From Wasteland to Utopia: Changing Images of the Canadian in the Nineteeth Century

Authors

R. Douglas Francis, University of Calgary

Date of this Version

1987

Comments

Published in Great Plains Quarterly [GPQ 7 (Summer 1987): 178-194] .Copyright 1987 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska—Lincoln.

Abstract

It is common knowledge that what one perceives is greatly conditioned by what one wants or expects to see. Perception is not an objective act that occurs independently of the observer. One is an active agent in the process and brings to one's awareness certain preconceived values, or a priori assumptions, that enable one to organize the deluge of objects, experiences, and impressions into some meaningful and comprehensive world view. Perception changes as new information or altered perspectives are integrated and thus, one's view of the "objective" external world is affected.