Interpersonal Communication

Interpersonal perception

• Perception is the process of making meaning from the things we experience in our
environment.
• Applying this to people refers to interpersonal perception
• 3 stages of a perception process:
• Selection
• Organization (Physical constructs, interaction constructs, psychological
constructs and role constructs)
• Interpretation (your personal experience, your knowledge, and your relationship)
 What influences our perceptual accuracy?
• Physiological states and traits
• Physiological states are conditions that are temporary
• Physiological traits are conditions that affect us on an ongoing basis
• Culture and co-culture
• Cultural values and norms have many different effects on the way we communicate
interpersonally
• culture influences our perceptions and interpretations of other people’s behaviours
• Co-cultural differences can also influence perceptions
• Social roles
• A social role is a set of behaviors that is expected of someone in a particular social situation
• One example is gender roles
Fundamental forces in interpersonal perception

• Even though we rely a great deal on our perceptions, research shows that those perceptions are
vulnerable to a number of biases, many of which operate outside our conscious awareness.

• Stereotyping
• Primacy
• Recency
• Perceptual set
• Egocentrism
• Positivity bias
• Negativity bias
 Stereotyping and generalization

• We’re probably all familiar with stereotypes, which are generalizations about a group
or category of people that can have powerful influences on how we perceive other
people
• Stereotyping is a three-part process
• First, we identify a group we believe another person belongs to (“you are a blonde”).
• Second, we recall some generalization others often make about the people in that
group (“blondes have more fun”).
• Finally, we apply that generalization to the person (“therefore, you must have more
fun”).
 First Impressions

• Primacy effect: The tendency to emphasize the first impression over later
impressions when forming a perception.

• When people evaluate us favorably at first, they’re more likely to perceive us in a

positive light from then on.

• Although first impressions are powerful, they aren’t necessarily permanent.

 The recency effect

• Recency effect The tendency to emphasize the most recent impression over earlier
impressions when forming a perception.
• Which is the more important impression—the first one
or the most recent one?
• Think about the last film you saw. What do you remember?
 Perceptual sets

• Perceptual set A predisposition to perceive only what we want or expect to

perceive.
• “I’ll believe it when I see it” vs “I’ll see it when I believe it”
• Example: The way we perceive newborns
• Our perceptual set also influences how we make sense of people and circumstances.
• Our cultural experiences often influence our perceptual set
• Perceptual set is relevant for interpersonal communication because it can shape the
way we interpret social situations
 Egocentrism

• Egocentric: unable to take another person’s perspective

• According to developmental psychologist Jean Piaget, egocentrism is a normal part
of development for children ages 2 to 6.
• Some adults can still act egocentric from time to time which impacts our perception
• The opposite of being egocentric is being “altercentric,” or focused on the
perspective of another person instead of your own.
 Positivity and negativity biases

• Positivity bias The tendency to focus heavily on a person’s positive at- tributes
when forming a perception.
• Negativity bias The tendency to focus heavily on a person’s negative at- tributes
when forming a perception.
• A lot of our perception is dependant on our personal disposition
 Attribution

• Attribution: An explanation for an observed behavior.

• Locus
• Stability
• Controllability
 Common attribution errors

• Self-serving bias: We attribute our successes to internal causes and our failures to
external causes

• Fundamental attribution error: We attribute other people’s behaviors to internal

causes

• Overattribution: We focus on one characteristic of

a person and attribute a wide variety of behaviors to that characteristic.
How can you improve your
perceptual abilities