Selective Perception In What Lies Between Us By Scott Plous

Scott Plous states in his book, “If you are like most people, your perceptions are heavily influenced by what you expect to see. Even when something is right before your eyes, it is hard to view it without preconceived notions.” (Plous 15) This is an example of selective perception, selective perception being, in simple terms, seeing what you want to see based on your frame of reference. For example, racism, those who are said to be racists often only see the negative in a certain race and their mind will focus only on those factors until it becomes complete hatred for a certain race. Selective perception can be used anywhere at any time, many magicians use this tactic to make the “magic” seem real. In the novel, What Lies Between Us by

She states that when “he runs his fingers through my hair, his nails against my scalp making me both wide, tingling awake and sleepy, I don’t want it to stop” (Munaweera 73). This shows that she started liking “Samson” touching her, even though she knew it was not supposed to be happening. Her selective perception further confuses her when she hears their voices, “Thatha’s voice. Samson’s voice. How similar they are. Barely distinguishable” (Munaweera 77). This is her biggest example of how she sees one as the other, it’s normally dark and she only hears the voice, therefore, it’s easy for her to perceive that her molester the whole time is Samson. Her unconscious mind can simply perceive it was Samson, not her Father, to a point her dreams block out the real memories with her father, to memories with Samson. When she is in the United States, her cousin Dharshi points out her selective perception in the middle of the night. Ganga wakes up from a dream by Dharshi shaking her violently. Dharshi says “You were dreaming. You cried out. Your dad, I think”( Munaweera 108), this shows that Ganga does indeed show that it was her father at points but then her selective perception causes her say Samson’s name and see Samson’s face. These reoccurring dreams later affect her love life and how she sees the people around