Chapter Two: Perception and
Communication
pp. 31-52
Meaning
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The significance we attach to
phenomena such as words, actions,
people, objects, and events.
Symbolic
Non-fixed
Human Perception
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The active process of selecting,
organizing, and interpreting people,
objects, events, situations, and
activities.
Active
How we make sense of the world
Three processes: selecting, organizing
and interpreting
Perception
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Selecting:
– We can’t attend to everything in our
environment, too much!
– Things we notice: stand out, attend to our
senses, change or variation, deliberate,
expectations
– Influenced by who we are and what is
going on inside us
Perception

Organizing:
– We must make sense of what we’ve
noticed
– We organize perceptions in ways that
make them meaningful to us
– Constructivism: we organize and
interpret experience by applying cognitive
structures called schemata (schema)
– Schemata: prototypes, personal
constructs, stereotypes, and scripts
Perception (Schemata)

Prototypes: a knowledge structure
that defines the best or most
representative example of some
category
– Used to define categories
– Exemplary
Perception (Schemata)

Personal Constructs: mental
yardsticks that allow us to position
people and situations along bipolar
dimensions of judgment
– More detailed assessments or particular
qualities
– Intelligent -------------------- Not-Intelligent
– Attractive -------------------- Not-Attractive
– We define something only in terms of how
it compares to the constructs we use
Perception (Schemata)

Stereotypes: predictive
generalizations about people and
situations
– We predict what it will do
– May be accurate or inaccurate
– Generalizations (sometimes based on
facts that are generally true of a group but
sometimes on prejudice or assumptions)
Perceptions (Schemata)
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Scripts: guides to action based on
what we’ve experienced and observed.
Consists of a sequence of activities
that define what we and others are
expected to do in specific situations
Schemata help us make sense of what
we notice and help us anticipate how
we and others will act in particular
situations
Perceptions

Interpretation: the subjective process of
explaining perceptions to assign meaning
to them
– Attributions: explanations of why things
happen and why people act as they do
– Self-Serving bias: We tend to construct
attributions that serve our personal interests
Check of Understanding
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What are the three processes to
human perception?
(Selection, organization and
interpretation)
Influences on Perception
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Physiology
Culture--Standpoint Theory
Social Roles
Cognitive Ability—Cognitive
Complexity & Person Centered
Influences on Perception
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Physiology: People differ in sensory
abilities and physiologies
– health, stress, age, environmental
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Culture: Consists of beliefs, values,
understandings, practices, and ways of
interpreting experience shared by a
number of people
– Standpoint Theory
Influences on Perception
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Standpoint Theory: particular
locations within a culture
Each social community distinctively
shapes the perceptions, identities, and
opportunities for its members.
Standpoints reflect power positions in
social hierarchies
– Those in positions of power have a vested
interest in preserving the system that
gives them privilege
S.E.A.R.C.H.
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Sex, sexual orientation, gender
Ethnicity, education level
Age
Race, religion
Class (socio-economic class)
Handicap
Influences on Perception

Social Roles: others communicate to
us social roles. We receive messages
that tell us that we are expected to
fulfill particular roles, as well as the
actual demands of those roles, thus
affecting how we perceive and
communicate
Influences on Perception

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
– Cognitive Complexity: number of
constructs, abstraction of constructs, and
elaboration of interaction
– Person-Centered: the ability to perceive
another as a unique and distinct individual
Enhancing Communication
Competence
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Words crystallize perceptions. When
we name feelings and thoughts, we
create precise ways to describe and
think about them.
Communication is based on a process
of abstracting from complex stimuli.
Guidelines for Enhancing
Competence
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Recognize that all perceptions are
subjective
Avoid mind reading
Check perceptions with others
Distinguish between facts and
inferences
Monitor the self-serving bias