Perceptions of Self

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CHAPTER 2
Perceptions of Self and Others
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Communication and The Self-Concept

• Self-Concept (self-identity) the relatively
  stable set of perceptions you hold of yourself.

Self Esteem overall evaluation of your
competence and personal worthiness
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Forming and Maintaining a Self-concept

• Self-perception We form impressions about
  ourselves based on our own perceptions. (We place
  a great deal of emphasis on the first experience
  we have with a particular phenomenon.)

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Forming and Maintaining a Self-Concept (cont.)

• Reactions and Responses of Others
• they serve to validate, reinforce, or alter our
  perception.
• Reflected Appraisals The looking-glass self
• Reflected appraisal - each of us develops a self-
  concept that matches the way we believe others
  see us
• Significant others - people whose opinions we
  especially value

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Developing and Maintaining Self-Esteem

• Self-esteem is not just how well or poorly we do
  things, but the importance or value we place on
  what we do well or poorly.

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Accuracy of Self-Concept and Self-Esteem

• Incongruence- gap between our inaccurate
  self-perceptions and reality.
• Individuals tend to reinforce their
  self-perceptions by adjusting their behavior to
  conform with their perceived self-conceptions.

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Communication and The Self-Concept

• Culture and the Self-Concept

• Individualistic Cultures
• Self is separate, individuals should be
  independent
• Individual should take care of him/herself and
  immediate family
• Friends are based on shared interests and
  activities
• Reward for individual achievement and initiative
• High value on autonomy, individual security,
  equality

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Communication and The Self-Concept

• Culture and the Self-Concept

• Collectivistic Cultures
• People belong to extended families or a group
• Person should take care of extended family before
  self
• Emphasis on belonging to a very few permanent
  in-groups
• Reward for contribution to group goals
• High value on duty, order, tradition, age, group
  security, status, and hierarchy

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Communication and The Self-Concept
The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy and Communication

• Self-fulfilling prophecy - occurs when a persons
  expectations of an event make the outcome more
  likely to occur than would otherwise have been
  true
• Types of self-fulfilling prophecies
• Self-imposed prophecies
• Imposed prophecies by others

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Communication and The Self-Concept

• Characteristics of the Self-Concept

• The self-concept is subjective
• The self-concept resists change
• Cognitive conservatism tendency to cling to
  anexisting self-concept even when evidence shows
  that it is obsolete

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Communication and The Self-Concept
Changing Your Self-Concept

• Have a realistic perception of yourself
• Have realistic expectations
• Have the will to change
• Have the skill to change
• Know your relationships
• people are more committed to those who reinforce
  their self-esteem

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Self-concept, self-esteem, and communication

• Self-perceptions moderate self-talk
• internal conversations with ourselves
• Self-perception influences how we talk about
  ourselves with others
• People with higher self-esteem and stronger
  self-concept usually take credit for their
  successes

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Overcoming Physical Characteristics and Social
Behaviors

• Social Perceptions are often made on the basis of
  Physical characteristics and social behaviors
• Implicit Personality theories assumptions people
  have developed about which physical
  characteristics and personality traits or
  behaviors are associated with another
• Halo effect you generalize and perceive a person
  has a whole set of characteristics when you have
  only observed one characteristic, trait, or
  behavior.
• professional women dressed in jackets were
  considered more powerful.

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The Perception Process

• Perception is the process of selectively
  attending to information and assigning meaning to
  it.
• Selection
• Organization
• Interpretation

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Attention

• Needs biological and psychological
• Interests pertains to our interests
• Expectations what we expect

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Organization of Stimuli

• Simplicity organize into a commonly recognized
  form.
• Pattern set of characteristics used to
  differentiate some things from others

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A Sensory Test of Expectation

Bird in the the hand
Paris in the the spring time
Once in a a lifetime
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Common Perceptual Tendencies

• We make snap judgments
• We often judge ourselves more charitably than we
  judge others self-serving bias
• We pay more attention to negative impressions
  than positive ones
• We cling to first impressions, even if wrong
• We tend to assume that others are similar to us

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Empathy

• Empathy ability to re-create another persons
  perspective, to experience the world from the
  others point of view
• Dimensions
• Perspective taking
• Emotional
• Genuine concern
• Empathy vs Sympathy

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Perception Checking

• Watch the behavior of the other person
• Ask yourself What does that behavior mean to
  me?
• Form a message that describes the behavior you
  have observed and your interpretation of the
  behavior

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Presenting The Self Communication as Identity
Management

• Identity Management the communication
  strategies people use to influence how others
  view them.

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Presenting The Self Communication as Identity
Management
Public and Private Selves

• Perceived self reflection of the self-concept,
  the person you believe yourself to be
• Presenting self public image, the way we want
  others to view us

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• Erving Goffman used the word face to describe the
  presenting self.
• Facework describes the verbal and nonverbal ways
  we act to maintain our presenting image and the
  image of others

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Presenting The Self Communication as Identity
Management
Why Manage Identities?

• Social rules govern our behavior
• Accomplish personal goals
• Sometimes identity management aims at achieving
  relational goals such as affiliation, control or
  respect

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Presenting The Self Communication as Identity
Management
How Do We Manage Identities?
Face to Face Impression Management

• Manner consists of a communicators words and
  nonverbal actions
• Appearance personal items people use to shape
  an image
• Setting physical items we use to influence how
  others view us

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Presenting The Self Communication as Identity
Management
How Do We Manage Identities?

• Mediated Communication

• Appearance paper, words, images, sounds
• Editing including or excluding information