Module 2 - You and Your Audience

Question 1

What is perception?

Answer 1

the process of making meaning from what we experience in the world around us

Question 2

What is interpersonal perception?

Answer 2

applying the process of perception to people to make meaning out of our and others’ behavior

Question 3

What are the 3 stages of perception?

Answer 3

Selection, Organization, and Interpretation

Question 4

What is selection?

Answer 4

the process of paying attention to a stimulus

Question 5

What is salience?

Answer 5

How much a stimulus grabs our attention (highly salient = catching attention, low salience = doesn’t catch attention)

Question 6

What factors contribute to salience?

Answer 6

(1) Expected or not; (2) Stimulating; (3) Meets needs/interests

Question 7

What is organization?

Answer 7

Mentally organizing stimulus into categories

Question 8

What 3 characteristics do we organize stimulus by?

Answer 8

(1) Similarities; (2) Differences; (3) Proximity

Question 9

What is interpretation?

Answer 9

Making meaning out of the stimulus based on notions/schema (schemata is the singular) like filing cabinets

Question 10

What are schemata?

Answer 10

Mental frameworks that we use for organizing and interpreting information

Question 11

What 3 things affect our perceptions of people?

Answer 11

(1) experience with the person; (2) knowledge of the person; (3) closeness with the person

Question 12

What are the 4 types of perceptual schema that we use to classify info we notice about others?

Answer 12

(1) physical constructs; (2) role constructs; (3) interaction constructs; (4) psychological constructs

Question 13

What are physical constructs?

Answer 13

Looks, physical appearance

Question 14

What are role constructs?

Answer 14

Their role in your life (friend, coach, parent, etc.)

Question 15

What are interaction constructs

Answer 15

Their behaviors and what they mean

Question 16

What are psychological constructs?

Answer 16

Their thoughts, emotions, etc.

Question 17

What is misperception?

Answer 17

Misunderstanding/misinterpreting something

Question 18

What factors influence perception accuracy?

Answer 18

Culture, stereotypes, primacy and recency effects, perceptual sets

Question 19

What is culture?

Answer 19

A community with a shared way of life, customs, norms, beliefs, symbols, language, etc.

Question 20

What is co-culture?

Answer 20

Smaller groups within cultures that have a shared similarity (ex. Warrior fans)

Question 21

How does culture influence perception?

Answer 21

Might not understand someone else’s culture and misinterpret their behaviors, intentions, etc.

Question 22

What are stereotypes?

Answer 22

Generalizations about a group that can have a powerful influence on how we perceive others (can be problematic)

Question 23

What is the 3 part process of stereotyping someone/something?

Answer 23

(1) schema/perception; (2) recall schema; (3) apply generalization to new person/thing

Question 24

How do stereotypes influence perception?

Answer 24

Can lead to inaccurate /offensive perceptions of others

Question 25

What is the Primacy Effect?

Answer 25

The idea that the first impression leaves the strongest impact and sets the tone for future interactions

Question 26

What is the Recency Effect?

Answer 26

The idea that the most recent interaction leaves the strongest impression

Question 27

What are perceptual sets?

Answer 27

Predispositions to perceive only what we want/expect; bias (ex. broccoli tasted bad once, don’t think broccoli dishes will taste good)

Question 28

What are attributions?

Answer 28

Explanations of an observed behavior (use to help us perceive world around us)

Question 29

What are the 3 dimensions of attributiosn?

Answer 29

(1) Locus; (2) Stability; (3) Controllability

Question 30

What is locus?

Answer 30

Where the cause of the behavior is located (internal vs. external locus)

Question 31

What is the difference between internal and external locus?

Answer 31

Internal is doing things because you want to; external is doing things because of another thing is making you

Question 32

What is stability?

Answer 32

Whether the cause is stable or unstable (happens consistently or not once)

Question 33

What is controllability?

Answer 33

Whether the cause was in our control or not

Question 34

What is the Self-Serving Bias?

Answer 34

Tendency to attribute successes to personal, internal causes, but failures to external causes

Question 35

What is Fundamental Attribution Error?

Answer 35

Attributing other people’s behavior to internal rather than external causes

Question 36

What is self-concept?

Answer 36

Identity; composed of stable perceptions of who you are

Question 37

What is looking glass self?

Answer 37

Part of how we see ourselves is through how others see us

Question 38

What 3 ways does self-concept influence communication?

Answer 38

(1) self monitoring; (2) self-fulfilling prophecy; (3) self-esteem

Question 39

What is self monitoring?

Answer 39

Being aware of how you look/sound to others (high monitoring = care a lot; low monitoring = don’t care a lot)

Question 40

What is Self-Fulfilling Prophecy?

Answer 40

Making predictions about the future and then fulfilling those predictions

Question 41

What is Self-Esteem?

Answer 41

Subjective evaluation of your value and worth as a person