Apperception

Apperception

Apperception (Latin "ad" + "percipere", to perceive) has the following meanings:

* In epistemology, it is "the introspective or reflective apprehension by the mind of its own inner states" (Ledger Wood in "Runes").

* In psychology, it is "the process by which new experience is assimilated to and transformed by the residuum of past experience of an individual to form a new whole" (Ledger Wood in "Runes"). In short, it is to perceive new experience in relation to past experience.

Example 1: We see a fire (visual perception). By "apperception" we correlate the appearance of fire with past experiences of being burned. Having combined present and past experience we realize this is a situation in which we should avoid placing our hand in the fire and being burned. [From a discussion of apperception by William James, "Talks to Teachers," Chapter 14]

Example 2: A rich child and a poor child walking together come across the same ten dollar bill on the sidewalk. The rich child says it is not very much money and the poor child says it is a lot of money. The difference lies in how they apperceive the same event -- the lens of past experience through which they see and value (or devalue) the money. ["The Evolution of Perception and the Cosmology of Substance" by Christopher Ott, 2004.]

* In philosophy, Kant distinguished "empirical apperception" from "transcendental apperception". The first is "the consciousness of the concrete actual self with its changing states", the so-called "inner sense". The second is "the pure, original, unchangeable consciousness which is the necessary condition of experience as such and the ultimate foundation of the synthetic unity of experience" (Otto F. Kraushaar in "Runes"). See "Kantianism".

* The eastern concept of the sanskara can also be looked upon as a form of apperception - seeing events through the lens of accumulated impressions.

ee also

* Metacognition
* Projective test
* Rorschach inkblot test
* Thematic Apperception Test

References

* Runes, Dagobert D. (ed.), "Dictionary of Philosophy", Littlefield, Adams, and Company, Totowa, NJ, 1972.

External links

* William James (1892), [http://www.des.emory.edu/mfp/tt14.html "Talks to Teachers", Chapter 14] .


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Apperception — Ap per*cep tion, n. [Pref. ad + perception: cf. F. apperception.] (Metaph.) The mind s perception of itself as the subject or actor in its own states; perception that reflects upon itself; sometimes, intensified or energetic perception. Leibnitz …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Apperception — Apperception, Wahrnehmung, bewußte Auffassung einer Anschauung …   Herders Conversations-Lexikon

  • apperception — I noun acumen, appreciation, astuteness, awareness, cognition, cognizance, conception, discernment, foresight, insight, intellect, judgment, knowledge, mentality, penetration, perception, perspicacity, psyche, realization, reason, reasoning power …   Law dictionary

  • apperception — (n.) 1753, from Fr. aperception (17c.), from Ger. Apperzeption (or L. apperceptionem), coined by German mathematician and philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646 1716) as noun corresponding to Fr. apercevoir perceive, notice, become aware of… …   Etymology dictionary

  • apperception — assimilation, identification, *recognition …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • apperception — [ap΄ərsep′shən] n. [Fr aperception < apercevoir, APPERCEIVE] 1. the act or process of apperceiving 2. the state or fact of the mind in being conscious of its own consciousness apperceptive adj …   English World dictionary

  • apperception — Term introduced by Leibniz for the mind s reflective apprehension of its own inner states. Kant distinguishes empirical apperception, which is consciousness of the ordinary, changing self, and transcendental apperception. This is the unchangeable …   Philosophy dictionary

  • apperception — apperceptive, adj. apperceptively, adv. /ap euhr sep sheuhn/, n. Psychol. 1. conscious perception. 2. the act or process of apperceiving. [1745 55; ( < F) < NL (Leibnitz) apperception , s. of apperceptio. See AP 1, PERCEPTION] * * * …   Universalium

  • apperception — noun /apəˈsɛpʃən/ a) The minds perception of itself as the subject or actor in its own states, unifying past and present experiences; self consciousness, perception that reflects upon itself. For as she smiled I was gifted a glimpse past the… …   Wiktionary

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