Chapter 3 Perception and Communication

What is your perspective?

• Tragedy - (the burned down barn), but I also see hope (I can now see the moon.) Apparently the moon was not visible while the barn was standing

• Loss - The barn burned down (tremendous loss), but now I see the moon (something is gained.) Even though something horrible happened, something good came out of it. Optimism in the statement.

• Grief. The barn burned down, and now I can see the moon…but I really miss the barn. Trying desperately to find anything that can assure us that our loss is not as bad as we think it is.

• While the moon will provide a beautiful light for awhile, it cannot erase the sorrow we feel over the loss of the barn, and all that it represented–warmth, security, protection, and shelter. It can only lessen our pain temporarily.

What is your perspective?

Another way to interpret it is:

•I thought the barn was so important, but I didn’t realize that it was actually hiding the moon. What treasure is hidden from our vision? What have we failed to see? What have we missed?

  

What do you see?

Quotes about Perception

“What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing. It also depends on what sort of

person you are.” ― C.S. Lewis, The Magician's Nephew

“Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change.”

― Wayne W. Dyer

What does it mean?

Perception is a process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment.

•The brain seeks information, mainly by directing

an individual to look, listen and sniff.

•Perception can cause disagreements among

people, because each person sees things differently.

•We have to decide between the truth and perception,

because perceptions are always incomplete and

subjective.

In living our lives and communicating with others our perception of reality is less important than reality itself. Some would argue that there IS no ultimate reality, only the illusion of our perceptions.

Our perceptions are influenced by:

1) physical elements - what information your eye or ear can actually take in, how your brain processes it.

2) environmental elements - what information is out there to receive, its context.

3) learned elements - culture, personality, habit: what filters we use to select what we take in and how we react to it.

Connect the Dots with three straight lines

Perception in Communication

Color blind people will not perceive "red" the way as other people do. Those with normal vision may physically see "red" similarly, but will interpret it culturally:

- red meaning "stop" or "anger" or "excitement" or "in debt" (US)- red meaning "good fortune" (China)- red meaning your school's colors

What does it mean?

• Many factors influence the way we view something or someone.

• Factors influencing our perception are the person's approach and motive/ motive, attention, knowledge, and belief.

• Generally, "perception are created by habit” and they can become a major pitfall.

• Some "situations" may factor in a person's perception: like "time", "work settings", and "social settings”.

The Process of Human Perception

What is Perception? The active process of creating meaning by 1) selecting, 2) organizing, and 3) interpreting people, objects, events, situations and other phenomena

•The Process is continuous and each affects the others.

1st Step – Selection Process

The world deluges us with sensory information every second.

Our mind produces interpretations and models and perceptions a mile a minute.

To survive, we have to select what information we attend to and what we remember.

1st Step – Selection Process

Notice what is going on around you. Is the room warm or cold? Messy or clean? Light or dark? Can you smell anything?

Are you sleepy, hungry

comfortable?

We narrow our attention to what we defined as important in that moment.

Flight or fight (Survival mean reason.)

1st Step – Selection Process

We select to attend or ignore certain stimuli based on a number of factors:

The qualities of the phenomena

- We notice things that stand out (larger, brighter, louder) or change. Self-indication

- We deliberately influence what we notice by indicating things to ourselves.

Our motives and needs affect what we see/not see

- Romantic relationships Culture

- “Different behavior” standout (Behavior, attitudes, beliefs, habits)

2nd Step - Organization

Constructivism – we organize and interpret experience by applying cognitive structures called schemata/Schema

Prototype

- Exemplified by person or relationships that is “ideal.”

Applying Personal construct- More detailed assessment

of particular qualities or people/Phenomena

Stereotype- Personal construct applied predict what a

He, she or it will do

- Approach useful to deal with everyday situations

Script - Most daily activities' are governed by

our script

What should a professor look like?

Fun With Stereotypes: Some Professors You’ll Have in College

http://www.collegeview.com/articles/article/fun-with-stereotypes-the-8-professors-youll-have-in-college

Meet your future professors…•1. The Tweed. What better way to kick off our list than with the granddaddy of all professor stereotypes? This tenure-track prof is bespectacled, impossibly well spoken, and nowhere near OK with you eating Fritos in his class.•He drives: A vintage two-seater convertible, perfect for countryside jaunts.He wears: Tweed blazers with reinforced elbows. (Obviously.)His motto: “When I was at Princeton…”•2. The Activist. Whether she’s railing against corporate greed outside the student union or throwing the blinders off white privilege in a 100-level race and gender course, The Activist never gets too comfy. And neither should you. Expect some prickly moments… and a few revelations.•She drives: A heavily stickered rally van.She wears: Comfortable footwear/shirts bearing the “no” symbol.Her motto: “Open your eyes, people!”

Meet your future professors…

3. The Adjunct. The Adjunct has a lot going on. He’s studying for his master’s, working full time, and his wife just had twins. Be patient if he seems a little frazzled. Maybe suggest that instead of chapter readings, your class could watch that new documentary that’s sort of related to economic theory? Your reward will be a fervent, appreciative smile…and maybe an A.He drives: An increasingly crowded hatchback.He wears: Slightly rumpled business casual.His motto: “Is this ECON 305?”

4. The World’s Most Interesting Man. This professor has read more, traveled more, and generally lived more in the last year than most people do in a lifetime. Don’t bother trying to relate—just sit back and enjoy a semester’s worth of the most envy-inducing stories you’ve ever heard.He drives: Trains, planes, camels, buses, cars, rickshaws, you name it.He wears: Stuff that travels well.His motto: “That reminds me of the time I…”

A professor’s office

• When you go into your professor's office, you are likely to notice things that are consistent with your schema of what a professor's office "should" look like.

