Interpersonal Communication Chpt. 3

Perception

The process of using our senses to undertsnad and respond to stimuli. The perception process occurs in four stages: attending and selecting, organizing, interpreting, and retrieving.

Halo Effect

The result of matching like qualities with each other to create an overall perception of someone or something.

Negative Halo

The result of negative grouping qualities such as being unintelligent, rude, or temperamental together.

Positive Halo

The result of placing positive qualities warm, sensitive, and intelligent together.

Organizing Stage

The second stage of the perception process, in which we place what are often a number of confusing pieces of information into an understandable, accessible, and orderly arrangement.

Facework

The set of coordinated behaviors that help us either reinforce or threaten our competence.

Identity Management Theory

The theory that explains the manner in which you handle your "self" in various circumstances; includes competency, identity, and face.

Symbolic Interaction Theory

The theory that our understanding of ourselves and the world is shaped by our interactions with those around us.

Implicit Personality Theory

The theory that we rely on a set of a few characteristics to draw inferences about others and use these inferences for the basis of our communication with them.

Interpreting Stage

The third stage of the perception process, in which we assign meaning to what we percieve.

Positive Face

Our desire to be liked by significant people in our lives and have them confirm our beliefs, respect our abilities, and value what we value.

Self-Awareness

Our understanding of who we are.

Relational Uppers

People who support and trust us as we improve our self-concept.

Sex

A biological makeup of an individual. (male/female)

Impression Management

A component of Walther's social information processing theory; the unconscious or strategic effort to influence another's perceptions.

Interference

A conclusion derived from a fact, but it does not reflect direct obervation or experience.

Relational Schema

A mental framework or memory structure that we rely on to understand, experience, and to guide our future behavior in relationships.

Gender Schema

A mental framework we use to process and categorize beliefs, ideas, and events as either masculine or feminine in order to understand and organize our world.

Fact

A piece of information that is verifiable by direct observation.

Self-Fulfilling Prophesy

A prediction or expectation about our future that is likely to come true because we believe it and thus act in ways that make it come true.

Self-Concept

A relatively stable set of perceptions we hold ourselves.

Attribution Theory

A theory that explains how we create explanations or attach meaning to another person's behavior or our own.

Worldview

A unique personal frame for viewing life and life's events.

Self-Monitoring

Actively thinking about and controlling our public behaviors and actions.

Identity Marker

An electronic extension of who someone is.

Self-Esteem

An evaluation of who we perceive ourselves to be.

Ideal Self

Attributes an individual ideally possesses.

Ought Self

Attributes an individual should possess.

Actual Self

Attributes of an individual.

Stereotyping

Categorizing individuals according to a fixed impression, whether positive or negative, of an entire group to which they belong.

Negative Face

Our desire that others refrain from imposing their will on us respect our individuality and our uniqueness, and avoid interfering with our actions or beliefs.

Selective Perception

Directing our attention to certain stimuli while ignoring other stimuli.

Mindful

Having the ability to engage our senses to that we are observant and aware of our surroundings.

Self-Worth

How we feel about our talents, abilities, knowledge, expertise, and appearance.

Selective Retention

Recalling information that agrees with our perceptions and selectively forgetting information that does not.

Attending and Selecting Stage

The first stage of the perception process, requiring us to use our visual, auditory, tactile, and olfactory senses to respond to stimuli in our interpersonal enviroment.

Retrieving Stage

The fourth and final stage of the perception process, in which we recall information stored in our memories.

Face

The image of the self we choose to present to others in our interpersonal encounters.

Gender

The learned behaviors a culture associates with being a male or female, known as masculinity or femininity.

Gender Role Socialization

The process by which women and men learn the gender roles appropriate to their sex. This process effects the way the sexes percieve the world.