{"id":67,"date":"2016-09-07T23:08:11","date_gmt":"2016-09-08T03:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/openbooks.macewan.ca\/professionalcommunication\/chapter\/2-2-perceiving-others\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T13:00:01","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T18:00:01","slug":"2-3-perceiving-others","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/openbooks.macewan.ca\/professionalcommunication\/chapter\/2-3-perceiving-others\/","title":{"raw":"2.3 Perceiving Others","rendered":"2.3 Perceiving Others"},"content":{"raw":"<div class=\"textbox textbox--learning-objectives\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<h3 class=\"textbox__title\">Learning Objectives<\/h3>\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Differentiate between internal and external attributions.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Explain two common perceptual errors: the fundamental attribution error and self-serving bias.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Discuss how the primacy and recency effects relate to first and last impressions.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Describe the influences on perception.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nAre you a good judge of character? How quickly can you \u201csize someone up?\u201d Interestingly, research shows that many people are surprisingly accurate at predicting how an interaction with someone will unfold based on initial impressions. As you read this section, remember that these principles apply to how you perceive others and how others perceive you. Just as others make impressions on us, we make impressions on others. We have already learned how the perception process works in selecting, organizing, and interpreting. In this section, we will focus on how we perceive others, specifically how we interpret our perceptions of others.\r\n<h3>Attribution and Interpretation<\/h3>\r\nYou likely have a family member, friend, classmate, or coworker with ideological or political differences. When conversations and inevitable disagreements occur, you may view this person as \u201cpushing your buttons\u201d if you are invested in the issue being debated, or you may view the person as \u201con their soapbox\u201d if you are not invested. In either case, your existing perceptions of the other person are probably reinforced after your conversation. You may leave the conversation thinking, \u201cThey will never wake up and see how ignorant they are! I do not know why I even bother talking to them!\u201d Similar situations occur regularly; some critical psychological processes influence how we perceive others\u2019 behaviours. By examining these processes, attribution, in particular, we can see how our communication with others is affected by the explanations we create for others\u2019 behaviour. In addition, we will learn some common errors we make in the attribution process that regularly lead to conflict and misunderstanding.\r\n<h4>Fundamental Attribution Error<\/h4>\r\nIn most interactions, we are constantly running an attribution script in our minds, which essentially tries to come up with explanations for what is happening (Crittenden, 1983). Why did my neighbour slam the door when she saw me walking down the hall? Why is my partner being extra nice to me today? Why did my officemate miss our project team meeting this morning? We generally seek to attribute the cause of others\u2019 behaviours to internal or external factors. <span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Internal attributions<\/b><\/span> connect the cause of behaviours to personal aspects such as personality traits. <strong>External attributions<\/strong> connect the cause of behaviours to situational factors. Attributions are essential because our reactions to others\u2019 behaviours are strongly influenced by the explanations we reach (Crittenden, 1983). Imagine that Jen and Luke are colleagues. One day, Luke gets frustrated and raises his voice to Jen. She may find that behaviour offensive and even consider reporting him if she attributes the cause of the blow-up to his personality since personality traits are usually relatively stable and difficult to control or change.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_62\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"300\"]<a style=\"font-weight: bold; font-size: 0.8em; text-align: center;\" href=\"\/app\/uploads\/sites\/192\/2016\/09\/2.2.0N.jpg\"><img class=\"wp-image-62 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/openbooks.macewan.ca\/professionalcommunication\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2016\/09\/2.2.0N-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Image of a person waving their fist at traffic through the windshield.\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><\/a> Figure 2.3.1. Frustrated drivers often use internal attributions to explain other drivers\u2019 behaviours.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nConversely, Jen may be more forgiving if she attributes the cause of his behaviour to situational factors beyond Luke\u2019s control since external factors are usually temporary. If she makes an internal attribution, Jen may think, \u201cWow, this person is a loose cannon. Who knows when he will lose it again?