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Glee (Season 1, 2009–2010). Airing on the Fox network, this is an uplifting television series
that follows eight diverse “outcasts” who join a high school glee club. Encouraged by their
coach to recognize and pursue their star potential, the unpopular glee-club members routinely
encounter criticism and put-downs from their classmates, as well as from each other. This
show could be used to examine stereotypes, self-concept, friendships, and the dynamics of
ingroupers and outgroupers.
Gran Torino (2008, 116 minutes). Directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino is
about Walt Kowalski, a Korean War veteran and recent widower who lives unhappily next to
a Hmong family. Walt’s interaction with his neighbors and their two sons powerfully
illustrates stereotyping, particularly stereotypes based on race and age. As Walt becomes
involved with his neighbors, we see him modify his ideas about them through algebraic
impressions. Underlying themes of culture and ingroupers versus outgroupers are strongly
portrayed as well.
30 Days (2006–2008). This innovative television series chronicles the efforts of various
Americans to live “in someone else’s shoes” for a period of 30 days. In one episode, host
Morgan Spurlock narrates the travails of a West Virginia insurance salesman who moves in
with a young Muslim doctor and his wife. He learns the rudiments of American Islam, at the
same time providing an interesting look at the challenges of communicating across a big
divide.
Into the Wild (2008, 148 minutes). This film focuses on the notion of an individual’s role in
society. When privileged college student Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch) graduates
from college, he sets out on a journey to the Alaskan wilderness. His travel allows him to see
the world in a different way.
Life Is Beautiful (2011, 116 minutes). In this film, a father attempts to shelter his son and
family from the horrors of World War II. The film reveals the power of optimism and
perception during dark times, and illustrates how preserving our childlike innocence can
protect us from the tribulations that life may throw at us.
My Life in Ruins (2009, 96 minutes). A Greek tour guide, Georgia (Nia Vardalos), attempts
to recapture her mojo by guiding a group of tourists around Greece. Along the way, she
manages to open their eyes to the wonders of her country while beginning to view the world
through a new set of eyes in the process.
St. Vincent (2014, 102 minutes). Vincent McKenna (Bill Murray), an angry and
misunderstood alcoholic, is befriended by his 11-year-old neighbor Oliver, who moves in
next door with his mother after his parents’ divorce. After financial trouble, Vincent offers to
watch Oliver after school, for a fee, and takes him to the races and bars and teaches him how
to fight. When life takes a turn for the worse for Vincent, Oliver sees the saintliness in him
that no one else can.
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The Intouchables (2012, 113 minutes). This is a film based on the true story of a French
millionaire who becomes a quadriplegic and a young, streetwise ex-con who reluctantly
becomes his caretaker. It is a wonderful film for changing perceptions about the disabled.
WEB RESOURCES
An Unlikely Alliance Changes Perceptions
https://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/video/alliance-perceptions-34555390
This video takes a look at a new program that is connecting kids in high crime neighborhoods
with police in an effort to change how each (cops and kids) perceives the other.
What Would You Do?
https://abcnews.go.com/WhatWouldYouDo
This series explores how people react to strangers in uncomfortable situations. Different short
segments follow people of different backgrounds to examine how such factors as culture,
gender, and race may shape people’s perceptions and actions when choosing to respond to a
situation or “mind their own business.”
Teaching Tolerance
www.tolerance.org
This Web project of the Southern Poverty Law Center provides a plethora of resources
devoted to fighting and overcoming bigotry and hate, including 10 Ways to Fight Hate on
Campus, and 10 Tools for Tolerance.
Understanding Prejudice
www.understandingprejudice.org/
A site dedicated to offering resources on prejudice, multiculturalism, and diversity. The site
has exercises and self-tests, including the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory, Test for Hidden
Biases, and Baseline Inventory for understanding prejudice and discrimination.
Global Connections: Stereotypes
www.pbs.org/wgbh/globalconnections/mideast/questions/types/index.html
From a PBS series on the Middle East, this website outlines common stereotypes of Islam
and the Middle East held by Westerners and stereotypes of Westerners held by Middle
Easterners.
Frontline: A Class Divided
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/divided/etc/view.html
In 1968, the day after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jane Elliot conducted the now
infamous “brown eye, blue eye” discrimination activity with her third-grade students. The
program chronicles the activity she conducted with the students and its impact on them as
adults.
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BBC Two: Eyewitness
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00s6qdj/episodes/guide
From a BBC Two series, this website contains access to two useful clips that focus on
perception and eyewitness accounts. Use clips from episodes 1, 2, and 3.
Daniel Simons: Seeing the World as It Isn’t
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Il_D3Xt9W0
Daniel Simons, the head of the Visual Cognition Laboratory at the University of Illinois,
shares some reasons why our perceptions are often inaccurate in this TED Lecture.
Heroic Imagination Project (HIP)
http://heroicimagination.org/
The Heroic Imagination Project is an organization devoted to promoting heroism in our
society. HIP has a variety of on-line educational resources that focus on research in social
psychology. Below are various links to concepts discussed in this chapter.
