Deception or Perception?

The movie “The Social Network” by David Fincher is a film about how Facebook was created and the lawsuit against founder Mark Zuckerberg that followed. The people who were portrayed in the movie may have not agreed with the accuracy of their character. It is because of the way we perceive ourselves and others why we agree or disagree to what people perceive us to be. All while using the process of perception. Mark, Eduardo, and Winklevoss brothers on “The Social Network” use these concepts when telling their truths in court.

“Our minds usually select, organize and interpret information so quickly and so subconsciously that we think our perceptions are objective, factual reflections of the real world. (Pg.56)” During the Eduardo Saverin vs. Mark Zuckerberg case, the process of perception was established when Mark responded to Erica’s deposition. Stating “You think that if I Know she can make me look like a jerk, I’d be more likely to settle.” His perception that the lawyer was trying to make him look like a “jerk” was based on the information he selected to pay attention to during the questioning. (“You are gonna go through life thinking that girls don’t like you because you’re a nerd. I want to tell you from the bottom of my heart that that won’t be true. It’ll be because you’re an asshole.”) Also, the way he organized the information. (The lawyer got Erica’s deposition to make me look bad.) As well as based off his interpretation. (If I look like a jerk, they’d expect me to be more likely to settle.) The lawyer’s perception of Mark at that moment in court was not of his own self-concept therefore, Mark took offense.

“If you perceive that someone is communicating out of anger or jealousy, you’ll likely react to that behavior differently than if you perceive it as motivated by humor or sarcasm. (pg. 64)” Eduardo felt the need to include in his lawsuit the statement “ It probably was a diversity thing, but so what?” made by Mark right after asking him for money to start the company because he felt in that moment that Mark was not being sarcastic or making a joke but because Mark was jealous of him. The process of perception was established here when Eduardo selected to pay attention to the comment Mark made about getting “punched by the Phoenix.” Secondly, the way he organized the information, (he doesn’t want me to get into the Phoenix.) Lastly, based off interpretation, (Mark is jealous that I got punched by the Phoenix.)

“Although we constantly form perceptions of others and of their communication behaviors, we are hardly experts at it. In fact, perceptual mistakes are easy to make. (pg. 60)” The way the Winklevoss brothers were explaining their story in court they wanted the perception of them to be that they are gentlemen. “We are not suing anybody.” “We are gentlemen of Harvard.” They had to be careful of how they were going to approach the situation with Mark, making sure not to make any perceptual mistakes about marks new website he had created. Process of perception that Mark stole their idea was established when they selected to pay attention only to the fact that mark was telling them he could not make it even when he was explaining why. (Mark was brushing us off because he was finding a way to create the website we told him about on his own.) Also, the way they organized the information (Mark didn’t ask us for money because he didn’t want us to know what he was doing.) Lastly, the interpretation, (Mark stole our idea and made “The Facebook” behind our backs.)

While the way they told the story in the movie “The Social Network” was their perception, to them, these were the truths of Mark, Eduardo, and the Winklevoss brothers on what happened. The process of perception was used while communicating to the courts their side of the story. It was because of the way each person perceived themselves and others to be why they disagreed with each other about how things happened. Mark ended up making a settlement deal with the Winklevoss brothers. Let’s say he hadn’t. Instead, he decided to take this to trial. As someone on the jury, how would you use the process of perception to explain your concept of what happened?

Claribel Navarrete