\u201d If she makes an external attribution, she may think, \u201cLuke has been under a lot of pressure to meet deadlines at work and has not been getting much sleep. Once this project is over, I am sure he will be more relaxed.\u201d This process of attribution is ongoing, and, as with many aspects of perception, we are sometimes aware of the attributions we make, and sometimes they are automatic or unconscious. Attribution has received much scholarly attention because some of the most common perceptual errors or biases occur in this part of the perception process.\r\n\r\nPerceptual errors can also be biased, and in the case of the self-serving bias, the error works in our favour. Just as we tend to attribute others\u2019 behaviours to internal rather than external causes, we do the same for ourselves, mainly when our behaviours have led to something successful or positive (Sillars, 1980). When our behaviours lead to failure or something negative, we attribute the cause to external factors. Thus the <b>self-serving bias<\/b>\u00a0is a perceptual error through which we attribute the cause of our successes to internal personal factors while attributing our failures to external factors beyond our control. When we look at the fundamental attribution error and the self-serving bias together, we can see that we are likely to judge ourselves more favourably than another person, or at least less personally.\r\n\r\nThe professor\u2013student relationship is an excellent example of how these concepts can play out. We have often heard students who earned an unsatisfactory grade on an assignment attribute that grade to their professor's strictness, unfairness, or incompetence. Professors may also attribute a poor grade to the student\u2019s laziness, attitude, or intelligence. In both cases, the behaviour is explained using an internal attribution and is an example of the fundamental attribution error (Shepperd et al., 2008). Students may attribute their poor grades to their busy schedules or other external situational factors rather than their lack of motivation, interest, or preparation (internal attributions).\r\n\r\nOn the other hand, when students get a good grade on a paper, they will likely attribute that cause to their intelligence or hard work rather than an easy assignment or an \u201ceasy grading\u201d professor. Both of these examples illustrate the self-serving bias. These psychological processes have implications for our communication because when we attribute causality to another person\u2019s personality, we tend to have a stronger emotional reaction and assume that this personality characteristic is stable, which may lead us to avoid communication with the person or to react negatively.\r\n\r\nNow that you know these common errors, you can monitor them more and check perceptions, which we will learn more about later, to verify your attributions.\r\n<h4>Impressions and Interpretation<\/h4>\r\nAs we perceive others, we make impressions about their personality, likeability, attractiveness, and other characteristics. Although many impressions are personal, what forms them is sometimes based more on circumstances than individual characteristics. The information we take in is not all treated equally. How important are first impressions? Does the last thing you notice about a person stick with you longer because it is more recent? Do we tend to remember the positive or negative things we notice about a person? This section will help answer these questions as we explore how the timing of information and the content of the messages we receive can influence our perception.\r\n<h4>First and Last Impressions<\/h4>\r\nThe old saying, \u201cYou never get a second chance to make a good impression,\u201d points to the fact that first impressions matter. The brain is a predictive organ in that it wants to know, based on previous experiences and patterns, what to expect next. First impressions fill this need, allowing us to determine how to proceed with an interaction after only a quick assessment of the person we are interacting with (Hargie, 2011). People are surprisingly good at making accurate first impressions about how an interaction will unfold and identifying personality characteristics of people they do not know. Furthermore, based on initial interaction, people can generally predict how another person will behave toward them. People\u2019s accuracy and ability to predict interaction based on first impressions vary, but people with high accuracy are typically socially skilled and popular and have less loneliness, anxiety, and depression; more satisfying relationships; and more senior positions and higher salaries (Hargie, 2011). So not only do first impressions matter, but having the ability to form accurate first impressions seems to correlate to many other positive characteristics.\r\n\r\nFirst impressions are enduring because of the <b>primacy effect<\/b>, which leads us to place more value on the first information we receive about a person. So if we interpret the first information we receive from or about a person as positive, then a positive first impression will form and influence how we respond to that person as the interaction continues. Likewise, negative interpretations of information can lead us to form negative first impressions. If you sit down at a clinic and staff walk by for several minutes and no one greets you, you will likely interpret that negatively and not have a good impression of health care providers when they finally show up. This may lead you to be short with the staff, which may lead them not to be as attentive as usual. At this point, a series of negative interactions have set a cycle that will be difficult to reverse and make cheerful.