation of the collected information once it reaches the brain. Psychologists argue that a person’s gender has a bearing on how they sense and perceive information and the world around them. Theories have been advanced to explain perception and sensation processes including the processing theory by psychologist Richard Gregory and James Gibson's bottom-up processing theory. The processing theory postulates that perception is shaped by past experiences and stored information and that ninety percent of the information is lost between being perceived by the sensory organs to reaching the brain. The bottom-up theory, on the other hand, argues that perception occurs naturally and is facilitated by evolution and that perception is a necessity for survival.
Regardless of the difference in the theorizing of the processes of sensation and perception, both theories acknowledge that the brain and the five sensory organs play a crucial part in perception and sensation (Foley & Matlin, 2015). There are two types of perception processing which are bottom-up and top-down processing. The bottom-up processing model is one way with transmission going straight from the retina to the visual cortex. The top-down processing, on the other hand, involves the use of context in interpretation and perception of information (Sensation, 2016). Richard Gregory’s theory posits that perception comes from the interaction of the transmitted data with past knowledge stored in the brain which results in the inference of the information (Proctor & Proctor, 2012). The perception of reality is therefore actively constructed from what is perceived to be real based on past occurrences. The brain perceives what the sensory organs transmit based on memories and past experiences and in the case of new stimuli; the brain goes through a lot of hypotheses before creating a perception of the information (Sensation, 2016). The formulation of incorrect hypotheses leads to erroneous perceptions.The theory was proved using the hollow mask of a face experiment whereby a concave mask looks like a convex face, and the perceptions are based on the test subjects' prior encounter with a convex face, and they disregard the shade and shape due to unconscious inference (Rauthmann, 2016). The Necker cube is also used to prove the theory whereby when someone stares at the cube for long, the orientation seems to flip or shift in their mind. Gregory concluded by stating that a change in perception is not driven by a shift in the sensory organ but is caused by the conflicting hypotheses (Foley & Matlin, 2015). On the other hand, Gibson’s bottom up theory posits that a perception result from evolution and no prior learning is required for its formation.
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Gibson further argues that perception comes naturally from people’s surroundings and that sensation and perception is the same thing (Sensation, 2016). He further argues that there is no need for processing information to form a perception since perception is automatically generated as soon as the sensory organs come into contact with environmental stimuli (Rauthmann, 2016). He summarized the process of perception and sensation into three steps which begin with analyzing sensory inputs which are then transmitted to the retina where they are converted into electrical impulses. The electrical impulses are finally transmitted to the brain and finally to the visual cortex through the visual pathways (Proctor & Proctor, 2012).The male and female genders perceive and sense things differently a fact that is attributed to their different brain structures. The perceptions and sensations in the human brain are affected by how they process the stimuli from the sensory organs to the brain (Sensation, 2016). The male gender uses their gray matter more while the female gender uses more of their white matter in the creation of perceptions and sensations. The gray matter is responsible for the control of sensory perceptions like hearing, memories, hearing, language formation and emotional responses (Robinson, 2012). White matter, on the other hand, is an interconnectivity tissue that facilitates the transmission of messages between the various areas of the gray matter in the central nervous system.
The difference in the brain functioning of the male and female genders accounts for the higher levels of sensation and perception in women compared to men (Proctor & Proctor, 2012). Women can process different stimuli at once since they have between fourteen to sixteen areas of the brain facilitating their perceptiveness compared to just six in men (Sensation, 2016). They also have a higher capacity of multitasking while their male counterparts have a lower perception and sensation level because their brains have a tunnel vision and can only tackle one task at a time (Rauthmann, 2016). The brain functioning makes women more sensitive to color, hearing, and sense of smell than men and they are also more perceptive since they can process information faster using different sensory organs. The chemical composition of the male and female brain also leads to the difference in their perception and sensation levels (Proctor & Proctor, 2012). The female brain is loaded with more oxytocin and estrogen while the male brain is loaded with serotonin and testosterone chemicals that are responsible for differentiating the sensory and perceptive responses in both genders (Robinson, 2012). The chemicals lead to high impulsivity and aggression levels in men which reduces their perceptive levels while the oxytocin in women increases women's sensation to emotions and environmental stimuli. Females also possess a bigger hippocampus which is responsible for the storage of memories compared to men (Rauthmann, 2016). The hippocampus in women has more neural connections compared to men which account for the higher levels of sensitivity in women compared to men.
