chapter 2 perception, self and communications

Erving Goffman

- first described the process of self-presentation- he adopted the interactionist perspective * theory embraces- individuals identity, group relationships, the context, and interactive meaning of info * individuals- actors and interactions= performance- shaped by the context and constructed to provide others with "impressions" consistent with the desired goals of the "actor"

who are you ?

- how you became who you are- what you know about yourself= past, present, and future * personal identity that you have developed influences your perceptions or others. also self perception will have effect on communications with others * personal identities can be changed and people can improve their behaviors as a result * how can personal identity be applied to communication?- your awareness of who you are develops in your communication with yourself, that is, your intrapersonal communication * self awareness develops in your communication with others. once you master language- symbolic interactions ( the process of development of the self through the messages and feedback received from others) - this helps shape you into who you are

what errors we make in perception- 2. First impression

- initial opinion about people upon meeting that person * frequently based on appearance and forms in as little as 3 seconds, and the non-verbal cues they offer are powerful * as we form first impressions, we compare new persons with ourselves * first impressions are powerful and sometimes lead to errors in our assessment of others * can be affected by specific situations or circumstance that the other person is experiences, we tend to cling to these impressions in future interactions * our perceptions of others= subjective, active and creative in multiple ways through multiple interactions- we can make our perceptions fair by understanding common attribution and perceptual errors and how often we do them - perceptual checking- process of describing, interpreting and verifying that helps you understand another persona and his or her message more accurately * this has three steps 1. describe to the other person the behavior- verbal and nonverbal- that you observed 2. suggest plausible interpretation 3. seek verification through clarficication, explanation or amplification

why do differences in perception occurs?

- perception is subjective, active, and creative 1. physiological factors- sex, appearance, age-affects how people perceive you and how you present yourself. temporary conditions can cause differences in perception 2. past experiences and roles * perceptual constancy- the idea that your past experiences lead you to see the world in a way that is difficult to change- initial perceptioin insists * what has happened in the past affects current perceptions- bad experiences make you possibly avoid that situation in the future * roles also affect perception- role- the part you play in various social contexts 3. present feelings and circumstances- how you feel at the moment affects your perceptions and alters your communication

interpretation

- perception that involves a blend of internal states and external stimuli * the more ambiguous the stimuli, the more room for interpretation * when interpreting stimuli, people frequently rely on the context in which the stimuli are perceived , or they compare it to other stimuli- somtimes context helps, but other times it can create confusion * we become so accustomed to seeing things in acertain way that we can overlook the obvious *context plays a large part in interpretation- provides cues for how long on action, object, or situation is to be interpreted or perceived * how does interpretation work in communication?- our own behavior can lead us to different interpretation

what is perception

- process of using the senses to acquire info about the surrounding environment or situation - affects the way we understand events, others and ourselves and affects the way we view ourselves and the way we present ourselves - used to be considered passive- passive perception= like videoo recorders people are simply recorders of stimuli - active perception- means our minds selects, organizes, and interprets what we sense - perception is subjective because you interpret what you sense and you add/ subtract from the info and make it yours - subjective perception- your uniquely constructed meaning attributed to sensed stimuli

identity management

- the control, or lack of control, of the communication of info through a performance * through this people try to present an idealized version of themselves to reach desired ends

organization in perception

- the grouping of stimuli into meaningful units or wholes - you organize what your senses tell you about your surroundings . you organize stimuli in a number of ways 1. figure- the focal point of your attention 2. ground- the background against which you focus your attention * how do figure and ground work in communication- in your verbal and non-verbal exchanges, you focus on some parts (figure) and distance yourself from others ( ground) 3. closure - the tendency to fill in missing info to complete an otherwise incomplete figure or statement * how does it work in communication?- visual closure might involve filling in the missing pieces of a picture( think about the ink blot), and mental closure means filling in the meaning of what you hear and observe 4. proximity- the principle that objects physically close to each other will be perceived as a unit or group * proximity in communication works verbally and non-verbally * nonverbal- you think the person standing behind the register is the cashier * verbal- your boss announces that she is laying people off and then she calls you into her office- you then think she must be firing you 5. similarity- the principle that elements are grouped together because they share attributes, such as size , clor, or shape * how does this apply to communication?- we tend to seek to interact with those who are similar to ourselves. because our perceptions are egocentric, we also choose to communicate with those we believe are similar to us

selection

- through selection, you neglect some stimuli and focus on others * while awake you are always actively engaged in selecting whihc stimuli to which you will respond or not * there are four types of selectivity 1. selective exposure- you exposure yourself to info that reinforces, rather than contradicts, your belies or opinions * has the value of protecting our positions and the downside of protecting our prejudices 2. selective attention- even when you do expose yourself to info and ideas, you only focus on certain cues and ignore others * in communication, you dont treat all sounds, words, phrases and sentences equally 3. selective perception- the tendency to see, hear , and believe only what you want to see, hear and believe 4. selective retention- the tendency to remember better the things that reinforce your beliefs than those that oppose them

how do you present yourself

- we attempt to influence others perceptions of ourselves through self- preservation.- we do this consciously and unconsciously - self- preservation- the way we portray ourselves to others- general consisted with an ideal self-image 1. allows us to enact an appropriate role 2. influence others views of us 3. allows us to define the situation in our terms 4. influences the progress of interaction

what occurs in perception?

- you engage in 3 separate activities during percpetion - selection, organization and interpretation 1. selection- through selection, you neglect some stimuli and focus on others * while awake you are always actively engaged in selecting whihc stimuli to which you will respond or not * there are four types of selectivity

what errors do we make in our perceptions- 1. stereotypes

1. stereotyping- occurs when we offer hasty generalization about a group based on judgement about an individual from that group * when we stereotype we infer that everyone within that group has the same characteristics as the one individual we are basing the judgement on * we insist our stereotype is correct through selective attention( we see what we want to see) and selective retention( we selectively sift through our past memories that reinforce our stereotype * our expectations and interpretations are guided by selective attention and retention- with this we can observe people from other groups and that can lead to exaggeration and overestimation on how frequently they engage in the stereotype we think they engage in- on the flip side this can lead us to ignore or underestimate how frequently they engage in behaviors we dont believe they engage in * stereotypes tend to be negative, and our explanatioons for the expected and unexpected behaviors of people are frequently in error, as we assume situational reasons for unexpected outcomes and personal reasons for expected outcomes * we differentiate ourselves from people whom we stereotype * stereotypes lead to prejudice( refers to an unfavorable predisposition about an individual beccause of their membership in a stereotyped group)- prejudice can be positive or negative * prejudice interfers with our accurate perceptions of others, and it can lead to discrimination