\r\n\r\nThe <strong>recency effect<\/strong> puts more weight on the most recent impression of a person\u2019s communication over earlier impressions. A negative final impression can tarnish even a positive first impression. Imagine that a professor has maintained relatively high credibility with you over the semester. They made an excellent first impression by being organized, approachable, and interesting during the first days of class. The rest of the semester went reasonably well, with no significant conflicts. However, during the last week of the term, they did not have the final papers graded and ready to turn back by the time they said they would, which left you with some uncertainty about how well you needed to do on the final exam to earn an A in the class. When you did get your paper back, on the last day of class, you saw that your grade was much lower than you expected. What would you write on the instructor evaluation if this happened to you? Because of the recency effect, many students would likely give a disproportionate amount of value to the professor\u2019s actions in the final week of the semester, negatively skewing the evaluation, which is supposed to be reflective of the entire semester. Even though the professor only returned one assignment late, that fact is very recent in students\u2019 minds and can overshadow the positive impression that formed many weeks earlier.\r\n<h3>Influences on Perception<\/h3>\r\n<h4>Physiological Influences<\/h4>\r\nSome of the reasons why we do not interpret things in the same way, are due to physiology. Hence, biology impacts what we do and do not perceive. In this section, we will discuss various physiological influences.\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Senses<\/strong> \u2014 our senses can impact what and where we focus our attention. For instance, if you have a strong sense of smell, you might be more sensitive to a foul-smelling odour than someone who cannot smell anything due to sinus problems. Our senses give us a different perception of the world.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Age<\/strong> \u2014 age can impact what we perceive. Have you ever noticed children have so much energy and the elderly do not? Children may perceive there is much to do daily, and the elderly may perceive nothing to do. Our age influences how we think about things.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Health<\/strong> \u2014 when we are healthy, we have the stamina and endurance to do many things. However, our bodies may be more inclined to rest when we are sick. Thus, we will perceive a lot of information differently. For instance, some of your favourite meals will taste good when you are healthy, but when you are sick, they might not taste so good because you cannot smell things due to a stuffy nose.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Hunger<\/strong> \u2014 when you are hungry, it is tough to concentrate on anything except food. Studies have shown that when people are hungry, they only focus on something to eat.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Biological cycles<\/strong> \u2014 some people are \u201cmorning larks,\u201d and some are \u201cnight owls.\u201d In other words, there are peaks where people perform at their highest level. For some individuals, it is late at night, and for others, it is early in the morning. People who perform at their peak times are likely to be more perceptive of information. If you are a person who loves getting up early, you would probably hate night classes because you are not able to absorb as much information as you could if the class was in the morning.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h4>Psychological Influences<\/h4>\r\nSometimes influences on perception are not physiological but psychological. These influences include mood and self-concept. These influences are based on our minds, and we cannot detect them in others.\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Mood<\/strong> \u2014 whether happy or sad, can affect how we view the world. For instance, we might view anything that happens more positively if we are happy.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Self-concept<\/strong> \u2014 if we have a healthy self-concept, we may not be offended if someone makes a negative remark. Still, if we have a poor self-concept, we will probably be more influenced by negative remarks. The stronger our self-concept is, the more likely it will affect how we perceive other people\u2019s communication behaviours toward us.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h4>Social Influences<\/h4>\r\nSocial influences include sex and gender roles, as well as occupational roles. These roles can impact our perceptions. Because we are in these roles, we might likely think differently than others in different roles.\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Sex and gender roles<\/strong> \u2014 our culture has certain expectations regarding how men and women should behave in public. Women are expected to be more nurturing than men. Moreover, men and women are viewed differently concerning the marital status and age.