CHAPTER 3 The Self, Perception and Communication 2

The Perception Process (page 69) William James, a famous psychologist in 1890 described a child’s word as a “one great blooming, buzzing confusion.” Perception is the process of selectively attending to information and assigning meaning to it. Perception is reality! Attention / Selection Organization Interpretation

Attention and Selection is based on… Needs: biological and psychological Interests: pertains to our interests Expectations: what we expect

A Sensory Test of Expectation Bird in the the hand Paris in the the spring time Once in a a lifetime

Perception of Self: Self Concept and Self Esteem Self-Concept: (self-identity) the relatively stable set of perceptions you hold of yourself. (page 61) Self Esteem: overall evaluation of your competence and personal worthiness (page 62) 4

Forming and Maintaining a Self-concept (page 62) We form our self-concept based on our own experiences and others’ reactions and responses to us. (We place a great deal of emphasis on the first experience we have with a particular phenomenon, particularly if it is a negative one - page 26 ) The power of such comments is increased when the praise is immediate rather than delayed (Hattie, 1992) (page 27) Our Ideal self-concept is what we would like to be! (page 27)

Forming and Maintaining a Self-Concept (cont.) Reflected Appraisals (Harry Stack Sullivan): The looking-glass self Reflected appraisal - each of us develops a self- concept that matches the way we believe others see us Significant others - people whose opinions we especially value Self-esteem is not just how well or poorly we do things, but the importance or value we place on what we do well or poorly

Effects of Self-Esteem (page 62) Someone with high self-esteem will likely to be committed to a partner who perceives them favorably (Leary, 2002) attribute their success to hard work (Hattie, 1992) take credit for their successes defend their views Someone with low self-esteem will likely to be committed to a partner who perceives them less favorably (Leary, 2002) attribute their success to luck (Hattie, 1992) overemphasize negative self-talk or may overinflate their sense of self-work put themselves down to avoid hearing criticism of others

Africa Thailand

The Influence of Gender and Culture on Self-Perceptions Culture and the Self-Concept Individualistic Cultures (page 64) Self is separate, individuals should be independent Individual should take care of him/herself and immediate family Friends are based on shared interests and activities Reward for individual achievement and initiative High value on autonomy, individual security, equality 8

The Influence of Gender and Culture on Self-Perceptions Culture and the Self-Concept Collectivistic Cultures (page 64) People belong to extended families or a group Person should take care of extended family before self Emphasis on belonging to a very few permanent in-groups Reward for contribution to group goals High value on duty, order, tradition, age, group security, status, and hierarchy 9

Accuracy and Distortion of Self-Concept and Self-Perceptions The self-concept is subjective and resists change Cognitive conservatism: tendency to cling to an existing self-concept even when evidence shows that it is obsolete Incongruence - gap between our inaccurate self-perceptions and reality. Unfortunately, our self-perceptions affect our behaviors more than our true abilities!

Accuracy and Distortion of Self-Concept and Self-Perceptions Individuals tend to reinforce their self-perceptions by adjusting their behavior to conform with their perceived self- conceptions (page 65) In other words, improving your perception of self will improve how you interact with others and improving how you interact with others will improve your self perception! Self-Concept Your Behaviors Others’ Responses to You Your Perception of Events

Accuracy and Distortion of Self-Concept and Self-Perceptions Our inaccuracy of our self-concept is magnified through: Self-fulfilling prophecies Filtering messages media

The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy (page 32) Self-fulfilling prophecy - occurs when a person’s expectations of an event make the outcome more likely to occur than would otherwise have been true When people expect rejection, they behave in ways that lead others to reject them (Downey, Freitas, Michaelis, Khouri, 2004) – page 66 Types of self-fulfilling prophecies: Self-imposed prophecies Imposed prophecies by others Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968) studied effects of self-fulfilling prophecies in elementary school…. what happened 8 months after beginning study? 10

Filtering Messages We pay more attention to messages that reinforce our current self-image and messages that contradict our self-image our downplayed

Influence of Media

Influence of Media Social Learning theory – we strive to copy characteristics and behaviors of characters we see as “ideal” – (Bandura, 1977) Fiji – From 3% to 15% after 3 years – (Becker, 2004) Young women’s perceptions of their bodies changed after 30 minutes of watching televised images of the “ideal” female form. Miss America? The Swan?

Self-concept, self-esteem, and communication Self-perceptions moderate self-talk: internal conversations with ourselves Self-perception influences how we talk about ourselves with others: People with higher self-esteem and stronger self-concept usually take credit for their successes Self-perceptions affect communication apprehension Those who suffer with communication apprehension tend to engage in negative self topic which leads to self-fulfilling prophecy (Richmond & McCroskey, 1995)

Communication and Identity Management (page 81-82) Identity Management – the communication strategies people use to influence how others view them. (page 81) Public and Private Selves Perceived self – reflection of the self-concept, the person you believe yourself to be Presenting self – public image, the way we want others to view us (We create different “selves” to present in different situations and with different people) Erving Goffman used the word face to describe the presenting self (page 82) Facework describes the verbal and nonverbal ways we act to maintain our presenting image and the image of others 13

Presenting The Self to Others How Do We Manage Identities? Face to Face Impression Management Manner – consists of a communicator’s words and nonverbal actions Appearance – personal items people use to shape an image Setting – physical items we use to influence how others view us 16

Uncertainty reduction – we monitor our environment to learn more about ourselves and others. The more we learn about each other and find commonalities, the less uncertain we feel about each other. Social Perceptions are often made on the basis of physical characteristics and social behaviors. We stereotype! We judge one’s friendliness and intelligence on how physically attractive they are (Aronson, 1999) We learn stereotypes from family, friends, coworkers, etc (Hall, 2002) Perception of Others

Perceptions of Others Implicit Personality theories: assumptions people have developed about which physical characteristics and personality traits or behaviors are associated with another (Asch, 1946; Michener & DeLamater, 1999). Halo effect: you generalize and perceive a person has a whole set of characteristics when you have only observed one characteristic, trait, or behavior (Thorndike, 1920).

Common Perceptual Tendencies (page 72-76) We make snap judgments We often judge ourselves more charitably than we judge others – self-serving bias We pay more attention to negative impressions than positive ones We cling to first impressions, even if wrong We tend to assume that others are similar to us