In this section, we're going to focus on the steps that go into the perceptual process. So, we're going to see that perception is actually a three stage process. That translates raw stimuli that is the stimuli that are detected by the senses that we've been talking about, into something that we can understand and make sense of. So the three steps in perception are exposure, attention, and interpretation. When we focus on stages of perception, it's kind of interesting to stop and ask, to what extent are we like and not like computers? Because after all, computers do many of the same things that our brains do when we're trying to make sense out of the external environment when you're dealing with a computer You have to input raw data.

And something happens to that data inside the computer, some kind of an algorithm that's going to make sense of that data. And then we're going to get some kind of a response. So when we see all of the artificial intelligence technology that's starting to pop up all around us. And we have smart robots or computers that beat chess champions or beat a contestant at Jeopardy, we start to wonder about the extent to which humans and robots essentially are the same thing. Well, we could probably debate that all day and all night. But one short answer for our purposes it is that we are not like computers, in the sense that we don't always just come up with a straightforward interpretation of what we perceive.

So that even though we are inputting raw data, number one, it's not clear that the raw data that come into our brains is necessarily accurate. And certainly what we do with that data and whether we even choose to pay attention to that data largely depends on various idiosyncrasies about each individual, and also to a large extent, the cultural environment in which we were raised. So yes, we're like computers in that we are data processors. But no, we're not like computers, because we are much more unpredictable. So let's focus more on what makes us human rather than what makes us like computers. Let's start with the first stage of perception, which is exposure.

Exposure occurs when a stimulus comes within the range of someone's sensory receptors. And of course, these receptors can be our eyes, our ears, our nose, our fingers, our skin, and so on. We know that consumers concentrate on some stimuli, but they're unaware of others and in many cases may even go out of their way to ignore some messages. In addition, we are not necessarily physically capable of processing all of the raw stimuli that are in the world around us. There's only so many things we're able to see or hear or smell. So just as a dog can hear certain sounds that humans are not capable of hearing.

That is true for many other stimuli as well. So some stimuli may be above or below a person's sensory threshold. And this refers to the point at which a stimulus is strong enough to make a conscious impact. Sometimes I laugh to myself, hopefully just to myself when I'm driving down the highway, and I pass by a big billboard that is filled with all kinds of small print. And as I drive by it, I think about all the people who are narrowly avoiding an accident as they're trying to make sense out of what's written on that Billboard. This is a problem of exposure.

The people who created that billboard don't seem to get that we are not capable of perceiving very small stimuli, visual stimuli as we pass by on the highway. So this is an example of a stimulus that's below our sensory threshold. So I guess the moral here is if you're going to advertise on billboards, please make the print big enough for people to read. We'd all appreciate it. We even find differences between men and Women in terms of their ability to process raw stimuli. Women are drawn toward brighter tones, and they're more sensitive to subtle shadings and patterns.

In addition, as we get older, our eyes mature, and our vision takes on a yellow cast. This means that colors tend to look dollar to older people, so they prefer white and other bright tones. In case you're wondering, that helps to explain why mature consumers are more likely to choose a white car. So Lexus, which sells a large proportion of its cars to older consumers, sells the majority of its cars in the color white. So the takeaway here is very simple. You can have the most creative messages in the world, but they won't do you Good if your customers can process them as raw data