Selective Perception, a Study by Hastorf and Cantril

Hastorf and Cantril’s study gives an interesting example of what selective perception is. Furthermore, how this phenomenon manifests itself in everyday situations. Selective perception refers to the distorted way in which you perceive what happens in accordance with your own beliefs. In other words, you often only see what you want to see. Albert H. Hastorf and Hadley Cantril conducted the study. It was published in the Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology in 1954. Although they didn’t establish the theory of selective perception, their research did corroborate it. Selective perception is a cognitive bias. It occurs when you only…