4 INTERPERSONAL PERCEPTION 4 Floyd Interpersonal Communication 3

4 INTERPERSONAL PERCEPTION 4 Floyd, Interpersonal Communication, 3 e ©Mc. Graw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. Authorized only for instructor use in the classroom. No reproduction or further distribution permitted without the prior written consent of Mc. Graw-Hill Education.

[ Our Agenda • The Process of Perception • Fundamental Forces in Interpersonal Perception • Explaining What We Perceive • Improving Your Perceptual Abilities ©Mc. Graw-Hill Education. ]

[ The Process of Perception Interpersonal perception is the process of making meaning from the people in our environment and our ] relationships with them ©Mc. Graw-Hill Education. © Banana. Stock/Punch. Stock, RF

[ The Process of Perception (Stages) The process of perception occurs in three stages • Selection: what we choose to pay attention to • Organization: how we classify the stimulus • Interpretation: what meaning we assign to the stimulus ©Mc. Graw-Hill Education. ]

[ The Process of Perception (Factors) Several factors affect selection • How unusual or unexpected the stimulus is • Frequency of exposure to the stimulus • Intensity of the stimulus ©Mc. Graw-Hill Education. ] © Banana. Stock/Jupiter. Images/Picture. Quest, RF

[ The Process of Perception (Organization) Types of organization • Physical constructs • Role constructs ] • Interaction constructs • Psychological constructs ©Mc. Graw-Hill Education. © CBS/Landov

[ The Process of Perception (Influences on Interpretation) Influences on interpretation • Experience with the other person • Knowledge of him or her • Closeness of relationship with him or her ©Mc. Graw-Hill Education. ]

[ The Process of Perception (Influences on Accuracy) ] Several influences affect the accuracy of interpersonal perceptions • Physiological states and traits • Culture and co-culture • Social roles ©Mc. Graw-Hill Education.

[ The Process of Perception (Online) Additional cues become relevant when we form perceptions of people online • Communicators’ physical attractiveness • The realism and gender of avatars ©Mc. Graw-Hill Education. ]

[ Fundamental Forces in Interpersonal Perception (Stereotyping) Stereotyping is a three-part process 1. Identify a group we believe someone belongs to 2. Recall a generalization about people in that group 3. Apply the generalization to that person ©Mc. Graw-Hill Education. ]

[ Fundamental Forces in Interpersonal Perception (1) ] • According to the primacy effect, our first impression of someone overshadows our later impressions of the person • According to the recency effect, our most recent impression of someone is more powerful than earlier impressions • A perceptual set is a predisposition to perceive only what we want or expect to perceive ©Mc. Graw-Hill Education.

[ Fundamental Forces in Interpersonal Perception (2) ] • Egocentrism is the inability to take another person’s perspective • The positivity bias causes us to perceive information in an overly idealistic way • The negativity bias leads us to view information in an overly pessimistic way ©Mc. Graw-Hill Education.

[ Explaining What We Perceive (Attributions) • Attributions are the explanations we give for our own and other people’s behaviors • Attributions vary according to their: • Locus • Stability • Controllability ©Mc. Graw-Hill Education. ]

[ Explaining What We Perceive • The self-serving bias influences the accuracy of our attributions • Our successes are earned and deserved • Our failures are not our fault ] • The fundamental attribution error influences the accuracy of our attributions • Other people’s behaviors are due to internal, stable causes ©Mc. Graw-Hill Education.

[ Explaining What We Perceive (Overattribution) • Overattribution influences the accuracy of our attributions • Identify one prominent characteristic of a person ] • Attribute most of what the person says and does to that characteristic ©Mc. Graw-Hill Education.

[ Improving Your Perceptual Abilities Be mindful ] • Know yourself and your biases • Focus on other people’s characteristics • Consider the communication context ©Mc. Graw-Hill Education. © Digital Vision/Punch. Stock, RF

[ Improving Your Perceptual Abilities (Check Perceptions) Check your perceptions • Separate interpretations from facts • Generate alternative perceptions • Engage in perception-checking • Revise your perceptions as needed ©Mc. Graw-Hill Education. ]