Interpersonal Communication Q3

True/False: A "recency effect" occurs when we pay attention to the first pieces of information we receive about a person or situation.

False

True/False: Culture is something that is inherited through genetics.

False

True/False: If we assume a person's behavior was caused by an internal factor or personality characteristic, then we attribute his or her behavior to a stimulus.

False

True/False: Imposing consistency is an effective tactic for improving your perception skills.

False

True/False: People prefer complex explanations to simple ones.

False

True/False: People tend to give more weight to positive information than negative information about others.

False

True/False: Selective attention is the process of exposing ourselves to situations that reinforce how we make sense out of the world.

False

True/False: The three stages of the interpersonal perception process are: select, organize, and integrate.

False

True/False: When we use the most obvious and vivid information available upon which to base our perceptions of others, we are oversimplifying.

False

True/False: With the exception of the United States, stereotyping is NOT common in other countries and cultures around the world.

False

True/False: Your perceptions of another person are seldom influenced by who you are.

False

Which of the following statements about perceptual accuracy is TRUE?

People give more weight to negative information than to positive information.

Some of our experiences are too painful to remember. XXXX helps us repress such memories

Selective recall

True/False: A "halo effect" occurs when we attribute positive qualities to someone we like without ever actually observing those qualities.

True

True/False: A construct is a bipolar quality that we use to classify people.

True

True/False: An implicit personality theory is essentially a stereotype.

True

True/False: Fritz Heider says all people are "naive psychologists" because we try to understand and explain the motives behind another's actions.

True

True/False: Interpersonal perception is a two-way street. Our perceptions of others affect the ways in which we communicate with them, and their perceptions of us affect the way they communicate with us.

True

True/False: Interpersonal perception is the process by which we evaluate people and interpret their actions.

True

True/False: Refusing to see the good side of someone you dislike may be the result of a horn effect.

True

True/False: When we become aware of a sound or movement, simply because it breaks through our sensory threshold, we are engaged in passive perception.

True

True/False: When we focus our attention on certain elements of our environment and ignore other stimuli, we are engaging in selective perception.

True

You see your friend Alexis sitting quietly, leaning forward with his head in his hands. As you approach him, you say, "Alexis, you look like you are really tired." True/False: Your statement is an example of a direct perception check.

True

Miguel is a freshman attending the university for the first time. He is confused and uncertain about where he is supposed to go for dinner. He spots several of the residents of his dorm leaving his floor and going downstairs, which he concludes that since it's about dinner time, must be in the direction of the cafeteria. He decides to follow and see if they lead him to the cafeteria. Which of the following processes is Miguel most likely employing?

active perception

When we perceive elements of our environment because we are motivated to select specific particular information, we are engaged in

active perception.

Which of the following is an example of direct perception checking?

asking someone if your perception is accurate

Sarah has been a faithful member of your study group all semester. But tonight she not only didn't show up, but she can't be reached on her cell phone. You remember that her father has been seriously ill and infer that Sarah has probably had to rush home to tend to him. Which process of perceptual organization and interpretation did you use in arriving at this conclusion?

attribution theory

The theory that explains how we generate explanations for other people's behavior is

attribution theory.

Uncertainty reduction theory suggests that we seek information in order to

better understand our own motives.

Which process of perceptual organization is used when we try to determine whether a person's actions are caused by circumstance, a stimulus, or the person whose behavior we are interpreting?

causal attribution theory

The process of organizing information we receive by filling in missing information is called

closure.

Each of the following is one of the causes we use to determine the cause of a person's behavior EXCEPT

genetic makeup.

Rex likes Karl, in part, because he thinks Karl is fun, smart, and energetic. When Paul points out to Rex that Karl is a terrible driver, Rex refuses to believe it. Perhaps Rex's perception is clouded by the

halo effect.

All of the following are processes of interpersonal perception EXCEPT:

identifying barriers to accurate perception

Which barrier to accurate perception is involved when we fail to focus on important information because we give too much weight to obvious and superficial information?

ignoring information

Which process of perceptual organization and interpretation is being used when we use information we think we know about a person to make assumptions about things we don't know about the person?

implicit personality theory

Rebecca is nervous and fidgets during her job interview with Calder. She is hired anyway, but Calder is surprised when he sees her at work on her first day and she is calm and collected. Calder may be guilty of the perceptual mistake of

imposing consistency.

