PERCEPTION:
WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET
CHAPTER TOPICS
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3
The Perception Process
Influences on Perception
Common Tendencies in Perception
Perception Checking
Empathy, Cognitive Complexity and Communication
Looking Out/Looking In
Thirteenth Edition
The Perception Process
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Four Steps of the Perception Process
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Selection
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Organization
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Interpretation
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Negotiation
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The Perception Process
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Selection
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What attracts your attention?
Selecting which impressions we will attend to
 Stimuli that are intense often attract our attention
 We’re more likely to remember:
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Extremely tall or short people
An obnoxious laugh
A person who speaks loudly
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The Perception Process
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Organization
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Along with selecting information, we must arrange
it in some meaningful way
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What do you see?
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Which image stands out?
Figure 3.1 Page 84
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The Perception Process
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Organization
“Vase-Face” has a two figure relationships
 How many ways can you view the boxes?
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PERCEPTION: WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET
Figure 3.3 Page 85
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The Perception Process
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Organization
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We classify people based on their:
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Appearance
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Social Role
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Student, Attorney, Wife
Interaction Style
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Beautiful or Ugly,Young or Old
Friendly, Helpful, Aloof
Membership
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Democrat, Immigrant, Christian
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The Perception Process
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Organization
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Stereotyping
After the organizational scheme has been chosen, we
use that scheme to make generalizations
 These generalizations lead to stereotyping
 Stereotypes may be based on a small amount of truth
but beyond the facts at hand usually have no valid basis
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The Perception Process
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Organization
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Stereotyping
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Three Characteristics
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You often categorize people on the basis of an easily
recognized characteristic
You ascribe a set of characteristics to most or all members of
a category
You apply the set of characteristics to any member of the
group
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The Perception Process
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Organization
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Punctuation: The determination of causes and
effects in a series of interactions
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Consider the punctuation of these interactions:
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“I don’t like your friend because he never has anything to say.”
 “He doesn’t talk to you because you act like you don’t like
him.”
“I keep talking because you interrupt so much.”
 “I interrupt so much because you don’t give me the
chance to say what’s on my mind.”
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The Perception Process
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Interpretation
After we organize information we interpret it in a
way that makes sense to us
 Interpretation plays a role in nearly every
interpersonal act
 Consider these scenarios:
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Is a friend’s kidding a sign of affection or irritation?
 Should you take an invitation to “drop by any time”
literally or not?
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The Perception Process
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Interpretation
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Several factors influence our interpretation of an
event:
Degree of involvement with the other person
 Personal experience
 Assumptions about human behavior
 Attitudes
 Expectations
 Knowledge
 Self-concept
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The Perception Process
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Negotiation
Sense-making occurs between people as they
influence one another’s perception
 Narratives
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Interpersonal acts have more than one narrative
 These narratives often differ
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Ask two quarreling children what they are fighting about
Shared narratives provide the best chance for smooth
communication
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Influences on Perception
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Physiological Influences
Each of us perceives the work in a unique way
 The Senses
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How we experience our senses changes the way we
interact and shape our perception
 Consider these everyday situations:
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“Turn down the radio! It’s going to make me go deaf.”
“It’s not too loud. If I turn it down, it will be impossible to hear
it.”
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Influences on Perception
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Physiological Influences
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The Senses
Scents that please some people, repel others
 Temperature is subjective as well
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Influences on Perception
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Physiological Influences
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Age
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Older people view the world differently because they
have a greater scope of experiences
Health and Fatigue
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How do you experience the world:
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When you are tired?
When you are sick?
When you’re hungry?
When you feel less sociable?
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Influences on Perception
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Cultural Differences
Perception is also affected by your culture
 Every culture has its own world view
 The range of cultural differences is wide
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In Middle Eastern countries:
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In Asian cultures
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Personal scents play an important role in communication
Talk is perceived differently
Silence is valued
How does this differ for Western cultures?
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Influences on Perception
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Cultural Differences
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Ethnocentrism
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The attitude that one’s own culture is superior to
others
Geography
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Even ones physical location can shape the way they
view the world
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Consider living in a particular part of the country
What does it mean to live in the North?
What does it mean to live in the West?
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Influences on Perception
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Social Roles
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Gender Roles (Sex vs. Gender)
Sex refers to biological characteristics
 Gender refers to psychological dimensions of masculine
and feminine behavior
 Gender roles are socially approved ways that men and
women are expected to behave
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Androgynous Gender Role
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Combines masculine and feminine traits
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Influence on Perception
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Social Roles
Occupational Roles
 The kind of work we do influences our view of
the world
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Imagine five people taking a walk through the park
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A botanist
A zoologist
A meteorologist
A psychologist
A pickpocket
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Influence on Perception
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Social Roles
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Relational roles
Roles you play in relation to others
 The role of parent
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The roles involved in romantic love
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Does being a parent change the way you view the world?
Partner, spouse, boyfriend/girlfriend, sweetheart
Your romantic roles can also change the way you view
others
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Common Tendencies in Perception
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We Judge Ourselves More Charitably
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Self-serving Bias
An attempt to convince ourselves that the positive face
we show the world is true
 Consider this example:
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When they botch a job, it’s because they weren’t listening or
weren’t trying hard enough
When we botch a job, it’s because someone didn’t explain it
well enough
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Common Tendencies in Perception
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We Cling to First Impressions
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Halo Effect
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The tendency to form an overall positive impression of
a person on the basis of one positive characteristic
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We assume that others are similar to us
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We are influenced by the obvious
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Perception Checking
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The Skill of Perception Checking
Serious problems can arise when we treat our
interpretations as matters of fact
 Consider the following:
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“Why are you mad at me?” (Who said you were?)
 “What’s the matter with you?” (Who said anything was
the matter?)
 “Come on now. Tell the truth.” (Who said you were
lying?)
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Perception Checking
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Elements of Perception Checking
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A perception check has three parts:
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A description of the behavior you noticed
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At least two possible interpretations of the behavior
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A request for clarification about how to interpret the
behavior
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Perception Checking
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Example:
“You haven’t laughed much in the last couple of
days.” (behavior)
 “It makes me wonder whether something’s
bothering you… (first interpretation)
 “or whether you’re just feeling quiet.” (second
interpretation)
 “What’s up?” (request for clarification)
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Perception Checking
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Perception Checking Considerations
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Completeness
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Nonverbal Congruency
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Nonverbal behavior reflects open-mindedness
Cultural Rules
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A perception check doesn’t always need all parts
A straight forward approach may cause problems
Face Saving
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Can help raise an uncomfortable topic
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Empathy, Cognitive Complexity and
Communication
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Empathy
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The ability to re-create another person’s
perspective, to experience the world from the
other’s point of view
Sympathy
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Viewing another person’s situation from your
point of view
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Empathy, Cognitive Complexity and
Communication
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Cognitive Complexity
The ability to construct a variety of frameworks
for viewing an issue
 Cognitive complexity:
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Increases the chances of satisfying communication in a
variety of contexts
 Can be enhanced through training
 Can help increase one’s empathy
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Empathy, Cognitive Complexity and
Communication
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The Pillow Method
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A quick tool for clarifying misunderstandings
Figure 3.5 Page 110
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