Chapter 2
Perception of Self and Others
What you’ll know:
• How the perception process works
• How self-perception is formed and maintained
• How we form perceptions of others
• How to increase the accuracy of our perceptions
• How perception influences and is influenced by communication
What you’ll be able to do:
• Employ strategies to improve the accuracy of your self-perception
• Employ strategies to improve your perception of others
• Practice perception-checking skills
Chapter Outline
I. The perception process: the process of selectively attending to sensory information and assigning
meaning to it. Your brain selects information, organizes the information, and interprets and
evaluates it.
B. Organization of stimuli takes place within the brain and may follow these principles:
1. Simplicity: we simplify verbal messages and nonverbal behaviors.
2. Pattern: a set of characteristics used to differentiate some things from others.
C. Interpretation of stimuli: assigning meaning to information gathered
D. Dual Processing
II. Perception of self: self-concept and self-esteem. Self-concept is your self-identity. Self-esteem is
your overall evaluation of your competence and personal worthiness.
A. Self-Concept
1. Self-perception: unique interpretations about ourselves that we have made based on
experience.
2. Reactions and responses of others: our self-concept is formed and maintained by how
1. The influence of culture and gender on perception: background and gender will affect your
view of self, expectations, roles, and self-esteem.
C. Cultural Norms and Self-perceptions
D. Accuracy of self-concept and self-esteem dependent on accuracy of our own perceptions and
how we process others’ perceptions of us.
1. Incongruence: gap between our inaccurate self-perceptions and reality
2. Self-fulfilling prophecy: events that happen as the result of being foretold, expected, or
talked about.
3. Filtering messages: we are prone to pay attention to messages that reinforce our current
self-image and ignore messages that contradict this image
4. Media images: visual and verbal messages we see through television, the internet, and
other media affect our perceptions. Body image is one aspect of perception that is often
negatively affected by media.
E. Self-Perception and Communication
III. Perception of Others
A. Uncertainty reduction theory: the process of monitoring the social environment to learn more
about self and others.
B. Forming Impressions: physical characteristics and social behaviors often are the basis of first
impressions and social perceptions.
1. Implicit personality theories: assumptions people have developed about which physical
characteristics and personality traits or behaviors are associated with another.
2. Assumed Similarity: assuming someone is similar to us in a variety of ways until we get
information that contradicts this assumption.
2. Forced Consistency: the inaccurate attempt to make several perceptions about another
person agree with each other.
3. Prejudice: judging a person based on the characteristics of a group to which the person
belongs.
4. Stereotypes: attributes that cover up individual differences and ascribe certain
characteristics to an entire group of people.
5. Discrimination: a negative action toward a social group or its members on account of
group membership.
understanding of the meaning of another person’s behavior.
Discussion and Assignment Ideas
I. Imagine a person with unhealthy self-esteem based on an unrealistic self-concept. What
communicative event may have contributed to such a phenomenon? How does this incongruence
affect the individual and his or her actions and interactions?
II. Quotes: These can be used to introduce topics, question perspectives, or gain individual opinion.
Providing students with a quote and prompting them to write or reflect on their personal feelings
about the quote can help spark discussion and interest. Suggested prompts may include “Define this
concept in your own words”; “Do you agree with this statement? Explain”; and “What text material
can be used to support or refute this idea?”
social experience.
—George Herbert Mead
III. Have you ever been stereotyped by someone? Discuss how this affected the person’s perception of
you. How did this affect your perception of them?
IV. Allow students to work in groups to discuss the roles that culture or gender play in the self–
perception process. (You may decide to have student groups pick either topic.)
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A. Questions for discussion on gender: When you were a child, what gender roles if any were
established for you? Did your family have certain chores that you were expected to perform as
a boy or girl? Were you encouraged or discouraged from playing with certain toys or activities?
How did that make you feel? How has this affected the way in which you look at gender roles
today?