• For example, you are likely to notice pencils, books, papers, etc.

• But what about the items that are not consistent with your schema of what should be in a professor's office, like candles, a snow globe, a strange sign, or perfume.. you may not notice these thing right away.

A professor’s office

2nd Step - Organization

As we listen, we organize and interpret experience by applying the four cognitive schemata.

• Which prototype (what good friend, person in trouble, student, teacher do they closely resemble.

• Then we apply the personal constructs to define more detail (are they

upset or calm, open to advice or closed to it.)

• Based on the construct of others, we apply stereotypes (how has this person reacted in the past? How this situation similar to others?) that predict what they will do.

• We then apply the script (how the interaction should proceed, including how we should act.)

3rd Step - Interpretation

It is not clear yet!

After using: •Step 1 (We select the

perceived phenomena)

•Step 2 (We use the cognitive

•schemata – Prototype, personal construct measurement, stereotype, and, script)

•Step 3 (We then assign meaning to what we have noticed and organized.) Remember: There is no ‘real’ meaning to what we see.

3rd Step - Interpretation

Interpretation: The subjective process of explaining our perceptions in ways that make sense to us.

Four Attributions Locus Stability Specificity Responsibility

3rd Step - Interpretation

1st dimension - Locus

•A person’s actions to internal factors- “ She is .”

•A person’s action to external factors- “The traffic jam really frustrated her, as she was late.”

3rd Step - Interpretation

2nd dimension – Stability (concerns Time)

•This explains actions as result of stable factors that won’t change over time. - “He is not always aware, since he has lost his hearing.”

•Or, explains unstable factors that may or will different at another time. - “She acted that way, because she had just been fired.”

3rd Step - Interpretation

3rd dimension – Specificity (All situations, events, and places, or particular or limited distuations and places.)

•Explains behavior (global implications) that apply to most or all situations. -“He is a big spender”

•Explains behavior (specific implications) that apply to certain situations or conditions.-“He spends money when he is earning a lot.”

Why did she yell? Book Example

Stable (Time) and specific:“She yelled at Fred (specific) because she is short-tempered (stable).”

Stable (Time) and global:“She yells at everyone (global) because she is short-tempered (stable.)

Unstable(Time) and specific:“She yelled at Fred (specific) because she was in a hurry (unstable.)

Unstable (Time) and global“She yells at everyone (global) when she is in a hurry (unstable.)

3rd Step - Interpretation

4th dimension – Responsibility•How we account for other’s actions affects our feelings about them and our relationship.

•We hold people accountable for their behavior if:-If they have control (less understanding.)-If they have a (unstable) situation.-If they are talking medicine or have a medical or health issue (unstable.)

Attributions

• Attribution is the process of identifying a set of user actions (“events”) that contribute in some manner to a desired outcome, and then assigning a value to each of these events.

• Our attributions influence the meanings we attach to to others and their communication.

Book example: Why does my supervisor shout orders in a rude manner?• Does she have an authoritarian personality?• Is she insecure because she is in a new role as a supervisor? • Is she reacting to medicine?

(Each of the three attributions will lead us to attach a distinct meaning to the shouting.)

Research shows that culture, either individualist or collectivist, affects how people make attributions.

• People in individualist cultures, generally Anglo-America and Anglo-Saxon European societies, value individuals, personal goals, and independence.

• People in collectivist cultures see individuals as members of groups such as families, tribes, work units, and nations, and tend to value conformity and interdependence. This cultural trait is common in Asia, traditional native American societies, and Africa.

Attributions errors

1) Self-serving bias – we tend to construct attributions that serve our self interest.

- We are inclined to make internal, stable, and global attributions for our positive actions and our successes.

- We are likely to claim good results come about because of personal control we exerted.

Example from the class book

Chico:

“When I do badly on a test or paper, I usually say either the professor was unfair or I had too much to do that we and couldn’t study like I wanted to. But when my friends do badly on a test, I tend to think they’re not good in that subject or they aren’t disciplined or whatever.”

Attributions errors

Don’t blame me!

The self-serving bias works in another way.

•We tend to avoid taking responsibility for negative actions and failures.

•By attributing them to external, unstable, and specific factors that are beyond our control.

Example

• if Jacob’s car tire is punctured he may attribute that to a hole in the road; by making attributions to the poor condition of the highway, he can make sense of the event without any discomfiture that it may in reality have been the result of his bad driving.

Attributions errors

Fundamental attribution error (dimension of the locus (internal/external factors.)

-We tend to overestimate the internal causes.

-And underestimate the external causes.

-We also will underestimate the internal causes of our own misdeeds and failures and overestimate the external causes/

Homework for Wednesday: Read Chapter 4 (pgs. 104 to 106)

• Gender speech communities Socialization into gender speech communities Gendered communication in practice Misunderstandings between gender speech

communities

Connect the Dots

Influences On Perception

• Physiology

- vision, hearing, being tired, if you are an am/pm person, have mental disabilities, etc.

• Expectations

- The impact of expectations influences our perception. (The self fulfilling prophecy)

• Age

- Experiences provide a more complex understanding of our perceptions of people or situations. (Can be negative or positive)

• Culture

- The influence of culture is so persuasive, we don’t realize how strong its influence in shaping our perception of others and situations.

An Elephant!

If you were blind, how would you describe?

Guidelines for Improving Perception And Communication

• Recognize that all perceptions are partial and subjective

• Avoid mind reading

• Check perceptions with others

• Distinguish between facts and inferences

• Guard against the self-serving bias

• Guard against the fundamental attribution error

• Monitor labels

The Ladder of Abstraction