Chapter 2 Perception

Question 0

Active perception?

Answer 0

active perception Perception in which your mind selects, organizes, and interprets that which you sense.

Question 1

Perception?

Answer 1

perception The process of becoming aware of objects and events from the senses.

Question 2

Subjective perception?

Answer 2

subjective perception Your uniquely constructed meaning attributed to sensed stimuli.

Question 3

Why do differences in perception occur?

Answer 3

Physiological factors (sex, sensory inhibitions or hypersentivities) , Past experiences and Roles (previous experiences or expected behaviors), Culture and coculture (shared learned systems of beliefs which affect our perception), and present feelings and circumstances.

Question 4

Perceptual constancy?

Answer 4

perceptual constancy The idea that your past experiences lead you to see the world in a way that is diffi cult to change; your initial perceptions persist.

Question 5

Role?

Answer 5

role The part an individual plays in a group; an individual’s function or expected behavior.

Question 6

Culture?

Answer 6

culture A system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artifacts that the members of a society use to cope with one another and with their world.

Question 7

Coculture?

Answer 7

co-culture A group whose beliefs or behaviors distinguish it from the larger culture of which it is a part and with which it shares numerous similarities.

Question 8

What occurs in perception?

Answer 8

Selection (), organization (), and interpretation().

Question 9

Four types of perception?

Answer 9

Four types of selectivity are selective exposure, selective attention, selective perception, and selective retention

Question 10

Selective exposure?

Answer 10

selective exposure The tendency to expose yourself to information that reinforces, rather than contradicts, your beliefs or opinions.

Question 11

Selective attention?

Answer 11

selective attention The tendency, when you expose yourself to information and ideas, to focus on certain cues and ignore others.

Question 12

Selective perception?

Answer 12

selective perception The tendency to see, hear, and believe only what you want to see, hear, and believe.

Question 13

Selective retention?

Answer 13

selective retention The tendency to remember better the things that reinforce your beliefs rather than those that oppose them.

Question 14

Selection?

Answer 14

Through selection, you neglect some stimuli in your environment and focus on other stimuli.

Question 15

Organization?

Answer 15

Organization is the grouping of stimuli into meaningful units or wholes. You organize stimuli in a number of ways, such as through fi gure and ground, closure, proximity, and similarity.

Question 16

Figure and Ground?

Answer 16

One organization method is to distinguish between fi gure and ground. Figure is the focal point of your attention, and ground is the background against which your focused attention occurs.

Question 17

Closure?

Answer 17

closure The tendency to fi ll in missing information in order to complete an otherwise incomplete f i gure or statement.

Question 18

Proximity?

Answer 18

proximity The principle that objects physically close to each other will be perceived as a unit or group. Also applies to messages, other things.

Question 19

Similarity?

Answer 19

The principle that elements are grouped together because they share attributes such as size, color, or shape.

Question 20

Interpretation?

Answer 20

The third activity you engage in during perception is interpretation, the assignment of meaning to stimuli.

Question 21

Interpretive perception.

Answer 21

Perception that involves a blend of internal states and external stimuli.

Question 22

What errors do we make in our perception?

Answer 22

Stereotyping and prejudices, first impressions.

Question 23

Symbolic interactionism?

Answer 23

The process in which the self develops through the messages and feedback received from others.

Question 24

Identity management?

Answer 24

The control (or lack of control) of the communication of information through a performance.

Question 25

Chapter summary:

Answer 25

In this chapter you learned the following: c Perception is important in communication because perception affects the way we understand events, others, and ourselves. c Our perceptions are unique because of physiological factors, past experiences, culture and co-culture, and present feelings and circumstances. c During perception, three separate activities are occurring: selection, organization, and interpretation. • Through selection you neglect some stimuli in your environment and focus on others. Four types of selectivity are selective exposure, selective attention, selective perception, and selective retention. • The stimuli you focus on are organized in a number of ways—through fi gure and ground, closure, proximity, and similarity. c We often make errors in our perceptions of others. • We engage in stereotyping and prejudice. • We make fi rst impressions. c How you perceive yourself plays a central role in communication. • Understanding yourself includes understanding your attitudes, values, beliefs, strengths, and weaknesses. • Symbolic interactionism is related to understanding yourself. c Identity management is the control (or lack of control) of the communication of information through a performance.