1 Perception: What You See is What You Get Looking Out, Looking In 12 th Edition  Chapter Summary The Perception Process Influences on Perception Common Tendencies in Perception Perception Checking Empathy and Communication The Pillow Method

2 The Perception Process Looking Out, Looking In 12 th Edition Selection Organization Interpretation Negotiation  The Four Steps

3 The Perception Process Looking Out, Looking In 12 th Edition  Selection What attracts your attention? Stimuli that are intense attract us. You are more likely to remember items that stand out: Tall or short people Items that excite your senses Unchanging people or things become less noticeable over time. If you’re running late, you’ll notice all the clocks around you.

4 The Perception Process Looking Out, Looking In 12 th Edition  Organization After selecting information from the environment, we must organize it in some meaningful way. FIGURE 3.1 Page 85 What do you see? In this example there are only two ways to organize the impression. In reality there are many more.

5 The Perception Process Looking Out, Looking In 12 th Edition  Organization After selecting information from the environment, we must organize it in some meaningful way. FIGURE 3.3 Page 86 In contrast to Figure 3.1, how many impressions do you see here?

6 The Perception Process Looking Out, Looking In 12 th Edition  Organization We classify people the same way we did in the examples. Appearance Male or Female, Beautiful or Ugly Social Roles Student, Teacher, Attorney Interaction Style Friendly, Helpful, Mean

7 The Perception Process Looking Out, Looking In 12 th Edition  Organization Psychological Traits Curious, Nervous, Insecure Membership Republican, American, Democrat How you’ve classified someone will change the way you react to them in the future.

8 The Perception Process Looking Out, Looking In 12 th Edition  Organization Stereotyping After we’ve chosen an organizing scheme to classify people, we use that scheme to classify similar groups. Exaggerated generalizations lead to stereotyping. After a stereotype is created, we seek out isolated behavior to support these inaccurate beliefs. Decategorize those you stereotype. Treat them as individuals.

9 The Perception Process Looking Out, Looking In 12 th Edition  Organization Punctuation How arguments are punctuated can lead to a variety of problems FIGURE 3.4 Page 90

10 The Perception Process Looking Out, Looking In 12 th Edition  Interpretation Interpretation plays a role in every interpersonal act. Degree of involvement with the other person We treat people differently when pursuing a relationship. Past experience Have you been in the situation before? Assumptions about human behavior

11 The Perception Process Looking Out, Looking In 12 th Edition  Interpretation Interpretation plays a role in every interpersonal act. Attitudes The attitudes we hold shape the way we view others. Expectations Anticipation shapes interpretation. Knowledge Knowledge of a situation will change your interpretation of it.

12 The Perception Process Looking Out, Looking In 12 th Edition  Interpretation Self-Concept How you view yourself will alter your interpretation. When you’re feeling down, the world looks much worse. Relational Satisfaction Positive behavior may be viewed as negative depending on your current satisfaction in a relationship. It is possible for each section of the perception process to occur out of order.

13 The Perception Process Looking Out, Looking In 12 th Edition  Negotiation Our personal worlds are described as narratives: Ask two children what they’re fighting about. Chances are you’ll get different narratives. When narratives coincide, they are said to be shared: These narratives do not have to be true to be powerful. In some cases couples have a happy relationship simply because they share the narrative that they’ve always had one. Negotiating each narrative can be tricky.

14 Influences on Perception Looking Out, Looking In 12 th Edition  Physiological Influences The Senses How each of us experience our senses changes the way we interact and shape our perceptions. How many times have you heard someone complain about the temperature and you thought it was just fine?

15 Influences on Perception Looking Out, Looking In 12 th Edition  Physiological Influences Age Experience changes the way one perceives the world. Biological factors also shape perception. Health When you’re feeling sick, your perception of the world changes. Fatigue Just as being ill can have harmful effects on your relationship so can being sleepy.

16 Influences on Perception Looking Out, Looking In 12 th Edition  Physiological Influences Hunger People often get grumpy when they’re hungry. Several biological changes occur in the body. Biological Cycles Your body changes constantly throughout your daily cycle. Change can influence your perception positively and negatively. Psychological Challenges Mental illness and disorder can dramatically change the way one interacts with and perceives the world.

17 Influences on Perception Looking Out, Looking In 12 th Edition  Cultural Differences Each culture values different principles of communication. Collectivistic vs. Individualistic Culture Ethnocentrism The attitude that one’s own culture is superior to others Cultural differences can occur within a single country North vs. South East vs. West

18 Influences on Perception Looking Out, Looking In 12 th Edition  Social Roles Gender Roles Socially instructed ways men and women should act Violations to these rules is seen as unusual and undesirable. Occupational Roles Depends on level of experience Can change instantly when new people are added to the group Philip Zimbardo conducted the an experiment that popularized the theory of occupational roles. Prisoners and Guards (PG )

19 Common Tendencies in Perception Looking Out, Looking In 12 th Edition  How we Judge Ourselves We judge ourselves more charitably than others. Even when situations are similar, our tendency is to fault the other person rather than admit we also made the same mistake. He wasn’t listening. He flies off the handle. What did you expect from someone who curses? Egocentric tendencies cause us to rate ourselves more favorable than others.

20 Common Tendencies in Perception Looking Out, Looking In 12 th Edition  Others’ Negative Characteristics We pay more attention to others’ negative characteristics. To avoid bombarding our self-concept with doubt, we tend to focus more harshly on the shortcomings of others. We are influenced by the obvious. Because we select stimuli that is most noticeable, it is not surprising that obvious events tend to have the most impact. We assume that others are similar to us. Be careful when telling jokes and using slang.

21 Common Tendencies in Perception Looking Out, Looking In 12 th Edition  Perception Checking Elements of Perceptions Checking A description of the behavior you notice At least two possible interpretations of the behavior A request for clarification about how to interpret the behavior Perception Checking Considerations Completeness Nonverbal Congruency Cultural Rules Face-Saving Can be a way to raise an issue without directly threatening

22 Common Tendencies in Perception Looking Out, Looking In 12 th Edition  Empathy and Communication Empathy The ability to re-create another person’s perspective or to experience the world from his/her point of view Perspective Taking The attempt to take on the viewpoint of another Requires a suspension of judgment Sympathy You view the other person’s position from your point of view.

23 Common Tendencies in Perception Looking Out, Looking In 12 th Edition  The Pillow Method The Pillow Method is a tool for building empathy. The Pillow Method consists of four sides or positions. FIGURE 3.5 The Pillow Method Page 113

24 Perception: What you see is what you get Looking Out, Looking In 12 th Edition  Chapter Summary The Perception Process Influences on Perception Common Tendencies in Perception Perception Checking Empathy and Communication The Pillow Method