B. Questions for discussion on culture: How would you describe your culture to others? How do
you celebrate this culture? (For example, what food do you eat? What holidays do you
observe? What events are important to your culture?) Are you automatically a part of a
particular culture because of the way you dress, where you grew up, or the way in which you
speak? In other words, can you choose your culture, or does your culture choose you? What
are some stereotypes that others have of your culture? How do these make you feel? What
would you say to help people who hold that stereotype understand your culture more
accurately?
Technology Resources
Using your cengagebrain.com, locate your textbook and find the Web Resource Real Self-Esteem?
What new points does the article in this activity present about self-esteem? How will you apply this
knowledge to your own personal self-perception?
http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/focusareas/education/racism.html.
Movies
Movies and movie clips can be used to help students grasp concepts. Clips can be shown in class, or
movies can be assigned as homework. Following the movie clips, ask students written or oral
questions. These questions should address pertinent concepts, thereby actively engaging students in
discussion.
The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love (1995)
Rated: R (sex, language, some drug references)
Synopsis: This film is a coming-of-age story focusing on Randy, a poor, white, lesbian teenager who falls
in love with a wealthy, black teenager, Evie. The two struggle with their own feelings and the way their
friends and family perceive them and their relationship.
Questions for discussion
1. How do Randy and Evie’s self-concepts and self-esteem change over the course of the film?
2. What do Randy and Evie do to help change the way their friends and family perceive them?
3. How is being out as a lesbian different for Evie and Randy? What risks does each take by being
out? What aspects of their lives affect these different risks?
The Breakfast Club (1985)
Rated: R (Profanity, mature themes)
Synopsis: The Breakfast Club is the story of a group of high school students who have been assigned to
Saturday detention. The school athlete, Ms. Popularity, class geek, school misfit, and rebellious teen are all
present. As they talk, they peel back their personal stereotypes and are surprised that despite their
differing social roles, they all suffer from the same problems. At the end of the day each teen
leaves the school transformed from the lessons they have learned.
Questions for discussion
1. What visual images are used to stereotype the characters throughout the movie?
2. What examples can you find of characters having low self-esteem? Characters experiencing
incongruence? Characters filtering messages?
3. What lessons have the characters learned about self-concept and stereotyping by the end of the
movie?
The Wedding Banquet (1993)
Rated: NR (Mature themes, sexual situations, brief nudity)
Synopsis: A romantic comedy about a young New Yorker of Taiwanese descent, Wai-Tung, who is
feeling pressure from his parents to marry and raise a family. Rather than tell his parents that he is
gay, he organizes a “wedding of convenience” with his Chinese neighbor, Wei-Wei, who is in desperate
need of a green card. This light, funny film is actually a deceptively perceptive look at cultural, sexual, and
generational differences.
Questions for discussion
1. What gender, cultural, and generational roles and expectations are demonstrated in this movie?
2. How does Wai–Tung’s partner, Simon, perceive the wedding banquet? How do you think this
affects Wai-Tung’s self-concept?
3. How do Wai-Tung’s perceptions of their son, Simon, and Wei-Wei change?
4. What stereotypes and prejudices are demonstrated in this film?
Additional movie suggestions: Save the Last Dance (2001) (perception, stereotyping, prejudice);
Billy Elliot (2000) (gender and social roles, stereotyping, prejudice); American History X (1998)
(perception, discrimination, racism, hate crimes); Akeelah and the Bee (2006) (influences on self-
concept); Crash (2004) (stereotyping); Now and Then (1999) (perception over time, influences on
self-concept)
Other Media Resources
1. Implicit associations quiz: Discover your conscious and unconscious preferences to over 90 topics.
http://www.implicit.harvard.edu
2. Understanding prejudice
http://www.understandingprejudice.org/
Skills and Competency
Please refer to the core text for a prompt to Skill Learning Activity 2.5: Culture and Perception.
Answers to this activity will vary widely from student to student. Below is a list of things to look for in
student’s answers to each question and suggestions for provoking further thinking.
