Chapter 3 - Lecture notes 3 PDF

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Chapter 3: Perception: A process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting info from our senses, guiding our communication decisions. 1) Selection: Focusing attention on certain stimuli in our environment a. Salience: The things that we pay attention to, what we are drawn to 2) Organization: Structuring the selected information into a coherent pattern in your mind. a. Punctuation: Organizing the info into a chronological sequence that matches how you experienced the events. 3) Interpretation: Assigning meaning to selected information a. Using familiar information to reference b. Creating explanations for behaviors 

Using Familiar Information- We make sense of others communication by comparing it to what we already know.

When someone says or does something, we associate it with:  Schemata- We use schemata to help us interpret people, events, and relationships. 

Attributions- answer Why? o Internal Attributions- Character or personality o External Attributions- Situational factors, out of our control, due to the environment 

Errors in Attribution: Fundamental attribution error is the tendency

Checking Attributions Keep errors in mind and consider all explanations.  Remember behavior rarely comes from only internal or only external reasons, usually a combination.  Ask people why! Uncertainty Reduction Theory When meeting people, we aim reduce uncertainty and get to know them, and we aim to predict how they might interact with us in the future. o Passive strategies- Interacting with them by observing and picking up on things.  Ex: Crashing a class to observe o Active strategies- Asking someone else who might know that person about them.  Ex: Asking other students, online reviews o Interactive strategies- Actually talking to the person, directly interacting.  Ex: Speaking to the instructor face to face Influences on Perception The culture you grew up in influences your perception of others.

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Your schemata are filled with beliefs and values of your culture, which differ from other people’s. o Ingroupers: People who you feel are like you, culture things in common. o Outgroupers: People who you feel are not like you, culture differences. Gender/Sex o Cerebral cortex differences o Men: time and speed perception, mentally rotating 3D figures  Men/Masculine communicators, when dealing with problems- Look for solutions and offer advice o Women: Spatial relationships, identify emotions, language skills  Women/Feminine communicators, when dealing with problems- Offer emotional support o But does this effect our IPC? o Others say: Only 1% of communication differences are influenced by sex o We are socialized to perceive sex/gender differences Personality- A way of thinking, feeling, and acting based on traits we possess o Big 5 Personality Traits (OCEAN):  Openness- how open you are to new ideas, new culture, etc.  Conscientiousness- how goal-oriented you are.  Extraversion- outgoing, social, like to interact with other people.  Agreeableness- friendly, cooperative, get along with other people.  Neuroticism- having negative thoughts about yourself. o We typically like in others the same traits we like in ourselves and vice versa o Implicit personality theories: personal beliefs about personality types and the ways traits cluster together  Another way to reduce uncertainty about people

Forming Impressions of Others  Interpersonal Impressions: Mental pictures of who people are and how we feel about them o They exert a profound impact on our communication choices  Gestalts: General and global impressions, either positive or negative, formed quickly and easily (primacy effect-first impressions matter a lot); based on split moment in time. o Positivity bias: Usually interpreting people more positively than negatively o Negativity effect: When we place emphasis on negative info about others.  Notice negative stuff faster, and remember it longer. o Halo Effect: When we positively interpret people with whom we have positive Gestalts (a positive first impression that interprets how you judge that person later). o Horn effect: When we negatively interpret people with whom we have negative Gestalts (a negative first impression that interprets how you judge that person later). o Algebraic Impressions: When you compare positive and negative things that you learn about people over time and adjust your impression of them (comes about over time not quick).

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 Doesn’t place equal value on all info  More flexible and accurate than Gestalts o Stereotyping: Categorizing people into a social group and evaluating them based on our schemata of that group.  Streamlines impression process- assume things about them rather than forming impressions, mental shortcut  Often flawed and over simplistic- most of the time wrong  Can create communication opportunities for learning  We belong to multiple groups/cultures Improving Our Perception of Others  Empathy: Involving identifying with the feelings and emotions of others as an attempt to understand their perspective. o Perspective-taking: Trying to think about things from their perspective, personality, gender, culture, experiences, etc. o Empathic concern: Trying to feel what somebody else is feeling, trying to identify with people’s emotions and feel the way they do.  Empathy mind-set: The belief that empathy can be developed and controlled.

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