The absorption level of women to stimuli from their sensory organs is higher than a man which explains why females have higher memory retention which in turn increases their perception levels (Rauthmann, 2016). The left and right hemispheres of the male and female brains are also wired differently with women having speech processing centers in both while men only have them on their left hemisphere (Sensation, 2016). The hemispheric differences lead to females possessing more verbal and memory coordination compared to men giving them a sharper edge in perception and communication of their feelings and sensations. Female brains are also more active and have higher blood flow to the cingulate gyrus compared to male brains (Proctor & Proctor, 2012). That leads to women being more perceptive than men since their memory retention and their sensation levels are higher too.
In sum, the perception and sensation phenomena can be explained using either the bottom-up theory or the up-bottom theory. Each theory recognizes the importance of the brain in the perception and sensational processes and the brain composition, structure, and wiring accounts for the gender differences in both men and women. Women were found to be more perceptive and sensational than men due to the different structuring of their hemispheres, the difference in brain activity, the different chemical composition of their brain and the size of their gray and white matters. Women are therefore more sensitive to hearing, sense of smell and sight and have a higher speech capacity compared to men. Their high memory retention abilities make them more perceptive and less impulsive in decision-making processes compared to men.
The research on the gender differences in perception and sensation is important to the field of psychology and in the general improvement of human lives (Shiraev & Levy, 2016). The research is important to the psychology practice because it gives insight into the human behavior and analyzes the brain which is not observable and presents empirical and scientifically proven data (Robinson, 2012). The psychologist is, therefore, able to decipher and understand the behavioral patterns of their patients and learn how to use different approaches for both men and women since the research provides the data on their differences (Shiraev & Levy, 2016). The research on sensation and perception also sheds light on the cognitive and physiological processes of the human body and how they contrast from one gender to the other. This understanding is critical in the treatment of patients with similar problems but different genders.
On improving the general human life, the research on perception and sensation is informative to the readers since it stipulates that males and females are different cognitively and physiologically (Shiraev & Levy, 2016). The knowledge is imperative in the day to day interactions since it explains a lot of questions like why women and men react differently in similar situations. It explains why men are poor multi-taskers as well as women, why they are more impulsive, why women are more emotional and more perceptive and sensational (Shiraev & Levy, 2016). From this understanding, people can understand each other's behaviors more and co-exist more peacefully while embracing their differences. In the workplace, the research is useful for managers as well as employees since it showcases the different strengths and weaknesses for each gender, therefore, informing the job allocation process for optimal performance. Men are better at complex tasks that require focus while women are better at handling various projects at once since their multi-tasking capabilities are more developed compared to men (Rauthmann, 2016). They are also better in jobs that require an emotional touch since they are more responsive to other people's feelings and emotions and perceive them better than men. Therefore, in the general life improvement, the research on the difference in gender sensation and perception helps in understanding human behavior and how to capitalize on their areas of competency.
The research is also important since it adds on the body of research in the field of psychology (Shiraev & Levy, 2016). It brings in new perspectives and acts as a basis for the development of future psychological theories and research. It is therefore important to other researchers, practicing psychologists and any psychology students since it broadens the scope of understanding in the gender differences and how they determine sensation and perception (Sensation, 2016). The research also offers explanations to odd natural occurrences like why men are less emotionally sensitive, why they can hardly multi-task and why they see things from different perspectives with women (Shiraev & Levy, 2016). It, therefore, demystifies the situations and offers logical explanations based on facts.
Future research on the topic is expected to expand since the topic is interesting and research is sometimes limited by available methods at the disposal of researchers (Shiraev & Levy, 2016). With scientific and technological advancements, the topic is bound to take a more definitive direction since the improvements will facilitate more analysis of the brain. The progress will also help in data collection to offer more insight into the personality development process based on someone's gender.
References
Foley, H. J., & Matlin, M. W. (2015). Sensation and perception . Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Proctor, R. W., & Proctor, J. D. (2012). Sensation and Perception. Handbook of Human Factors and Ergonomics, 57-94. doi:10.1002/9781118131350.ch3
Rauthmann, J. F. (2016). Motivational Factors in the Perception of Psychological Situation Characteristics. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 10 (2), 92-108. doi:10.1111/spc3.12239
Robinson-Riegler, B., & Robinson-Riegler, G. (2012). Cognitive psychology: applying the science of the mind . Harlow: Pearson Education.
Sensation and Perception. (2016). International Journal of Psychology, 51 , 1007-1027. doi:10.1002/ijop.12348
Shiraev, E., & Levy, D. A. (2016). Introduction to cross-cultural psychology: critical thinking and contemporary applications . Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