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Occupational roles<\/strong> \u2014 our jobs influence how we perceive the world. If you were a lawyer, you might be more inclined to take action on civil cases than the average public member because you know how to handle these situations. Moreover, if you work in a health environment, you are more likely to perceive the health of other individuals. You would be able to tell if someone needed urgent medical care or not.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Another social influence on perception is the <strong>standpoint theory<\/strong> (Harding, 2004). This theory states that your perspective is influenced by where you stand. In other words, your experience colours your perspective. If, for example, you were raised in an upper-class family, you might not understand the challenges many working-class families face. This can lead to misinterpretations if you base your interpretation on your perspective without considering others\u2019 perspectives.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h3>Physical and Environmental Characteristics<\/h3>\r\nWe make first impressions based on various factors, including physical and environmental characteristics. Regarding physical characteristics, dress and grooming are essential, especially in professional contexts. We have a general schema regarding how to dress and groom for various situations ranging from formal to business casual to casual to lounging around the house.\r\n\r\nThink about the harm done when people posing as social workers or healthcare providers commit crimes or other acts of malice. Seeing someone in a white lab coat automatically leads us to see that person as an authority figure. We fall into a scripted pattern of deferring to the \u201chealth care provider\u201d and not asking too many questions. The Milgram experiments offer a startling example of how powerful these influences are. In the experiments, participants followed instructions from a man in a white lab coat (actually an actor), who prompted them to deliver electric shocks to a person in another room whenever the other person answered a memory question incorrectly. The experiment was about how people defer to authority figures instead of acting independently. Although no one was being shocked in the other room, many participants continued to \u201cshock\u201d (at very high levels of voltage) the other person even after the person supposedly being shocked complained of chest pains and became unresponsive (Encina, 2003).\r\n<h3>Personality<\/h3>\r\nPotential employers often conduct \u201cemployment verifications,\u201d during which they ask general questions about the applicant. While they may ask a few questions about intellectual ability or academic performance, they typically ask questions that try to create a personality profile of the applicant. They want to know what kind of leader, coworker, and person they are. This is a smart move on their part because our personalities greatly influence how we see ourselves in the world and how we perceive and interact with others.\r\n\r\n<strong>Personality<\/strong> is a person\u2019s general way of thinking, feeling, and behaving based on underlying motivations and impulses (McCornack, 2007). These underlying motivations and impulses form our personality traits. Personality traits are \u201cunderlying,\u201d but they are pretty enduring once a person reaches adulthood. That is not to say that people\u2019s personalities do not change, but significant personality changes are not expected unless they result from trauma. Although personality scholars believe there are thousands of personalities, they all comprise some combination of the same few traits. Much research has been done on personality traits, and the \u201cBig Five\u201d most commonly discussed are extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness (McCrea, 2001, p. 825). These five traits appear to be representative of personalities across cultures.\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Extraversion. <\/strong>This refers to a person\u2019s interest in interacting with others. People with high extroversion are sociable and often called \u201cextroverts.\u201d People with low extroversion, often called \u201cintroverts,\u201d are less sociable.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Agreeableness. <\/strong>This refers to a person\u2019s level of trustworthiness and friendliness. People with high agreeableness are cooperative and likable. People with low agreeableness are suspicious of others and sometimes aggressive. This makes it more difficult for people to find them pleasant to be with.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Conscientiousness.\u00a0<\/strong>This refers to a person\u2019s level of self-organization and motivation. People with high conscientiousness are methodical, motivated, and dependable. People with low conscientiousness are less focused, careful, and dependable.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Neuroticism.\u00a0<\/strong>This refers to a person\u2019s level of negative thoughts regarding himself or herself. People high in neuroticism are insecure, experience emotional distress, and may be perceived as unstable. People low in neuroticism are more relaxed, have fewer emotional swings, and are perceived as more stable.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Openness.