2.1: Perception Quiz
Purpose: To teach the perception process
Time: 30 minutes
Process: Tell your students you are going to give them a pop quiz on perception. Give them
every indication that this is a real quiz. (For example, if they ask if it counts toward
their grade, tell them yes.) They will discover the true nature of the quiz soon enough, but
it will make the exercise more meaningful if they think that this quiz will affect
their class grade, even if they believe this to be true only at first.
Pass out a sheet of paper with the following questions. Then ask students to exchange
papers and go over the answers together as a class.
(Source: Anonymous)
Answers
Discussion: 1. What happened when you thought this was a real quiz? How did that assumption
affect the way you attended and selected, organized, and interpreted the exercise?
Why?
2. These trick questions demonstrate how our mind tends to simplify information as
we organize it. Can someone give me an example of how they simplified a
question to get it wrong?
3. How and when did your perception of these questions change? What patterns did
you notice?
4. If you did well on this quiz, could it affect your self-esteem? Why or why not? (If it
were important to you and you considered it a worthwhile activity, then, yes, it
could build or reinforce your self-esteem.)
5. A few of these questions demonstrate the role that shared language plays in the
effective perception of meaning. Can you guess which ones? (Students may point out
a few different questions. Two possible answers are that question 11
demonstrates the ambiguous nature of the math expression “take away,” and that
question 4 demonstrates the double meaning of the expression “spell
incorrectly”—in this case, it meant that Yale students spelled the word incorrectly but
not that the word incorrectly was misspelled.)
2.2: Self-Concept Bags
Purpose: To identify various aspects of self-concept.
Time: 40 minutes
Process: In the class session prior to this activity, instruct students to “bring themselves to
class in a bag.” That is, ask them to bring artifacts (objects) that represent who they
elements of self-concept, including roles, personality traits, physical characteristics,
2.3: Recognizing How Others Influence Our Self-Concept
Purpose: To enable students to recognize that our self-concept is formed and maintained by
how others react and respond to us. Students will understand how positive and
negative feedback influences our self-concept, especially when feedback is given
quickly.
Time: 15-20 minutes
Process: You will need a timer or a clock with a second hand for this role-play exercise. Divide
the class into pairs of two. Student 1 should start by talking for one minute about
something that he or she has accomplished and is proud of. Student 2 should listen
supportively, voicing interest and asking clarifying questions. When the minute has
supportive atmosphere in this classroom.
2.4: Checking Perceptions
Purpose: To provide students with an opportunity to practice perception checking skills.
Time: 30 minutes
Process: For each of the following role-play situations, select three volunteers from the class,
informing them that they will be “performing” in front of their classmates. Read each
situation. Student 1 should state one perception or inference from the situation.
Student 2 should state a different perception or inference of the situation. Student 3
should state a perception check, using the two perceptions generated by the first two
students. (For the first situation, you may wish to model the perception check as
“Student 3.”) Have the rest of the class provide suggestions for improving the
2.5: Stereotyping
Purpose: To demonstrate the limitations of stereotyping
Journal Assignments
A. Self and Other Perceptions of Self
List ten words to describe how you perceive yourself. Include a variety of types of descriptors: roles,
skills, physical attributes, personality characteristics, and so on. Have a family member, close friend,
and acquaintance list ten words to describe how they perceive you. Analyze the differences and
similarities between the lists.
B. How Did I Get This Way?
Describe the five most significant situations, events, or experiences that have shaped your current
self-concept. You may describe them through the written word or through pictures.
C. Culture and Self-Esteem
Imagine that you live in a culture that values age over youth and the group over the individual.
Speculate about how your life would be different in this culture than it is now. If your culture
emphasizes those values, imagine you live in a culture that values youth over age and the individual
over the group.
D. Self-monitoring
Think back to a time when you were in a new situation. It could be your first day of high school or the first
day of your first job. How did you use self-monitoring to help yourself feel more comfortable in this new
situation? What feedback or cues did you receive to learn the “ground rules” of this new
context? How did you apply this lesson to your future encounters?