Perception, The Self, and Communication

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Perception, The Self, and
Communication Part 1
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People only see what they are prepared to see.

• Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Perception Communication

• Perception affects communication and
  communication affects perceptionit is an ongoing
  cycle of influence.
• Ø   Perception shapes how we interpret others
  communication and how we ourselves communicate.
• Ø   At the same time, communication influences
  our perceptions of people and situations. The two
  processes are intricately intertwined.

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Perceiving Others

• Perception an active process of creating meaning
  by selecting, organizing, and interpreting
  people, objects, events, situations, and
  activities.
• Narrative The stories people create and use to
  make sense of their personal worlds.

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Common Perceptual Tendencies

• Attributionthe process of attaching meaning to
  behavior.
• We judge ourselves more charitably
• Situational
• Self-serving bias
• We judge others more critically
• Dispositional

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Desirable Undesirable Conduct
Dispositional Attribution Situational Attribution
Situational Attribution Dispositional Attribution
Ingroup Members Outgroup Members
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• We are influenced by what is most obvious
• Intense
• Repetitious
• Contrastive
• Motives
• We cling to first impressions, even if wrong.
• We tend to assume that others are similar to us.
• We tend to favor negative impressions over
  positive ones.
• We blame innocent victims for their misfortunes.

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Situational Factors Influencing Perception

• Relational satisfaction.
• Degree of involvement with the other person.
• Past experience
• Expectations
• Social roles
• Knowledge
• Self-concept

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Perception and Culture

• Different people see things differently
• Culture is a major factor on how people perceive
  things.
• Categories such as gender, sub-culture, economic
  class, and age all influence ones perception.

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Are the horizontal lines parallel, or do they
slope?
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Is the book face-down?Or face-up?
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Looking up, or looking down?
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Empathy and Perception

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

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Empathy vs. Sympathy

• Sympathy when you feel compassion for another
  persons predicament.
• It lacks the degree of identification that
  empathy entails.
• Empathy when you have a personal sense of what
  that predicament is like.
• The other persons confusion, joy, or pain becomes
  your own.

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Next Mondays Agenda

• Bring in your student profile.
• Bring in your group perception assignments.
• Be ready to discuss
• Bring your workbook.