“Is My Neighbor Latino?”
http://video.pbs.org/video/1246542442/
A humorous look at what happens when stereotypes are violated.
Summer’s Eve Controversial Ad Campaign: Is Use of Stereotypes Racist?
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/video/summers-eve-controversial-ad-campaign-stereotypes-
racist-14116160
This segment focuses on the controversy surrounding how a commercial from Summer’s Eve
perpetuates stereotypes.
Rethink Homelessness
http://rethinkhomelessness.org
The Rethink Homeless Organization has several videos designed to educate people about the
struggles, challenges, and myths of the homeless. One video in particular, “Cardboard
Stories/Homeless in Orlando,” challenges common perceptions about the homeless.
Dad’s Pregnancy Project
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RwB2bhyCTs&feature=related
A father wears a pregnancy suit (empathy belly) for one month and chronicles his experience
on video.
“Want to Enhance the Flavor of Your Food? Put on the Right Music”
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/12/20/372142738/want-to-enhance-the-flavor-of
-your-food-put-on-the-right-music (3:56)
This audio clip from NPR focuses on how perception, food, and music are interconnected.
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“Magicians Know More Than Scientists”
http://www.livescience.com/5021-magicians-scientists.html
This article sheds light on how perception is central to a magician’s tricks.
“Why ‘Dressgate’ Had Such a Hold on Us”
http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/why-dressgate-had-such-a-hold-on-us/
This clip focuses on the dress that ignited a cultural conversation about perception.
“You Too Pessimistic About Your Personality?”
http://www.spring.org.uk/2010/11/are-you-too-pessimistic-about-your-personality.php
This interesting study finds that we often perceive ourselves differently than others see us.
“Impaired Perceptions: Photographer Rejects First Impressions”
http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/25/health/brian-steel-impaired-perceptions/index.html
This article includes eight examples of people with disabilities who have battled
discrimination by showing others they are capable of doing the same things as able-bodied
people.
MUSIC RECOMMENDATIONS
The following music examples have been included for illustrating interpersonal
communication concepts addressed in this chapter. It is recommended that the instructor
preview songs before using them, as some contain adult language. Each instructor must
decide what is appropriate for his or her class.
“This Is Me,” performed by Keala Settle from The Greatest Showman
“Girls Like You,” performed by Maroon 5
“Boy,” performed by Charlie Puth
“Both Sides Now,” performed by Judy Collins
“Free Your Mind,” performed by En Vogue
“If I Were a Boy,” performed by Beyoncé
“What It Feels Like for a Girl,” performed by Madonna
“Stupid Girls,” performed by Pink
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Chapter 3: Perceiving Others
Lecture Outline
I. Perception is the process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting information from
our senses.
A. Perception is the process by which we make sense of everything and everyone in
our environment.
B. Although our perception seems unfiltered and objective, it is neither. Instead, we see
people in ways that fit with our existing beliefs.
C. Perception guides our communication and relationship decisions.
II. Selection is the first step of perception, in which we focus attention on certain sights,
sounds, tastes, touches, or smells in our environment.
A. Since our senses are bombarded by millions of stimuli at any given moment, our
brains must focus attention.
B. The degree to which particular people or aspects of their communication attract our
attention is known as salience.
1. Communication is salient when a person behaves in a visually and audibly
stimulating manner.
2. Communication is salient if our goals or expectations lead us to view the
communication exchange as important.
3. Communication is salient when the exchange deviates from our expectations.
III. Organization is the second step of perceiving, consisting of structuring the
information that you have selected into a coherent pattern in your mind.
A. During organization, the process of punctuation involves structuring the
information you’ve selected into a chronological sequence that matches how you
experienced the order of events.
B. Differences in punctuation can be a source of conflict.
C. A way of avoiding perceptual misunderstandings is to try to understand how your
organization and punctuation of information differ from those of other people.
IV. The final step of perception, interpretation, is the act of assigning meaning to
information we’ve selected.
A. In order to make sense of others’ communication, we compare our current
perception with knowledge that we already possess.
B. Our sense-making relies on schemata, mental structures containing information that
defines the characteristics of concepts, as well as how those characteristics are
interrelated.
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C. In addition to using schemata to interpret information from interpersonal
encounters, we make attributions, creating explanations for others’ comments or
behaviors. There are two types of attribution: internal and external.
1. Internal attributions presume that a person’s communication or behavior can be
explained by internal causes, such as character or personality.
2. External attributions hold that a person’s communication is caused by situational
factors rather than character or personality.
3. The fundamental attribution error is the tendency to attribute others’ behaviors
to their personalities (or internal causes), rather than to social or environmental
forces that affect them.
4. A related problem is the actor-observer effect, the tendency for people to
attribute external factors to explain their own behavior; this is particularly
prevalent during unpleasant interactions.
5. However, the tendency to take credit for our success by making an internal
attribution is known as the self-serving bias.
a. The self-serving bias is driven by ego protection, the process of making
ourselves happier by crediting ourselves for our life successes; this self-serving
bias is driven by ego protection.
