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We See The Environment, Filter Out What Isn't Relevant, Evaluate What ...

We see the environment, filter out what isn't relevant, evaluate what remains, then process this information through our individual self images and / or sets of expectations, and /or personal characteristics, motivational factors and life experiences and then we respond with either reflective or spontaneous behavior (Rice University, 2003). The preceding would appear in a diagram as follows:
Figure 1 Individual Environmental Perceptions
(Rice University, 2003)
The next step in the process is the examination of individual behavior in the context of two individuals as an interaction. Such can consist of one of three types of interactions, as represented by superior to subordinate, leader to peers, and leader to boss (Rice University, 2003). The importance of these distinctions is that such interactions often tend to influence, impact, change, and or color a person's perceptions, and or processing thus causing them to arrive at differing conceptualizations.
Figure 2 Individual Environmental Perceptions in a Two Party Relationship
(Rice University, 2003)

Under Figure 2, it illustrates the interactive effects of environmental perceptions in a two-party relationship, and how the images of Individual A can impact upon the perceptions of Individual B.
Another facet of how external influences can impact upon an individual's thinking has been put forward by Janis (1972, pp. 15-30) who states that groupthink is the psychological drive for consensus at any costs which suppresses disagreement, and thus prevents the appraisal of potential alternatives in decision making groups. Thus, an individual in a bank will have a completely different set of mental references that will occur when he or she hears the word risk, than will an entrepreneur. In a limited and distant way, the preceding represents a variant of groupthink, or the thinking adopted by an individual as represented by being part of a group or enterprise. The symptoms can be mild to strong based upon the degree of adaptation, position and or other factors, and can fall into any of the following categorizations (Janis, 1972, pp.


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