Chapter 4

Selection Step (book)

(def): a phase of the perception process in which a communicator attends to a stimulus from the environment. -Intense Stimuli, Repetitious Stimuli, attention is also frequently related to contrast or change in stimulation

Interpretation Step (book)

(def): attaching meaning to sense data Factors that cause us to interpret something in a certain way: 1. Relational Satisfaction: placing blame on partner when you're unsatisfied. 2. Expectation 3. Personal Experience 4. Personality 5. Assumptions about people's behavior

Organization Step (book)

(def): involves arranging the data in a meaningful way to make sense of the world You do this by using PERCEPTUAL SCHEMA (cognitive frameworks that help us organize the info we have selected) 4 TYPES to classify others: 1. Physical constructs: classify people according to their appearance 2. Role constructs: use social position (student, attorney, spouse) 3. Interaction constructs: focus on social behaviour: 4. Psychological constructs: refer to internal states of mind and dispositions (confident, insecure, happy) -Punctuation (def): the process of determining the cause and effects in a series of interactions; we can organize info this way - "she started it!" - The way in which the causal order of events pans out determines the meaning attributed to the interaction.

Influences on Perception: Social Influences

- TEST: Standpoint Theory (def): a persons position in society shapes his or her view of society a. Sex and Gender Roles: -Gender (def): the social and psychological dimensions of masculine and feminine behavior -Androgynous (def): equal masculine and feminine characteristics b. Occupational Roles: Zimbardo's experiment, being in customer service c. Relational roles: affects what we pay attention to

Influences on Perception

1. Access to information 2. Physiological Influences: 3. Psychological Influences: 4. Social Influences 5. Cultural Influences

First and Second Order Realities

1. First: the physically observable qualities of a thing or situation 2. Second: perceptions that arise from attaching meaning to first-order things or situations

Barriers to Perceiving Correctly

1. Ignoring Details: put too much weight on surface information 2. Overgeneralizing: we treat small amounts of info as if they are highly representative of a person see sampling of behaviours as the whole picture 3. Impose Consistency: your appetite for life fluctuates Law of Undulation: there are ups and downs; we know this about our own life, but we still impose consistency on others 4. Simplifying: prefer simple vs. complex explanation; we don't perceive correctly when you don't allow them to give you the long explanation 5. Human tendency to focus on the negative: "every person is worth more than his/her worst act"

To Improve Your Ability to Perceive Correctly

1. Increase your understanding of the perceptual process 2. Increase your observational skills 3. Recognize the elements you pay attention to and why 4. Always check your perceptions - indirectly and directly - don't take your perception as gospel

Synchronizing Our Perceptions

1. Perception Checking 2. Building Empathy

3 Stages of Forming a Perception

1. Selecting (Simplifying): you can't pay attention to everything; "what is that?" 2. Organizing (imposing structure): "oh, its ." 3. Interpreting (assigning meaning): "it means ."

Perception Process (book)

1. Selection 2. Organization 3. Interpretation 4. Negotiation First three steps take place in someone's mind

Judge Ourselves More Charitable than We Do Others

2 theories to explain: 1. Fundamental Attribution Error (def): the tendency to give more weight to personal qualities than to the situation when making attributions; see causes of a friend making a mean comment as coming from character flaws rather than physical ones (fatigue, etc.) 2. Self-Serving Bias (def): when we perform poorly we usually blame external forces

Influences on Perception: Cultural Influences

Culture affects how we view other's comm how you interpret NV and V cues is different Plays a role in our ability to understand other peoples perspective not just a role in forming our own

Making Snap Judgements

Stereotyping (def): exaggerated beliefs associated with a categorizing system Stereotyping vs. Reasonable generalization a. s are categorizing based on easily recognizable traits that aren't necessarily the most important/significant b. ascribing a set of characteristics to a whole group c. Applying the generalization to a particular person

Negotiation Step (book)

TEST: (def): the process by which communicators influence each other's perceptions through comm. -Narratives (def): the stories we use to describe our personal worlds try to negotiate to find common ground because every situation can be viewed by more than one narrative Choose to blame outside forces and believe their spouse acts with good intentions. Shared narratives are powerful

Clinging to First Impressions

THESE TERMS ON TEST: - Primary Effect (def): tendency to pay more attention to , and to better recall, things that happen first in a sequence - Halo and Horns Effects (def): likely to think well of you or poorly of your behavior based on your first impression - Confirmation Bias (def): we seek out and organize our impression to support our opinion from our first impression

Perception Checking (book)

THREE PARTS: 1. description of behavior you noticed 2. two possible interpretations of the behavior 3. request for clarification about how to interpret the behavior - this helps us understand others rather than assuming the first interpretation is correct - leads to an attitude of respect and concern for the other person - works well in low context cultures but not necessarily in high context cultures

3 Processes of Forming a Perception

These things happen during the 3 stages 1. Forming Impression - tend to be general, not specific; we form them readily, quickly and do not like to give them up - halo/horn effect: likely to think well of you or poorly of you based on your first impression - based on: physical qualities, behaviours, info we get from others 2. Applying Implicit Personality Theories: your own set of beliefs & hypotheses about what people are like and why they do the things they do. TEST: researchers say it changes over time, but generally the younger you are the more positive your IPTs are and when you are older you become more realistic 3. Developing Attribution Theories: we attribute specific motives & causes to behaviors we observe when we do this researchers call us NAIVE PSYCHOLOGISTS CASUAL ATTRIBUTION: internal or external cause; active or passive

Influences on Perception: Physiological Influences

a. Senses - how loud you think the music is b. Age - experience world different thoughout lifetime c. Health & Fatigue d. Biological Cycles - ex: morning or night person e. Hunger f. Neurobehavioral Challenges: mental disability, mental disorders

We Assume Others are Like Us

assume that because you heard a raunchy joke and thought it was funny that your friend wouldn't be offended either

Common Tendencies in Perception (book)

attribution (def): process of attaching meaning to behavior 1. We make snap judgements: 2. We cling to first Impressions 3. We judge ourselves more charitably than we do others 4. We are influenced by our expectations 5. We are influenced by the obvious 6. We assume others are like us

Empathy (book)

def: the ability to recreate another person's perspective; to experience the world from his or her point of view 3 DIMENSIONS: 1. perspective taking - set aside your own judgements and perspective and look through someone else's lens 2. Emotional contagion - experience the same feelings. 3. Concern for welfare of other person REQUIREMENTS FOR EMPATHY: openminded (even when you disagree; empathy doesn't mean agreement), imagination, commitment - when you check someones perspective and find out motives and reasons behind their feelings it makes it better to actually try and experience how those feelings feel.

Influences on Perception: Access to Information

gain new info when you see people in new roles; social media.

Gaslight Effect

manipulating and controlling another person's perceptions like when one person deceitfully tries to justify his or her behavior by blaming the others. -shifting guilt to the innocent Victims of gas-lighting tend to blame themselves When you think its happening you have to perception check with people outside of the relationship to make sure that your perspective hasn't been distorted

Influences on Perception: Psychological Influences

mood, self concept

Interpersonal Perception

the 3 stages and 3 processes by which we decide what people are like and give meaning to their actions no two people interpret a conversation or an event in the same way mostly we are unaware of our perceptions

We are Influenced by the Obvious

the most obvious fact r is not always the most significant cause of an event gather all the facts before assuming!