6. We should check our attributions frequently by:
a. Keeping in mind the fundamental attribution error, actor-observer effect, and
self-serving bias, and considering external factors that may explain a person’s
behavior
b. Keeping in mind that any particular behavior or response rarely stems from
only external or internal causes
c. By asking people for the reasons behind their behavior
V. According to Uncertainty Reduction Theory, a primary concern during initial
interactions is reducing uncertainty about our conversational partners; we do this by
gathering information about them to help explain and predict their communicative
behaviors.
A. Uncertainty can be reduced in several ways:
1. We might use passive strategies, gathering information about others by watching
them without their knowledge.
2. We can also use active strategies, such as third-person questioning, when we ask
other people questions about the person we’re interested in.
3. Finally, we can use interactive strategies: direct interaction between you and the
person you’re interested in. These strategies include:
a. Asking questions
b. Disclosing personal information about ourselves
VI. The culture in which you grew up influences your perception of others during
interpersonal communication.
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A. You interpret others’ communication in part by drawing on information from your
schemata, which are filled with the beliefs, attitudes, values, and practices you
learned in your own culture.
B. Culture also affects whether you perceive others as similar to or different from
yourself.
1. We consider ingroupers those people whom we perceive as being fundamentally
similar to ourselves with respect to certain cultural beliefs, attitudes, and values.
2. Alternatively, we may perceive people who are dissimilar as outgroupers.
3. In general, we like people who are “like” us and consequently, we are more likely
to give valued resources such as money, time, and effort to those who are
perceived as ingroupers versus those who are outgroupers.
C. Focus on Culture: Perceiving Race. Race is a way we classify people based on
common ancestry or descent and is almost entirely judged by looking at physical
features.
1. Perceptual judgments often follow from our perception of a person’s race, most
notably the assignment of the other into ingrouper or outgrouper status.
2. We may perceive the communication of ingroupers more positively than the
communication of people of “other races,” and we’re more likely to make
positive attributions about the behavior of ingroupers.
VII. Gender is another factor affecting perception.
A. Historically, researchers have argued that men’s and women’s brains are
substantially different, causing men and women to perceive interpersonal
communication differently. Recent research, however, calls this idea into question.
1. When controlling for the differential physical size of the amygdala in men versus
women, research has found that men and women are far more similar than
different.
2. Similar findings exist in interpersonal communication research where researchers
are finding that men and women are actually more similar than different in how
they interpersonally communicate.
B. Moreover, gender socialization amplifies the idea that men and women
communicate differently.
1. Western cultural beliefs suggest that women talk more about their feelings than
men do, talk about “less important” issues than men, and in general, talk more than
men do.
2. Research suggests these Western beliefs have more to do with perception than
reality.
VIII. Finally, personality, our own characteristic way of thinking, feeling, and acting, is a
factor influencing how we perceive reality.
A. Five basic dimensions constitute personality. A simple way to remember them is
the acronym OCEAN: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness,
and neuroticism.
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1. A tendency to positively interpret nearly anything someone says or does because
we have a positive Gestalt of them is known as the halo effect.
2. Conversely, the horn effect is the tendency to negatively interpret the
communication and behavior of people about whom we have negative Gestalts.
X. A second way we form interpersonal impressions is by developing what are called
algebraic impressions by carefully evaluating each new thing we learn about a person.
A. Algebraic impressions involve comparing and assessing the positive and negative
things we learn about a person in order to calculate an overall impression, and then
modifying this impression as we learn new information.
B. Algebraic impressions are more flexible and accurate than Gestalts.
XI. Stereotyping is another way we form impressions—perceptually categorizing people
into a social group and then evaluating them based on information we have in our
mental schemata related to the group.
A. Stereotyping, which is virtually impossible to avoid, streamlines the perception
process.
B. People frequently have a high degree of confidence in the legitimacy of their
stereotypical impressions, despite the fact that such impressions are frequently
flawed.
C. The negative effects of stereotyping can be overcome by
1. critically assessing your beliefs about various groups, especially those you dislike
2. educating yourself about these groups to find similarities and differences between
people affiliated with these groups and yourself
3. keeping in mind that just because someone belongs to a certain group doesn’t
necessarily mean that all of the defining characteristics of that group apply to him
or her.
XII. Empathy, the ability to “feel into” others’ thoughts and emotions, is a valuable tool for
communicating competently with others.
A. Empathy consists of two components:
1. Perspective-taking is the ability to see things from someone else’s vantage point
without necessarily experiencing that person’s emotions.
2. Empathic concern is becoming aware of the emotional side of another’s
perspective, experiencing a sense of compassion, and perhaps experiencing some
of the same emotions.
B. Empathy requires that you communicate your efforts to see things from another
person’s vantage point and to consider that person’s emotional experience.
C. Our empathy mindset is our belief about whether empathy is a skill that can be
developed and controlled.
1. People who view empathy as developable and controllable are capable of feeling
