Question

Marathon runner Mariah Li noticed the San Diego Zoo was prohibiting people in motorized wheelchairs from viewing the zoo's baby panda and saw nothing wrong with this policy. Tully Smythe, who is wheelchair-bound, saw the notice and felt he was being discriminated against because he could not use his wheelchair to access the panda site. This is an example of:

Answer 1

Selective perception.

Step-by-step explanation:

Selective perception can be defined as a cognitive distortion that makes a person perceive only those stimuli that are favorable to that person and matches his/her expectations, ignoring other stimuli that are contradictory.

The given scenario exemplifies the selective perception. In the given case, the notice that does not allow people in a wheelchair to view the zoo's baby panda is viewed differently by Marathon and Tully. They both perceived the situation according to their expectations. Marathon, who is not using a wheelchair, saw nothing bad in that whereas Tully, who is on a wheelchair, felt discriminated.

Thus the correct answer is selective perception.