CH. 4
Communicating, Perceiving, and Understanding
●
●
●
The Importance of perception
○ Our perceptions largely determine our understanding and our actions
○ Identities are influenced by and also influence perception
What is Perception?
○ Perception: the process of selection, organization, and interpretation of sensory
information into a coherent or lucid depiction of the world around us
Perception process
○ We collect and understand information through our senses
■ Selection- attending to stimuli
■ organization= arranging stimuli
■ Interpretation- understanding stimuli
○ Selection:
■ Occurs when we consciously or unconsciously attend to stimuli
● Selective attention refers to our ability to focus on only a narrow
range of stimuli at any given time
● We select stimuli based on
○ Aspects of our identity
○ Features of another person or object
○ Our own goals
■ We tend to select stimuli with certain characteristics:
● Stimuli with intensity; (outside of expectation)
● Stimuli that are large in size;
● Stimuli that contrast with surroundings;
● Stimuli that are repeated;
● Stimuli with sudden movement
■ We also notice stimuli that are negative, violate expectation or occur in
important situations
○ Organization
■ Occurs when we recognize and order stimuli that we have attended to,
and we do this primarily through cognitive representation and
categorization
■ Cognitive representation is a mental model or map human can create to
represent their surroundings and can later refer to when circumstances
call for them
● Prototypes- a representative or idealized version of a concept
● Scripts- a relatively fixed sequence of events that functions as a
guide or template for communication or behavior
■ Categorization
● Categorization is a process of grouping objects or categories of
information together with linguistic symbols
○ Labeling- name assigned to a category based on one’s
perception of their category
○ Stereotyping- creating schemas that overgeneralize
attributes of a specific group
■ Interpretation
● Involves assigning meaning to stimuli that we have selected to
This study source was downloaded by 100000773415257 from CourseHero.com on 01-05-2022 19:37:22 GMT -06:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/36018662/Ch-4-Notesdocx/
attend to. We make sense of stimuli through frms and attribution
Frames function as lenses that shape how we create meaning and
understanding
○ Develops from life experience, interactions with others, and
personality
○ How do you see the world? How do you perceive the
intentions of people?
● Attribution
○ One way that we interpret behavior is by attributing causes
of behavior, explained by attribution theory
■ We attribute behavior as being either internally
causes (based on someone’s personality or
choices) or externally caused (based on the
environment or situation)
○ Attributional bias- my negative behaviors are because of
external causes and my positive behaviors are because of
my internal state (my being)
○ Self-serving bias- tendency to give yourself more credit
than is due when good things happen and accept very little
responsibility when things go wrong
○ Fundamental attribution error- tendency to attribute others
negative behavior to internal causes and their positive
behaviors to external causes
Perception and the Individual
○ Individual factors that influence perception
■ Physical differences
■ Personality and individuality characteristics
■ Cognitive complexity
● Physical differences:
○ Unique physical capabilities determine how much of our
environment we can perceive
○ Some individuals may possess keener senses than others
○ Visual acuity
○ Hearing acuity
○ Sense of smell
○ Sense of taste
○ Touch sensitivity
○ Some physical differences can influence the way people
perceive their environment and the way they communicate
about stimuli
■ Synesthesia
● When you associate different senses
together
■ Misophonia
● Body has a physical reaction to sound
■ Color blindness
■ William reed
● Personality and Individuality Characteristics
●
●
This study source was downloaded by 100000773415257 from CourseHero.com on 01-05-2022 19:37:22 GMT -06:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/36018662/Ch-4-Notesdocx/
○
●
●
Each person is a mix of personality, temperament, and
experience
○ Individual characteristics influence perception
○ Factors to consider:
■ Emotional state (our attitude influences perception)
■ Outlook (tend to interpret world in consistent ways)
■ Knowledge (awareness and understanding)
Cognitive Complexity
○ Cognitive complexity refers to how detailed, involved, or
numerous a person’s constructs are
○ A function of:
■ Interests
■ Person experiences
■ Interpersonal constructs
● One on one communication with other
individuals
■ Age
○ The higher your cognitive complexity, the more ways you
have of explaining, understanding, and perceiving
interpersonal interactions
The Individual, perception, and society
○ The role of power
■ All societies have hierarchies
■ Your relative position influences how others
perceive you, how you perceive others, and how
you interpret the world
■ Those in power have the ability to shape reality
○ The role of culture
■ Culture influences the choice of sensory model
● The US is a visual culture
● Other cultures may prefer oral narratives
■ Culture also influences communication practices
● The US emphasizes individualism and
people sometimes “brand” themselves like
products
● Other cultures may prefer collectivism and
discourage talk about personal
achievements
■ Culture can shape how we perceive the world
○ The role of social comparison
■ Ethnocentrism is the tendency to view one’s own
group as the standard against which all other
groups are judged
■ Stereotypes are broad generalizations about an
entire class of objects or people, based on some
knowledge of some aspects of some members of
the class
■ Prejudice occurs when people experience aversive
This study source was downloaded by 100000773415257 from CourseHero.com on 01-05-2022 19:37:22 GMT -06:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/36018662/Ch-4-Notesdocx/
○
○
or negative feelings toward a group as a whole or
toward an individual because she or he belong to a
group
● The ego-defensive function of prejudice
describes the role prejudice plays in
protecting an individual’s sense of self-worth
● The value expressive function of prejudice
allows people to view their own values,
norms, and cultural practices as appropriate
and correct
○ The Role of historical Time Period
■ Historical time period influences perception and
communication
■ The cohort effect is the process by which historical
events influence the perceptions of people who
grew up in a given generation and time period
■ Examples:
● Events:, D-Day (1944), the moon landing
(1969), September 11, 2001
● Technology: record player, 8-track tape,
cassette, CD, MP3 player, spotify
● Organizations: changing conceptions of
Northeastern University
Social Roles and Perception
■ Social role refers to the specific position or positions one holds in society
■ Individuals can simultaneously occupy multiple roles (son, husband,
father, professor, administrator, group member, etc.)
■ Significance of social roles:
● Society defines specific expectations for different social roles
● Roles influence perception
Ethics and perception:
■ The ways you communicate to and about people are connected to your
perceptions of them
● Irresponsible or unethical categorization of other people may lead
you to avoid communicating with certain people, or commincating
in an offensice or inapprorpriate way with them
● Communication with/anbout grou[s that invlovles the use of
derogatory terms can reinforce or intensify your own and other’s
negaitve responses to members of these groups
● Regardless of ewhat ot
This study source was downloaded by 100000773415257 from CourseHero.com on 01-05-2022 19:37:22 GMT -06:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/36018662/Ch-4-Notesdocx/
Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)