Alexandria Acevedo

845-10-0065
INGL-3256-0U1
Prof. MacLennan
February 17, 2015.

Legally flawed, (our perception, that is)

Aristotle once said Man is a political animal. That is to say, we live in a polis, the

Greek word meaning city. We live in a city and in community. Whether you are a fan of your

community or not, you live within it, most human beings do. Off the top of your head, can you

name a person you know or have met that is a hermit? Someone cut off from society completely?

I dont think so. As humans living in community it is only logical for us to communicate with the

other members of it, but in order to effectively communicate we must chose who we want to

communicate with. Which poses the question How do we do this?. How do we decide who is

worthy of our time and attention? We cast judgment based on our perception. The topic of

perception is one that interests me especially because, although it is a part of our day-to-day

lives, it is such an automatic process that we seldom pay close attention to it. In this assignment I

will attempt to explain how perception and its processes, although essential for human

coexistence, is often times flawed and may actually hinder instead of aiding our understanding of

society and its inhabitants.

We humans create meaning from the things we notice or perceive. Perception is the

active process of creating meaning by selecting, organizing and interpreting people, objects,

events, situations, and other phenomena. Perception consists of three processes: selecting,

organizing and interpreting. Focusing more on the people aspect, the problem with perception is

that we cannot possibly be aware of every single aspect of a person within seconds of seeing,

meeting and interacting with them. So, we select only certain things to notice and then we
organize and interpret what we have selectively noticed. We select to pay attention to certain

stimuli based on a number of factors. If something stands out, we pay more attention to it. Just

like in the movie Legally Blonde when Elle Woods begins her studies at Harvard Law School

and sticks out like a sore thumb because of her brightly colored and bold fashion choices. In this

movie there are myriad examples of how perception works and its pros and cons.

A major part of perception is organization. Once we have selected what to notice, (the

tattoo sleeve on that hairdresser or the expensive watch on the man riding the train) we must

make sense of it. The constructivist theory states that we organize and interpret by applying

cognitive schemata, relying on four of these to make sense of interpersonal phenomena:

prototypes, personal constructs, stereotypes and scripts. A prototype is the clearest most

representative example of a category, like true friends or the perfect boyfriend. Personal

construct is the mental yardstick which we utilize to measure people and situations. Stereotypes

are the predictive generalizations about individuals and situations based on the category in which

we place them and the script is the guide we follow in particular situations. In the beginning of

the movie, Elle believes she is in love with Warner. Warner is the embodiment of the perfect

boyfriend prototype for her. She is the stereotypical rich blonde from Beverly Hills and a sorority

girl about to graduate from college as a fashion major. He is the stereotypical rich boy, member

of a country club in Connecticut, a family full of senators and high expectations for him. On

paper, Warner is the perfect man for her and she makes this clear when she voices her excitement

at the fact that he might propose to her. After all, theyve been dating for years and theyre about

to graduate from college. Script dictates that he is to propose, they are to marry and to live

happily ever after. At least, thats what Elles script dictated. Warners was a little different.
 Elle does not fit into Warners prototype for the ideal girlfriend. His family has shaped

his perception and has made him seek a girlfriend/future wife who is more serious and somber

than a pink-loving blonde from California. Something that he makes very clear to Elle as he

breaks up with her by saying: Law school is gonna be serious. My family expects a lot from me.

I plan on running for office someday. If Im gonna be a senator by the time Im 30 I need to stop

dicking around. If Im gonna be a senator I need to marry a Jackie, not a Marilyn. You have no

idea the kind of pressure Im under. My family has five generations of senators. My brothers at

Yale law. He just got engaged to a Vanderbelt for Christs sake. Its not like I have a choice here

sweetheart. I have to think of my future, of what my family expects from me.

By saying this not only has Warner made it painfully clear that his perception is

influenced by the culture and family in which he was raised. Their standpoint as a reputable,

wealthy, serious family of lawyers/senators has shaped Warner and made him assume to role of

the son that goes to immense lengths to please and appease his family. Now, any number of us

ladies watching this movie mightve given up on Warner and simply moved on, not Elle. Elle

interprets his actions in a way that makes sense to her and also does not alter the prototype of

him in her head. Implicitly, she attributes Warners harsh criticism of her to external causes (his

family) and does not hold him responsible for rejecting her. Elle made the common mistake of

being swayed by self-serving bias, an attributional error. Instead of admitting to herself and

dealing with the pain of realizing that Warner was indeed not a fit for the prototype of perfect

boyfriend/future husband, Elle chooses to attribute his actions to external, unstable causes in

order to convince herself that he is the man for her. Although self-serving bias usually refers to

not taking responsibility for our own mistakes or faults, I believe it can be applied here because it

is serving Elle in the sense that her feelings are protected by blaming Warners family instead of
holding him accountable for his actions. Elles actions could also be explained by the concept of

implicit personality theory. She saw that he was handsome, charming and fun to be around and

so she mightve just assumed unconsciously that because he was all those things he was also

kind and caring, which are common qualities in the perfect boyfriend prototype.

Although Elle does fit into the stereotype of rich, blonde, sorority girl, in many aspects

like her love of all things pink, the importance she places on her looks and even the way she

speaks and carries herself, she breaks away from it often. A very common quality often linked

with rich blondes is the idea that they are dumb or easily duped. Very early on in the movie,

shopping for a dress for her date with Warner, Elle catches a sales girl attempting to sell her a

dress that is on sale for full price. We see a dash of foreshadowing as she utilizes her knowledge

(even if it is knowledge on fabrics and fashion) to confuse the sales girl and catch her in a lie,

much like she does to Chutney during the final moments of the trial. In both cases Elle proves to

be cunning and skilled at using her knowledge to her advantage. Throughout the movie Elle

struggles to break with the stereotype she has been thrust into by everyone that surrounds her.

Professors, classmates, her friends, even her own parents poo-pooed her decision to go to law

school because it was for people who were ugly, boring and serious and she was none of those

things. In spite of all of this Elle breaks the stereotype time and time again by getting a good

grade on her LSATs, getting into Harvard Law School, doing well in her classes and helping

expose Chutney as the real murderer.

The whole popularity of the movie is essentially based on the fact that we as human

beings whether we want to admit it or not, often stereotype people and then discriminate against

them because of these stereotypes. If the movie had been about a less attractive girl who went to

law school it would not have been as big of a hit as it was. The movie preys on the fact that we as
a society will believe that beautiful women who take care of their bodies usually dont take as

good care of their minds. Just as Elle assumed that Warner was the perfect man for her, we too

make erroneous assumptions based on perception. It is important to remember that perception is

always partial and subjective and although it is an essential aspect of our lives and shapes all of

human interaction it is imperative to understand that we humans are flawed and, often times, so

are the ideas we create through the use of it. We must accept that our perception will forever be

influenced by factors such as our culture, physiology, roles, standpoint and cognitive abilities, no

matter how objective we try to be.