1. CHAPTER 3
The Self, Perception
and Communication 2

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

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

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

6. 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

7. 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)

8. 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

9. 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

10. Africa
Thailand

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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!

14. 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

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

16. 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

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

18. Influence of Media

19. 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?

20. 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)

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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).

25. 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