Apperception

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.

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Encyclopedia

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

• In epistemology
  Epistemology
  
  Epistemology or theory of knowledge is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and scope of knowledge. It addresses the questions:...
  , it is "the introspective or reflective apprehension by the mind of its own inner states" (Ledger Wood in Runes).

• In psychology
  Psychology
  
  Psychology is an academic and applied science discipline involving the science study of human mental functions and behavior. Occasionally it also relies on symbolic hermeneutics and critical theory, although these traditions are less pronounced than in other social sciences such as sociology....
  , 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.

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.

• In philosophy
  Philosophy
  
  Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, truth, beauty, justice, validity, mind, and language....
  , Kant
  KANT
  
  KANT is a computer algebra system for mathematicians interested in algebraic number theory, performing sophisticated computations in algebraic number fields, in Global field function fields, and in local fields....
   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
  Kantianism
  
  Kantianism is the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, a Germany philosopher born in K?nigsberg, Germany . The term Kantianism or Kantian is sometimes also used to describe contemporary positions in philosophy of mind, epistemology, and ethics....
  .

• The eastern concept of the sanskara
  Sanskara
  
  In Hinduism sanskaras are the imprints left on the subconscious mind by experience in this or previous lives, which then color all of life, one's nature, responses, states of mind, etc....
   can also be looked upon as a form of apperception - seeing events through the lens of accumulated impressions.

See also

• Metacognition
  Metacognition
  
  Metacognition is knowledge of one's cognitive processes and the efficient use of this self-awareness to self-regulate these cognitive processes ....
  
• Projective test
  Projective test
  
  A projective test, in psychology, is a personality test designed to let a person respond to ambiguous stimuli, presumably revealing hidden emotions and internal conflicts....
  
• Rorschach inkblot test
  Rorschach inkblot test
  
  The Rorschach inkblot test is a method of psychology evaluation. Psychologists use this test to try to examine the personality characteristics and emotional functioning of their patients....
  
• Thematic Apperception Test
  Thematic Apperception Test
  
  The Thematic Apperception Test is an example of a projective test.Historically, the Thematic Apperception Test or TAT has been amongst the most widely used, researched, and taught Projective tests....
  

External links

• William James
  William James
  
  William James was a pioneering American psychology and philosophy trained as a medical doctor. He wrote influential books on the young science of psychology, educational psychology, psychology of religion experience and mysticism, and the philosophy of pragmatism....
   (1892), .