Lauren D
COM 2206-114
12 Sept 2012
The Amazing Catch Through the Perception Process
In “The Amazing Catch” video clip, we witness a ball girl catch a ball by scaling a wall. Even though
the video is short, when we dissect our perceptual process, we can see how many observations we made in a
short period of time, and how our senses are awakened.
The first step in the process of perception is selection, or “the process of attending to a stimulus (p.
109).” During this stage, our bodies (typically unconsciously) choose which stimuli to notice or ignore by
looking at factors such as the intensity of the stimuli, or repeated to exposure to the stimuli. The unconventional
and unexpected are also factors in determining what your mind selects for perception. This phase is vital in
forming a perception because the information your body and mind select to continue in the process can alter
your perception.
In the video clip, the ball girl at a baseball game leaps for a ball, and seems to jump more than three
times her height. The happenstance of her actually catching the ball is an element most would not expect, so it
draws the attention of the observer and makes you notice something that may have gone unseen if the ball had
gone into the crowd. Your attention is piqued because the stimulus was unusual; had she expectedly missed the
ball, most people would not have selected her in forming a perception. If someone were to miss the initial catch,
their attention would have been drawn to the ball girl because of the intense response of the crowd. Upon
replay, you can clearly see the intensity of her determination to catch the ball as she scales the wall. Both of
these are examples of how intensity of a stimuli can attribute to information you select for processing.
The second phase in the Perception Process is organization. After stimulus is selected, it has to be
organized, or categorized. When you organize the information selected for attention, it “helps you make sense
of the information by revealing how similar to, and different from, other things you already know about (p.
109).” During organization, you apply a mental framework, or perceptual schema, to selected information to
categorize it. The first framework is the physical constructs, which focus on objective characteristics (such as
body type, age, or ethnicity) and subjective characteristics (such as physical attractiveness, friendliness, or
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COM 2206-114
12 Sept 2012
assumed abilities). In the clip, one of the key factors in perceiving the situation is that the one to catch the ball is
a woman small in stature. This physical characteristic is unique to the situation, thus giving it more importance
to a physically constructed frame.
Role constructs are another framework in organization. This construct reflects the significance of the
professional or social role someone has during organization. Role constructs connect importance of the role
someone has (such as professor, mother, or police officer) to the information selected, so that the information
can later be interpreted.
A third framework is interaction constructs, or people’s behavior and it’s relation to the selected
information. After she catches the ball, the crowd goes crazy and even the baseball players are shocked and
amazed. An example of interaction constructs is the way the ball girl herself behaves. After catching the ball,
she naturally throws the ball to the baseball player, as she would at any other time, and as though nothing
happened. She then modestly takes a seat. Not only does her determination on catching the ball serve as an
excellent illustration, but her indifference towards the remarkable catch is also something that is duly notable,
even by the announcers, as they speak as much of her apathy as they do of the catch itself. Her behavior has
helped to form your perception by being categorized by her behavior.
The final structure aiding in organization is the psychological constructs, which focus on people’s
thoughts and feelings. The psychological construct focuses our attention on a person’s state of mind while we
are forming our perceptions. While all of the constructs are helpful individually, they can and are used
simultaneously. This process of organizing our selections helps us “determine the ways in which various pieces
of information that we select for attention are related (p. 111).”
The final stage in the perception process is interpretation. During interpretation, you “[assign] meaning
to information that has been selected for attention and organized(p. 111).” When watching The Amazing Ball
Girl video, the seemingly major question is whether or not the catch was real, or if the video was enhanced to
make the catch more incredible. Your interpretation of the phenomena is the end result of the process of
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COM 2206-114
12 Sept 2012
perceptions; how you select information for attention and then categorize the information aids your
interpretation of the miraculous catch.
During interpretation, you look at three factors to help determine your perception. The first factor is
looking at your own, personal experience. “Your personal experience helps you assign meaning to behavior (p.
111).” In my personal experience, women are seen as the “lesser” sex, weaker than males and not often
matching in athletic abilities. Given that baseball is typically a male sport, the ball girl may be put into a
“higher” or more favorable perception, while the baseball player who didn’t get to the ball may have been
placed in a “lower” or less-favorable perception because the physical construct combine with the information
selected and the organization of the information puts it in that category. Putting all of this information together
(and assuming the video is, in fact, unaltered and real), the ball girl catching the ball is a remarkable moment.
Another factor in determining your interpretation is personal knowledge. “Your knowledge of the person
helps you interpret their actions (p. 111).” By applying your personal knowledge of a person, you can easily
determine the tone or accuracy of their statements or actions. If you knew the person filming, posting, or
participating in the video clip, it would influence you interpretation of the credibility of the video. If the ball girl
is honest and athletic, your interpretation is likely to be that the catch is real and unaltered. If the person
recording and posting the video is someone known to be shady and has a history of editing previous videos,
your interpretation is going to be that the video is fake, even if you do not know the ball girl or her abilities (this
example is also demonstrative of how personal history affects influence).
The final factor giving way to interpretations can be the closeness of the relationship, or in this case, to
the situation. Even though you may not know the ball girl directly, you may relate traits of her to yourself or
someone you know. Although typically this factor applies to people you know, it can also apply to the situation
at hand. Given that baseball is typically a male sport, the ball girl may be put into a “higher” or more favorable
perception, while the baseball player who didn’t get to the ball may have been placed in a “lower” or lessfavorable perception because the physical construct combine with the information selected and the organization
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COM 2206-114
12 Sept 2012
of the information puts it in that category. While this may appear a moot point in the context of interpretation,
for another female athlete in a “man’s” sport, she may feel closer to the ball girl by empathizing with her
unexpected success. A male ball player, however, may not even consider this in his interpretation of the video.
All of the phases on processing perceptions can use multiple factors (or framework) to determine the
legitimacy of the video. The way I processed and perceived the video, I believe that the video is genuine and
impervious. Others’ perceptions may differ based on one or multiple different observations selected for
attention, organized information, and interpretations.
Resources
Floyd, Kory. Interpersonal Communication: The Whole Story. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2012.