Mr. Johnson is interviewing college students for a summer internship program in the public relations department. When Josephus enters the room, Mr. Johnson initially sees a young man, well groomed, in a three-piece suit. Then he notices that Josephus' shoes are not polished. Mr. Johnson decides that Josephus simply will not do for the job. Which process of perceptual organization and interpretation did Mr. Johnson most likely employ?

impression formation

The theory that explains how you develop perceptions about people and how you maintain and use those perceptions to interpret their behaviors is called

impression formation theory.

You aren't sure if Amy is mad at you or just in a bad mood. Trying to figure it out, you pay close attention to her tone of voice, her eye contact, and body movements. Since she speaks quite pleasantly to some of the others around you, but avoids eye contact with you, and speaks in short, clipped sentences when you ask her questions, you decide she is mad at you. Which strategy for improving perceptions did you use?

increasing your awareness

When we look for nonverbal cues to help us understand how a person is feeling about something we did, we are engaging in

indirect perception checking.

You shake hands with someone and notice that the hands are hard and callused. You might infer that this person worked with his hands. And since he is wearing coveralls, you assume he is a farmer. Which stage of the perceptual process would be reflected in this example?

interpreting or attributing meaning

Peter noticed that Bill came to class late one day. When he met Bill later at a party, he turned to one of his friends and remarked, "Yeah, Bill's the guy I told you about who comes to class late all the time." The perceptual barrier Peter is exhibiting is

overgeneralizing.

Maria is sitting in a study area in the library trying to study a lesson in which she really isn't interested. All of a sudden, she smells cologne, which causes her to look up. Which of the following processes is Maria most likely employing?

passive perception

When we perceive elements of our environment simply because our senses are in operation, we are engaged in

passive perception.

When Beth first met Katie at work, Katie was impatient, stressed out, and irritable. For quite a while, Beth had a negative impression of Katie, and tried to avoid her. In reality, Katie is kind and even-tempered. Which of the following best describes why Beth persisted in seeing Katie in a negative light?

primacy effect

Mary goes to the gym to exercise after work because she says her husband, John, comes home late every night. John stays at work late because he says Mary works out every night anyway. Which principle of organizing and imposing structure is involved?

punctuating

A woman observes what she believes is her husband flirting with the waitress at a restaurant where the couple is having dinner. The husband claims he only smiled at the waitress and that in any case, it was because his wife was acting angry anyway. The wife says she was angry because he was flirting. The disagreement about what happened can best be explained by which process in the organizing stage of the perception process.

punctuation

What is the proper ordering of the stages by which we come to make sense of the various stimuli around us?

selecting, organizing, interpreting

Our tendency to put ourselves in situations that reinforce our attitudes, beliefs, values, or behaviors is known as

selective exposure.

What process is involved when we direct our attention to specific elements of our environment and ignore others?

selective perception

When Lori got an A on her music history paper, she concluded that she was indeed smart. The next week, however, when she failed her biology test, she blamed the professor's "confusing" questions for her poor result. Lori is using what barrier to accurate perception?

self-serving bias

Our tendency to take credit for the good things that happen to you, but deny responsibility for the bad things is called the

self-serving bias.

The theory that suggests that a person's social position, power, or cultural background influences how the person perceives the behavior of others is called

standpoint theory.

When we categorize individuals and attribute a set of qualities to them because of their membership in that category, what perceptual process are we using?

stereotyping

When Brad ran out of the party crying, Sarah suspected he had broken up with June. She is attributing Brad's behavior to the

stimulus.

Searching for and applying patterns in our perceptions of structures and people is called

superimposing.

After the first day of classes Hadya has already decided that her economics professor is strict ("He said he doesn't tolerate cell phones"), her art professor is flaky ("She came in late because she couldn't find the room"), and her communication professor is fun ("He sat on the desk and started to learn all of our names"). What process has Hadya used in forming her perceptions?

thin slicing