THE MIND IN TALK: The Perception Process Lecture 3a Lecture 3a COMN 3112: COMMUNICATION IN ORGANIZATIONS

HOW DO WE “SEE” THE WORLD AROUND US? THE PERCEPTION PROCESS

PERCEPTION  THE “INSIDE” OR INTRAPERSONAL ASPECT OF THE INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION MODEL

Source-Receiver Encoding Decoding THE PERCEPTION PROCESS THE PERCEPTION PROCESS

A PROCESS OF:  OBSERVING, SELECTING STIMULI  ORGANIZING THEM  MAKING INTERPRETATIONS PERCEPTION

PERCEPTION  BUT WHEN OUR SENSES ARE STIMULATED WE CAN’T PERCEIVE EVERYTHING

PERCEPTION

SELECTIVE PERCEPTION  SELECTIVE ATTENTION : WE PROCESS ONLY CERTAIN STIMULIWE PROCESS ONLY CERTAIN STIMULI  WE FILTER OUT OTHERS  PSYCHOLOGICAL SETS AS FILTERS (EMOTIONAL, CULTURAL and ORGANIZATIONAL PRE-DISPOSITIONS TO RESPOND)

THE BASES FOR SELECTIVE ATTENTION AND FILTERING  SELECTIVE ATTENTION  PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE - MEANINGFUL TO YOU  RANK ORDER MESSAGES –INTENSITY –NOVELTY  CLOSURE: CREATE PATTERNS  PROXIMITY  RESEMBLANCE

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THING AND PERSON PERCEPTION  FOR THING PERCEPTION: CULTURE PROVIDES ESTABLISHED PATTERNS THAT PEOPLE ARE SOCIALIZED TO SELECT IN ORDER TO REDUCE UNCERTAINTY. –TRIANGLES, CIRCLES,SQUARES, ETC.  PERSON PERCEPTION IS AN ACTIVE CONNECTION BETWEEN PEOPLE WE SHOULD “LEARN THEM” ONE AT A TIMEWE SHOULD “LEARN THEM” ONE AT A TIME

PERCEPTION: CONSISTENCY AND STABILITY  PEOPLE ARE COMPLEX  OUR PERCEPTIONS OF PEOPLE ARE:  SIMPLE  CONSISTENT - INTERNALLY AND EXTERNALLY STABLE ACROSS TIME  LIKE THE WAY WE SEE THINGS!

SIMPLE, INTERNALLY CONSISTENT PERCEPTIONS FIRST IMPRESSIONS  WE SEE PEOPLE AS UNITARY WHOLES  WE ORGANIZE OUR PERCEPTIONS AROUND KEY TRAITS  COLD-WARM  PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS

CULTURAL LEARNING AND CLOSURE  OUR CULTURE PROVIDES US A STOCK OF KNOWLEDGE - NAMES AND BELIEFS -ABOUT HOW THINGS AND PEOPLE WORK  PEOPLE ARE SOCIALIZED TO USE THESE TO CREATE CLOSURE  ORGANIZATIONS DO THE SAME NEW MEMBERS ARE SOCIALIZEDNEW MEMBERS ARE SOCIALIZED

HOW CULTURAL LEARNING LIMITS PERSON PERCEPTION PRE-PACKAGED REALITY  IMPLICIT PERSONALITY THEORY  JIM IS HANDSOME, TALL (FLABBY, MUSCULAR)  ROLE NAMES AND EXPECTATIONS  TEACHER-STUDENT, DR.-PATIENT  STEREOTYPES

STEREOTYPES  GENERALIZATIONS ABOUT INDIVIDUALS BASED ON THEIR MEMBERSHIP IN A GROUP -- PROXIMITY, RESEMBLANCE.  COMMUNICATION SHORTCUT - BUT NOT TO UNDERSTANDING  TELL US WHAT PEOPLE MAY SHARE NOT WHAT THEY DO SHARE  DIFFERENCES WITHIN GROUPS OFTEN GREATER THAN BETWEEN GROUPS HOW CULTURAL LEARNING LIMITS PERSON PERCEPTION

PERCEPTION AND EXTERNAL CONSISTENCY  BESIDES INTERALLY CONSISTENT PERCEPTIONS,WE KEEP AN EXTERNALLY CONSISTENT BALANCE BETWEEN PERCEPTIONS OF OUR SELVES, OTHERS AND THINGS THAT WE BOTH PERCEIVE  EXTERNAL CONSISTENCY MODEL  I EXPECT A PERSON I LIKE TO LIKE ME  TO LIKE THE THINGS I LIKE  TO DISLIKE THE THINGS I DISLIKE.

PERCEPTION AND STABILITY OVER TIME  OUR PERCEPTIONS OF OTHER ALSO REMAIN STABLE OVER TIME  LIMIT NEW INFORMATION –BE NICE

PERCEPTION AND STABILITY OVER TIME  SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY  WE PREDICT HOW OTHERS WILL BEHAVE  WE ACT TOWARD THEM AS IF THAT WERE TRUE.  THEY RESPOND APPROPRIATELY AND OUR PREDICTION BECOMES TRUE.  YOU PERCEIVE THEIR ACTIONS AS BEING CAUSED ONLY BY THEM -NOT BY YOUR BEHAVIOR - YOU ATTRIBUTE INTERNAL MOTIVATION TO THEM

PERCEPTION AND STABILITY OVER TIME  LIMIT NEW INFORMATION  SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY  ATTRIBUTION BIAS(Self-Serving)  YOU SEE YOUR OWN BEHAVIOR AS THE CONSEQUENCE OF SITUATIONS. YOU SEE OTHERS’ BEHAVIOR AS INTERNALLY MOTIVATED.  PERCEPTUAL ACCENTUATION  WE SEE WHAT WE EXPECT TO SEE. WE THINK PEOPLE WE LIKE ARE BETTER LOOKING THAN THOSE WE DON’T.

WHY DISTORT OR IGNORE REALITY: PROTECT SELF  MOST IMPORTANT PERCEPTUAL SET= THE SELF  SELF-CONCEPT  RELATIVELY STABLE IMPRESSIONS OF YOURSELF ( ANSWERS TO “I AM....”)  DEVELOPED OUT OF YOUR PERCEPTION OF FEEDACK FROM OTHERS AROUND YOU  REMEMBER WE EXCHANGE ASPECTS OF SELVES AS WE TALK ABOUT OTHER THINGS

WHY DISTORT OR IGNORE REALITY: PROTECT SELF  MAINTAIN OUR SELF-ESTEEM FEELINGS OF SELF-WORTHFEELINGS OF SELF-WORTH  DO I MATTER?  AM I CAPABLE?  CAN I INFLUENCE MY LIFE?  IN CONVERSATION YOUR SELF-ESTEEM IS TIED UP WITH YOUR “FACE”