perception

Question 1

what is perception

Answer 1

• active process of selecting, organising, and interpreting
• can result from others’ communicative activities
• always affects our communicative behaviour
• not necessarily conscious

Question 2

selection

Answer 2

• external factors affect selection (noticing things that stand out)
• internal factors affect selection (needs, interests, motives, desires, expectations)

Question 3

organisation

Answer 3

• cognitive schemata:
  
  • prototypes: clearest or ideal examples
  • personal constructs: mental yardstick to measure a person or situation along a bipolar dimension of judgement
  • stereotypes: predictive generalisation about a person or situation (usually the generalised/exaggerated aspect is the marker)
  • scripts: sequence of activities that spells out how we and others are expected to act in a specific situation (stereotype of situation-action routines)

Question 4

interpretation

Answer 4

• subjective process of creating explanations for what we observe and experience
• interpret through attribution: locus, stability, specificity and responsibility (self-serving bias?)

Question 5

influences on perception

Answer 5

physiological factors
- we differ in our sensory abilities and physiologies
- physiological states
- expectations
- may affect our perceptions in a variety of communication situations time reshaped by communication technologies that lead us to expect extremely quick exchanges)
- Influence of expectations on communication is the basis of positive visualisation: a
technique used to enhance success in a variety of situations by teaching people to visualise
themselves positively
- Expectancy violation theory: when our expectations are violated, we become more
cognitively alert as we struggle to understand and cope with unexpected behaviours or events. There are three aspects which influence how we interpret this violation.
- Whether the violation is positive (e.g. being given an unexpected gift) or negative
- The extent to which the behaviour deviates from the expected behaviour
- Impact of the violation on the relationship (e.g. your S/O forgetting to call you despite
promising to do so VS you finding out your S/O is dating your best friend)

Question 6

halo-effect

Answer 6

bias / error in perception -> tendency for positive impressions of a person, company, brand or product in one area to positively influence one”s opinion or feelings (e.g. physical attractiveness can influence judgement)

(reverse halo effect: horn effect)

Question 7

fundamental attribution error

Answer 7

we attribute a person’s behaviour to their character without taking into account the limitations and constraints within which the person might be operating