Human communication ch 2 pp

HUMAN COMMUNICATIONMaria Subert

Pearson, J., Nelson, P., Titsworth, S., & Harter, L. (2013). HumanCommunication – Ch. 2

Perception:

• the process of using senses to acquire information about the surrounding environment or situation.

• Perception is subjective, active and creative.

• Differences in perception are the result of past experiences and roles, psychological factors, present feelings and circumstances. (Sex is also a psychological factor.)

• Since our perception is unique, communication between and among people is complicated

Perception

• Selective perception: the tendency that you want to see, hear, and believe what you want to see, hear, believe and not what you dislike.

• Selective retention: the tendency to remember better the things that reinforce your beliefs than those that oppose them.

• Perceptual constancy: your past experiences lead you to see the world in a way that is difficult to change.

• We can overcome perceptional differences that are based on cultural differences by rejecting stereotypes and prejudice.

The Gestalt Principles

• Gestalt is a psychology term which means "unified whole".

• It refers to theories of visual perception developed by German psychologists in the 1920s.

• These theories attempt to describe how people tend to organize visual elements into groups or unified wholes when certain principles are applied.

• These principles are: similarity, continuation, closure, proximity, and

figure and ground.

similarity

• Similarity occurs when objects look similar to one another. People often perceive them as a group or pattern.

• The example here contains 11 distinct objects but appears as as single unit because all of the shapes have similarity.

anomaly

• When similarity occurs, an object can be emphasized if it is dissimilar to the others. This is called anomaly.

• The figure on the far right becomes a focal point because it is dissimilar to the other shapes.

Continuation

• Continuation: when the eye is compelled to move through one object and continue to another object. The smooth flowing crossbar of the "H" leads the eye directly to the maple leaf.

Closure

• Closure occurs when an object is incomplete or a space is not completely enclosed. If enough of the shape is indicated, people perceive the whole by filling in the missing information.

Proximity

• Proximity occurs when elements are placed close together. We tend to perceive the first 9 squares as a group, while we perceive the second as separate shapes. (Source:http://graphicdesign.spokanefalls.edu/tutorials/process/gestaltprinciples/gestaltprinc.htm)

Figure and ground

Figure is the focal point of your

attention.

Ground is the background against which your focused attention occurs.

More on perception

• Interpretive perception: a blend of internal states and external stimuli

• Errors in interpretation: stereotyping, prejudice and first impression

Important definitions

• Stereotyping: hasty generalization about a group based on a judgment about an individual from that group

• Prejudice refers to an unfavorable predisposition about an individual because of his/her membership in a stereotyped group

• First impression: an initial opinion about people upon meeting that person based on their appearance

• Negative first impression may persist even after receiving contradictory information about the person.

• Perceptual checking: a process of describing, interpreting, verifying that help us to understand an other person

Symbolic Interactionalism

• Formulated by Blumer (1969): the process of interaction in the formation of meanings for individuals.

Identity management

• Identity management: we control the communication of information through a performance, in which people try to represent an idealized version of themselves to reach desired ends. Think of the photographs your post on the Facebook.