Chapter 5 Flashcards
perception
the process of making meaning from what we experience in the world around us
selection
the process by which our mind and body help us isolate certain stimuli to pay attention to
organization
the classification of information according to its similarities to and differences from other things we know about
physical constructs
emphasize people’s appearance, causing us to notice objective characteristics such as height, age, ethnicity, and body shape
role constructs
emphasize people’s social or professional position, so we notice that a person is a sales rep, an accountant, a stepmother
interaction constructs
emphasize people’s behavior, so we notice that a person is outgoing, aggressive, shy, or considerate
psychological constrcuts
emphasize people’s thoughts and feelings, such as anger, self-assurance, insecurity, or lightheartedness
interpretation
after noticing and classifying a stimulus, assigning it an interpretation to figure out its meaning for you
stereotype
a generalization about a group or category of people that can have a powerful influence on the way we perceive others and their communication behavior
primacy effect
a principle that says that first impressions are critical because they set the tone for all future interactions
recency effect
a principle that says that the most recent impression we have of a person’s communication is more powerful than our earlier impressions
perceptual set
a predisposition to perceive only what we want or expect to perceive
attribution
an explanation of an observed behavior; the answer to the question “why did this occur?”
self-serving bias
the tendency to attribute our successes to stable, internal causes and our failures to unstable, external causes
fundamental attribution error
the tendency to attribute other people’s behaviors to internal rather than external causes
