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Chapter Two |
| << Module One Overview | > Assignments Ch. One | > Assignments Ch. Two | > Assignments Ch. Three |
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Perceptions are tricky! In this chapter we will analyze the process of perception. This will enable us to see how perception involves three distinct stages of selection, organization, and interpretation. |
| Examine paintings and form your interpretation; beauty often is in the eye of the beholder, especially as that beholder selects, organizes and interprets an experience. | |
| Assess how your views of the world are affected by perceptual sets, physical characteristics, your psychological state, your gender perspective, and mass media. | |
| Successful communicators check perceptions. This exercise and discussion enable you to examine how you can avoid misperceptions. | |
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Doubtless, you've heard the phrase, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder." Perhaps, you've come away from a communication situation realizing that your friend who was there for the same event "saw" something different. What differed was how you and your friend each selected different things, how you each organized what you saw, or how you each drew from different past experiences to make interpretations. |
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As a warm-up to this assignment, check out the Web sites entitled "It's
All in the Brain," "Context and Expectations" and "Illusions."
Observe how how they expand upon some of the points raised in Chapter
Two about selective perception, selective attention, organization and
interpretation. |
It's All in the Brain <http://www.hhmi.org/senses/ a/a110.htm> Context and Expectations <http://www.aber.ac.uk/ media/Modules/ED10510/ visper05.htm> Illusions <http://www.geocities.com/ SoHo/Museum/3828/optical.html> |
| When you finish with the Web pages, go to our experiment for this topic. We are going to look at art works by two famous Twentieth Century painters. Go to the gallery of paintings by Pablo Picasso and Vincent Van Gogh. |
Picasso
Gallery
<http://home.xnet.com/~stanko/> The Vincent van Gogh Gallery <http://www.vangoghgallery.com |
| As you explore the the paintings on the page,
make a choice about one of the paintings that you would like to interpret
for your posting to topic 04. Then reflect on some of the key terms from
Chapter Two as they might bear upon your choice and your interpretation. Your posting for this topic will be your interpretation of the painting. Be sure to put the title of the painting in the subject line of your post so we will know which one you selected. In addition to stating your interpretation, step back from the process of perception to examine how you came to your conclusion about the painting. Then, use some of the concepts that are listed as key terms on this page to analyze how you were selective in what you perceived; how you organized the elements of the picture and how you drew from experiences or the opinions of others to form your interpretation. It is perfectly appropriate if more than one person chooses the same painting. In fact, it is even encouraged! What did you see in the painting? What assumptions did you make? How was your interpretation of the painting affected by selectivity and the way that you organized the information? After doing your posting return to see what others said in their interpretation. |
selective attention selective exposure selective retention figure and ground organization closure proximity and similarity interpretation based on: experience, perceptual sets, cultural background, psychological state, gender, and media |
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Cultural experiences affect our perceptions. To demonstrate that point, reflect on how people from different cultural backgrounds may have interpreted the paintings by Picasso and Van Gogh differently. For some of the assumptions we make are rooted in our cultural experiences. In today's diverse society we encounter all sorts and manner of people, and a wise communicator will be able to deal successfully with those differences. Think further of your day to day encounters. You are likely to brush up against people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds. You deal with members of the opposite gender. You may differ from the person you are communicating with on the basis of age, social standing, educational level or sexual orientation. |
| To gain some further awareness of cultural diversity, take the Diversity Quiz. Reflect as well on how our perceptions of others may be guided by stereotypes. With special reference to gender examine how verbal and visual symbols can be gender biased. |
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After you have reflected for awhile on matters of social and cultural diversity, enter your post for topic 5. For this topic discussion, I will ask you to reflect on experiences in which you encounter people who are members of a different culture, or whose behavior seems to have been influenced by association with a culture different from yours. To structure your post, first think of a situation in which you and another person formed differing interpretations of a situation or event. Then, identify how those differences of intepretation may have been influenced by ways you and the other person differed in terms of your cultural background, different experiences, percpetual sets, gender or media influences. As you develop your answer, use one or more of the key terms that relate to how we form interpretations. |
interpretation based on: experience, perceptual sets, cultural background, psychological state, gender, and media |
| Some situations seem almost ready made to
be more prone to misinterpretation. And thus they require special care
in checking our perceptions.
On page 54 in the "Making Connections" box, Seiler and Beall provide two scenarios that could very easily produce misinterpretations. |
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For the assignment for Topic 06, develop your own scenario similar to the types of incidents on page 54. Personalize it as much as you feel comfortable by drawing from your own experience. Be creative in describing the incident. Then, assess how one of the persons in the scenario you wrote should use one or more of the competencies for improving perception and strategies for perception checking that Seiler and Beall explain on pages 54-55. |
becoming an active perceiver, keeping an open mind, using strategies of perception checking, and recognizing change |
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Copyright, 2001 by Terrence A. Doyle, Ph. D |