Quiz 5 Flashcards
What is perception?
Perception is the active process of selecting, organizing, and interpret- ing people, objects, events, situations, and activities. The first thing to notice about this definition is that perception is an active process. We don’t passively receive stimuli. Instead, we actively work to make sense of ourselves, others, and interactions.
What is “selection?” What are the three factors that influence what stimuli we notice?
Selection is narrowing your attention to what you defined as important in that moment, and you were unaware of many other things going on around you.
Influences on what we notice:
1. What stands out
2. perceptions are influenced by the acuity of our senses. For instance, if you have a good sense of smell, you’re likely to notice a person’s cologne
3. change or variation compels attention
What is meant by “self-fulfilling prophecy?”
Our expectations further affect what we notice. We are more likely to perceive what we expect to perceive. This explains the phenomenon of the self- fulfilling prophecy, in which one acts in ways consistent with how one has learned to perceive oneself.
What is “organization?” What is meant by the terms prototype, personal construct, stereotype, and script?
Organisation involves organising what we have selected to notice in ways that makes them meaningful.
A prototype is a knowledge structure that defines the best or most representative example of some category
Personal constructs are mental yardsticks that allow us to position people and situations along bipolar dimensions of judgment.
we also use scripts, which are guides to action based on what we’ve experienced and observed.
What is “interpretation?” What are attributions? What is self-serving bias and how does it relate to attribution?
- Interpretation is the subjective process of explaining perceptions to assign meaning to them.
- Attributions are explanations of why things happen and why people act as they do
- The Self-serving Bias Research indicates that we tend to construct attributions that serve our personal interests
What are the four general influences on perception? What is meant by each?
- Physiology
The most obvious reason perceptions vary is that people differ in sensory abili- ties and physiologies. Music that one person finds deafening is barely audible to another. - Culture
A culture consists of beliefs, values, understandings, practices, and ways of interpreting experience that are shared by a number of people. - Social Roles
Our perceptions are also shaped by social roles that others communicate to us. - cognitive abilities
perception is also shaped by our cognitive abilities. How elaborately we think about situations and people, and the extent of our personal knowledge of others, affect how we select, organize, and interpret experiences.
What is the “ladder of abstraction?” How does this concept guide effective perception?
The ladder of abstraction ranges from most abstract to most concrete. Includes action, judgement, label, perception and total concrete reality.
What is mind reading? How does it relate to communication problems?
—assuming we understand what another person thinks
What does it mean to check our perceptions with others?
Perception checking is an important communication skill because it helps
people understand each other and their relationships. To check perceptions,
you should first state what you have noticed.
What is self-serving bias?
The self-serving bias exemplifies
humans’ broad tendency to protect self-image (Tavris & Aronson, 2007). We
want to be competent, good, smart, and right. If we make dumb decisions,
we’re inclined to deny or justify them. A primary means of doing this is to
engage in the self-serving bias, which distorts our perceptions. Monitoring
the self-serving bias also has implications for how we perceive others.
What is the self?
The self is a process that involves internalizing and acting from social perspectives
that we learn in the process of communication.
What does it mean to say that the self arises in communication with others?
The most basic insight into the self is that it isn’t something we are born with.
Instead, the self develops only as we communicate with others and participate
in the social world.
What is “direct definition?” What are identity scripts? What are “attachment styles?”
Direct definition, as the term implies, is communication that explicitly tells
us who we are by labeling us and our behaviors.
Identity scripts are another way family members communicate who we are
and should be. Psychologists define identity scripts as rules for how we are supposed
to live and who we are supposed to be.
, parents communicate who we are through attachment styles, which
are patterns of parenting that teach us who we and others are and how to
relate to others.
What is social comparison?
As we interact with peers, we engage in
social comparison, which involves comparing ourselves with others to form
judgments of our own talents, attractiveness, abilities, leadership skills, and
so forth
What is “self-fulfilling prophecy”?
Self-fulfilling prophecies operate when we act in ways
that bring about expectations or judgments of ourselves.
What is reflected appraisal?
The process of seeing ourselves through others’ eyes is called reflected
appraisal.
What is the generalized other?
The
generalized other is the collection of rules, roles, and attitudes endorsed by
the whole social community in which we live
What is self-disclosure? How is it useful? What are guidelines for doing this properly?
Self-disclosure is a process of communication by which one person reveals information about himself or herself to another.
What is the relationship between listening and hearing?
Hearing is passive; we don’t have to invest any energy
to hear. Listening, on the other hand, is an active process that requires energy
What is involved in the listening process?
- Being mindful
- physically receiving messaging
- Selecting and Organizing Material
- Interpreting Communication
What is “mindfulness?” How does mindfulness enhance listening?
Mindfulness is
being fully engaged in the moment
- Mindfulness enhances communication in two ways. First, attending mindfully
to others increases our understanding of how they feel and think about
what they are saying. In addition, mindfulness can enhance others’ communication.
When we really listen to others, they engage us more fully, elaborate
their ideas, and express themselves in greater depth.
What are external obstacles to effective listening? What is meant by each?
Message overload
- The sheer amount of communication in our lives
makes it impossible to listen fully to all of it.
Message complexity
- The more detailed and complicated ideas are, the harder it is to
follow and retain them.
Environmental distractions
-. Sounds around us can divert our attention or
make it difficult to hear clearly
What are internal obstacles to effective listening? What is meant by each?
Preoccupation
- When we are absorbed in our own thoughts and concerns, we can’t focus on what
someone else is saying.
Prejudgements
Lack of effort
- try to grasp their meanings, ask questions, and give
responses so they know we are interested and involved. In addition to these
activities, we have to control distractions inside ourselves, monitor external
noise, and perhaps fight fatigue or hunger
What are the forms of nonlistening? What is meant by each?
- Monopolizing is hogging the stage by continually focusing communication on
ourselves instead of on the person talking. Two tactics are typical of monopolizing. One is conversational rerouting, in which a person shifts the topic of talk to himself or herself. Another monopolizing tactic is diversionary interrupting, which is interrupting
in ways that disrupt the person speaking - Selective listening is focusing on only particular parts of messages.
- Defensive listening involves perceiving personal attacks, criticisms, or hostile
undertones in communication when no offense is intended. - Ambushing is listening carefully for the purpose of attacking.
- The final form of nonlistening is literal listening, which is listening only to
the content level of meaning and ignoring the relationship level of meaning.
What are similarities and differences between informational/critical listening on one hand, and relational listening on the other hand?
- We engage in relational listening
when we listen to a friend’s worries, let a romantic partner tell us about
problems, counsel a co-worker, or talk with a parent about health concerns. - informational listening is to gain and understand
information.
Closely related to informational listening is critical listening, in which we
listen to form opinions, to make judgments, or to evaluate people and ideas.
SIMILAR: - being mindful
DIFFERENT: - express more support in relational
- suspend judgement
