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Chapter 3: Perceiving Others
Instructor Resources
OBJECTIVES
• Identify and describe the steps in the perceptual process and common perceptual errors.
• Explain the influence of culture, gender, and personality in shaping perception.
• Describe processes that influence how we form impressions of others.
• Develop strategies for practicing responsible perception.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. I want you to write down everything that you’re able to see, hear, smell, taste, and feel
from your seat in this classroom while sitting quietly for one minute. Now, let’s talk
about some of these things. How does the concept of salience apply to the things you
noticed? What other factors influence how you select information?
2. When you’re doing poorly in a class, whose fault is it? Yours? The professor’s? Trace
the sequence of events that could lead to poor performance in a class. How might your
“punctuation” of these events affect the steps you take to deal with the problem?
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THINK PAIR SHARE
Think Pair Share prompts support the active engagement of students in the learning
experience. The prompts can be particularly useful in punctuating the lecture presentation of
chapter concepts.
1. Use the three steps of perception to illustrate how a favorable first impression of a person
is formed.
2. What are examples of internal attributions you would make about a situation in which
you’ve achieved success? Generate examples of external attributions for the same
situation.
3. How would you apply the three general strategies for reducing uncertainty in a situation?
4. Which of the five personality traits discussed in this chapter (OCEAN) do you find the
most attractive in others?
5. What are the differences between Gestalts, algebraic impressions, and stereotypes?
6. Provide a personal example of the negativity effect that proved to be incorrect.
7. How does stereotyping affect your own communication?
8. Which of the five steps of perception-checking are already things that you do? How?
Which of the five steps would be most difficult for you to apply? Why?
JOURNAL PROMPTS
1. Describe a time when you misperceived a person or situation. Which of the three steps in
perceiving best help you understand the perceptual problem that took place?
2. How are you most likely stereotyped? What characteristics of the stereotype would be
generally true about you? What characteristics would be completely untrue? What does
this tell you about the role of stereotyping in communicating with others?
3. Describe a time when you were an outgrouper. What was the situation? How did this
affect your self-esteem? How did this affect your perception of and communication with
ingroupers?
4. Recount a conflict situation where punctuation was an issue, or, in other words, when
you disagreed with someone else about how the conflict started. How did this difference
in punctuation contribute to the way the conflict was discussed and resolved?
5. Given the five personality traits discussed in the chapter, which do you most like in
yourself? How does your favorable opinion of this trait affect your perception of the way
you see the trait in others?
6. Recall a time when you encountered someone whose beliefs, attitudes, and values
appeared to differ from yours. How did you perceive this person on first meeting him or
her? What challenges did you face in trying to find common ground? Would you
consider yourself more world-minded after interacting with others from different
backgrounds?
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EXPERIENTIAL ACTIVITIES
Exercise: I Think I Know You
Objective: To identify factors influencing the formation of impressions.
a. Have each student choose a classmate who is a relative stranger.
b. Take five minutes to discuss the following (or another neutral) question: “What classes are
you taking this term and how are they going?”
c. Stop the discussion after five minutes, and distribute to each student the I Think I Know
You Worksheet to complete with the partner in mind.
d. Students should then share their respective answers with each other.
e. Discuss the following: What was the basis for making your decisions about how to answer
the questions? How accurate were you in your guesses? Why do you think this happened?
How do you feel your partner answered the questions about you? What does this activity
exemplify in terms of chapter concepts?
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I Think I Know You Worksheet
Directions: With your partner in mind, rank the response to each of the six questions using
the following scale:
1 = Most likely describes my partner
2 = Next most likely
3 = Least likely or not at all
Do not discuss your answers until you are both finished answering the questions.
1. How is your partner most likely to spend his or her vacation?
___ camping
___ traveling to Europe
___ visiting a beach or theme park
2. What is your partner most likely to watch on television?
___ ESPN
___ Comedy Central or MTV
___ Independent Film Channel
3. What type of vehicle does your partner most likely drive to school?
___ car
___ truck or SUV
___ motorcycle or bicycle
4. How would your partner most likely spend a night out on the town?
___ attending a sporting event
___ going to a movie, concert, play, etc.
___ dancing/clubbing
5. What is your partner most likely to do in his or her spare time?
___ read a book
___ watch television
___ play sports/be outdoors
6. What type of music does your partner most likely enjoy?
___ classical
___ rock
___ country
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Exercise: Internal versus External Attributions
Objective: To explore the role of internal and external attributions in perceiving others.
a. Distribute the Internal versus External Attributions Worksheet and have students complete
it individually.
b. Working in groups or as a class, students should compare answers and continue
developing their individual responses to the five situations.
c. Discuss the results. Which was easier to generate for the five situations, the internal
attributions or the external attributions? What factors influenced your attributions?
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Internal versus External Attributions Worksheet
Communication Event
Internal Attributions
External Attributions
Your new boss spends a lot of
time asking you about your life
outside work.
Your biology instructor missed an
office appointment to talk about
your last test grade.
Your roommate borrowed a shirt
and returned it stained.
A friend has declined your last
two invitations to spend time
together.
Your mother is late for a lunch
date.
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VIDEO RECOMMENDATIONS
Get Out (2017, 204 minutes). This film explores interracial relationships as Chris (Daniel
Kaluuya) and his girlfriend Rose (Allison Williams) go home to meet her parents. Rose is a
white woman from a wealthy family and Chris is a black man. We quickly learn that not
everything is as it seems; from the minute Chris arrives he notices that things (and people)
don’t seem quite right, yet he keeps trying to excuse their behaviors and the odd occurrences
through external and internal attributions. Chris tries his best to fit in and be part of the
ingroup, while fighting against stereotypes and false perceptions. In the end, we learn that
perceptual and attribution errors lead the main character into a world he never imagined
existed.
The Florida Project (2018, 105 minutes) This film follows a 6-year-old girl, Monee
(Brooklyn Prince) and her mother over the course of one summer. They two live in poverty
and the mother struggles to provide for her daughter, often having to make tough and
dangerous choices to take care of her. The mother-daughter duo live in “The Magic Castle,”
a euphemism for a low-budget hotel. This film offers a beautiful look into notions of
perception and what becomes salient in people’s lives in order to survive. We also catch a
glimpse of the big five personality traits and how these traits serve Monee in building the
perfect fantasy life.
Boyhood (2014, 166 minutes). This film focuses on the ups and downs of growing up as seen
through the eyes of a child named Mason, his divorced parents, and his sister. Filmed with
the same cast over a 12-year period, the film examines how the emotional lives of these
characters are affected by life experiences and parenting.
Catfish (2010, 87 minutes). The film dramatizes how perceptual biases, such as the
fundamental attribution error, can be perilous when developing an online romantic
relationship. Catfish raises ethical questions about self-disclosure, deception, love, and
identity management across the lines of the Internet.
Crash (2005, 115 minutes). This film won multiple Oscars for its depiction of the interactions
of a number of people who experience car collisions, shootings, and a carjacking in Los
Angeles. The film exposes stereotyping, deep-seated prejudices, and perceptual errors. It may
also be discussed in the light of suggestions by a number of critics that the film perpetuates
negative stereotypes of Asians.
Dallas Buyers Club (2013, 118 minutes). Matthew McConaughey stars in this true story of
Ron Woodroof, a Texas electrician who was diagnosed as HIV-positive in 1986. A
heterosexual homophobe, he has his eyes opened by the experience that follows, joining
forces with a kind-hearted transsexual (Jared Leto) to import non–FDA-approved drugs to a
misunderstood community of people suffering from the disease. This is a powerful film for
examining the role of perception in relationships.