The Perception Process in Communication

1. Looking Out , Looking In 12 th Edition Chapter 3 1 Perception: What You See is What You Get Chapter Summary The Perception Process Influences on Perception Common Tendencies in Perception Perception Checking Empathy and Communication The Pillow Method

2. Looking Out , Looking In 12 th Edition Chapter 3 2 The Perception Process Selection Organization Interpretation Negotiation The Four Steps

3. Looking Out , Looking In 12 th Edition Chapter 3 3 The Perception Process Selection What attracts your attention? Stimuli that are intense attract us You are more likely to remember items that stand out Tall or short people. Items that excite your senses. Unchanging people or things become less noticeable over time If youre running late, youll notice all the clocks around you

4. Looking Out , Looking In 12 th Edition Chapter 3 4 The Perception Process Organization After selecting information from the environment we must organize it in some meaningful way FIGURE 3.1 Page 85 What do you see? In this example there are only two ways to organize the impression In reality there are many more

5. Looking Out , Looking In 12 th Edition Chapter 3 5 The Perception Process Organization After selecting information from the environment we must organize it in some meaningful way FIGURE 3.3 Page 86 In contrast to figure 3.1 how many impressions do you see here?

6. Looking Out , Looking In 12 th Edition Chapter 3 6 The Perception Process Organization We classify people in the same way we did the examples Appearance Male or Female, Beautiful or Ugly Social Roles Student, Teacher, Attorney Interaction Style Friendly, Helpful, Mean

7. Looking Out , Looking In 12 th Edition Chapter 3 7 The Perception Process Organization Psychological Traits Curious, Nervous, Insecure Membership Republican, American, Democrat How youve classified someone will change the way you react to them in the future

8. Looking Out , Looking In 12 th Edition Chapter 3 8 The Perception Process Organization Stereotyping After weve chosen an organizing scheme to classify people we use that scheme to classify similar groups Exaggerated generalizations lead to stereotyping After a stereotype is created we seek out isolated behavior to support these inaccurate beliefs Decategorize those you stereotype

9. Looking Out , Looking In 12 th Edition Chapter 3 9 The Perception Process Organization Punctuation How arguments are punctuated can lead to a variety of problems FIGURE 3.4 Page 90

10. Looking Out , Looking In 12 th Edition Chapter 3 10 The Perception Process Interpretation Interpretation plays a role in every interpersonal act Degree of involvement with the other person We treat people differently when perusing a relationship Past experience Have you been in the situation before Assumptions about human behavior

11. Looking Out , Looking In 12 th Edition Chapter 3 11 The Perception Process Interpretation Interpretation plays a role in every interpersonal act Attitudes The attitudes we hold shape the way we view others Expectations Anticipation shapes interpretation Knowledge Knowledge of a situation will change your interpretation of it

12. Looking Out , Looking In 12 th Edition Chapter 3 12 The Perception Process Interpretation Self-Concept How you view yourself will alter your interpretation When youre feeling down the work looks much worse Relational Satisfaction Positive behavior may be viewed as negative depending on your current satisfaction in a relationship It is possible for each section of the perception process to occur out of order

13. Looking Out , Looking In 12 th Edition Chapter 3 13 The Perception Process Negotiation Our personal worlds are described as narratives Ask two children what theyre fighting about Chances are youll get different narratives When narratives coincide they are said to be shared These narratives do not have to be true to be powerful In some cases couples have a happy relationship simply because they share the narrative that theyve always had one Negotiating each narrative can be tricky

14. Looking Out , Looking In 12 th Edition Chapter 3 14 Influences on Perception ABC News Video Click on box to play video

15. Looking Out , Looking In 12 th Edition Chapter 3 15 Influences on Perception Physiological Influences The Senses How each of our senses changes the way we interact and shapes our perceptions How many times have you heard someone complain about the temperature and you thought it was just fine

16. Looking Out , Looking In 12 th Edition Chapter 3 16 Influences on Perception Physiological Influences Age Experience changes the way one perceives the world Biological factors also shape perception Health When youre feeling sick your perception of the world changes Fatigue Just as being ill can have harmful affects on your relationship so can being sleepy

17. Looking Out , Looking In 12 th Edition Chapter 3 17 Influences on Perception Physiological Influences Hunger People often get grumpy when theyre hungry Several biological changes occur in the body Biological Cycles Your body changes constantly throughout your daily cycle Change influences your perception positively and negatively Psychological Challenges Mental illness and disorder can dramatically change the way one interacts with and perceives the world

18. Looking Out , Looking In 12 th Edition Chapter 3 18 Influences on Perception Cultural Differences Cultures value different principles of communication Collectivist v. Individualist Culture Ethnocentrism The attitude that ones own culture is superior to others Cultural differences can occur with in a single country North vs. South East vs. West

19. Looking Out , Looking In 12 th Edition Chapter 3 19 Influences on Perception Social Roles Gender Roles Socially instructed ways men and women should act Violations to these rules is seen as unusual and undesirable Occupational Roles Depends on level of experience Can change instantly when new people are added to the group Philip Zimbardo conducted the an experiment that popularized the theory of occupational roles Prisoners and Guards (pg. 101-102)

20. Looking Out , Looking In 12 th Edition Chapter 3 20 Common Tendencies in Perception How We Judge Ourselves We judge ourselves more charitably than others Even when situation are similar our tendency is to fault the other person rather than admit we also made the same mistake He wasnt listening He flies off the handle What did you expect from someone who curses Egocentric tendencies cause us to rate ourselves more favorable than others

21. Looking Out , Looking In 12 th Edition Chapter 3 21 Common Tendencies in Perception Others Negative Characteristics We pay attention to others negative characteristics To avoid bombarding our self-concept with doubt we tend to focus more harshly on the short comings of others We are influenced by the obvious Because we select stimuli that is most noticeable it is not surprising that obvious events tend to have the most impact We assume that others are similar to us Be careful when telling jokes and using slang

22. Looking Out , Looking In 12 th Edition Chapter 3 22 Common Tendencies in Perception Perception Checking Elements of Perceptions Checking A description of the behavior you notices At least two possible interpretations of the behavior A request for clarification about how to interpret the behavior Perception Checking Considerations Completeness Nonverbal Congruency Cultural Rules Face Saving Can be a way to raise an issue without directly threatening

23. Looking Out , Looking In 12 th Edition Chapter 3 23 Common Tendencies in Perception Empathy and Communication Empathy The ability to re-create another persons perspective or to experience the world from their point of view Perspective Taking The attempt to take on the viewpoint of another Requires a suspension of judgment Sympathy You view the other persons position from your point of view

24. Looking Out , Looking In 12 th Edition Chapter 3 24 Common Tendencies in Perception The Pillow Method The Pillow Method is a tool for building empathy The Pillow Method consists of four sides or positions FIGURE 3.5 The Pillow Method Page 113

25. Looking Out , Looking In 12 th Edition Chapter 3 25 Perception: What You See is What You Get Chapter Summary The Perception Process Influences on Perception Common Tendencies in Perception Perception Checking Empathy and Communication The Pillow Method