Perceptual Barriers
The Basic Idea
Have you ever felt like you were treated differently because of how someone expected you to behave? Perhaps your education at a top-tier university made you a victim of a higher workload at the office. Or maybe a certain coworker thought you’d oppose their new project proposal because of an issue you raised with their last big idea.
More often than not, these kinds of preconceived notions lead to roadblocks in communication, workflow standstills, and a general dissonance from person to person.
While some barriers to communication are more obvious, like language differences and physical obstructions, perceptual barriers are harder to spot. They reflect an internal perception about something going on externally and can significantly affect how we communicate with others.1
The way we carry ourselves, our body language and gestures, our socioeconomic backgrounds, personal beliefs and tendencies are all common sources of bias that create perceptual barriers which hinder our ability to relate to one another. With that in mind, it’s helpful to be aware of these kinds of hurdles to communication and to locate ways to overcome them.
One of the major blocks to interpersonal communication lies in our very natural tendency to judge–to approve or disapprove of the statements of the other person.
– Carl Rogers
About the Author
Rebecca Mestechkin
Rebecca Mestechkin is a Peace Corps volunteer stationed in the Dominican Republic, dedicated to designing transformative initiatives for youth empowerment. Previously, Rebecca served as a pre-doctoral research fellow at the Meyer-Chabris Lab at Geisinger Health, where she specialized in judgment and decision-making related to research and health care. Her research primarily focuses on patient attitudes to AB testing, as well as comparative effectiveness of different approaches to informed consent. Rebecca also contributed to The Decision Lab as a behavioral insights fellow and content creator, exploring the intersections of behavioral science, economics, and psychology. She holds an undergraduate degree in economics and political science from McGill University.