\u00a0<\/strong>This refers to a person\u2019s willingness to consider new ideas and perspectives. People high in openness are creative and are perceived as open-minded. People low in openness are more rigid, set in their thinking, and are perceived as \u201cset in their ways.\u201d<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h4>The Halo and Horn Effects<\/h4>\r\nWe tend to adapt information that conflicts with our earlier impressions to fit the established frame. This is known as selective distortion and manifests in the \"halo and horn\" effects. The angelic halo and devilish horn are helpful metaphors for the lasting effects of positive and negative impressions.\r\n\r\nThe <strong>halo effect<\/strong> occurs when initial positive perceptions lead us to view later interactions as positive. The <strong>horn effect<\/strong>\u00a0occurs when initial negative perceptions lead us to view later interactions as negative (Hargie, 2011).\r\nWatch the following video and compare and contrast the halo and horn effects.\r\n<h2>Watch: The Halo Effect<a id=\"retvid2.3\"><\/a><\/h2>\r\n[embed]https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=UEho_4ejkNw[\/embed]\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/openbooks.macewan.ca\/professionalcommunication\/back-matter\/video-transcripts\/#vid2.3.1\">Video Transcript (see Appendix B 2.3.1)<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2>Watch: Horn Effect<a id=\"retvid2.3.2\"><\/a><\/h2>\r\n[embed]https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=T_SN4FouFn8[\/embed]\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/openbooks.macewan.ca\/professionalcommunication\/back-matter\/video-transcripts\/#vid2.3.2\">Video Transcript (see Appendix B 2.3.2)<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3>Culture and Perception<\/h3>\r\nOur cultural identities and our personalities affect our perceptions. Sometimes we are conscious of these effects, and sometimes we are not. In either case, we tend to favour others who exhibit cultural or personality traits that match our own. This tendency is so strong that it often leads us to assume that people we like are more similar to us than they are. Knowing more about how these forces influence our perceptions can help us become more aware of and competent about the impressions we form of others.\r\n<h4>Culture<\/h4>\r\nRace, gender, sexual orientation, class, ability, nationality, and age affect our perceptions. Our cultural identities influence the schemata through which we interpret our perceptions (Schwartz, 2020). As we are socialized into various cultural identities, we internalize beliefs, attitudes, and values shared by others in our cultural group. Schemata held by members of a cultural identity group have similarities, but schemata held by different cultural groups may vary significantly. Unless we are exposed to various cultural groups and learn how others perceive us and the world around them, we will likely have a narrow or na\u00efve view of the world and assume that others see things the way we do. Exposing yourself to and experiencing cultural differences in perspective does not mean that you have to change your schema to match that of another cultural group. Instead, it may offer you a chance to understand better why and how your schemata were constructed the way they were.\r\n\r\nYou no doubt frequently hear people talking and writing about the \u201cvast differences\u201d between men and women. Whether it is communication, athletic ability, expressing emotions, or perception, people will say that women are one way and men are the other. While it is true that gender affects our perception, the reason for this difference stems more from social norms than genetic, physical, or psychological differences between men and women. We are socialized to perceive differences between men and women, leading us to exaggerate and amplify the existing differences (Halpern, 2000<span style=\"font-size: 1em; text-align: initial;\">). <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 1em; text-align: initial;\">We see the stereotypes and differences we are told to see, which helps to create a reality in which gender differences are \u201cobvious.\u201d However, <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 1em; text-align: initial;\">in multiple aspects of communication, men and women communicate much more similarly than differently <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 1em; text-align: initial;\">(Halpern, 2000).<\/span>\r\n\r\nAs we have learned, perception starts with information that comes through our senses (Macpherson, 2011). Our culture influences how we perceive even basic sensory information. The following list illustrates this:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Sight.\u00a0<\/strong>People in different cultures \u201cread\u201d art differently, differing in where they start to look at an image and the types of information they perceive and process.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Sound.\u00a0<\/strong>Music is perceived as both pleasant and unpleasent.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Touch.\u00a0<\/strong>In some cultures, it would be very offensive for a man to touch \u2014 even tap on the shoulder \u2014 a woman who is not a relative.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Taste.\u00a0<\/strong>Tastes for foods vary significantly around the world. \u201cStinky tofu,\u201d a favourite snack of people in Taipei, Taiwan\u2019s famous night market, would likely be very off-putting in terms of taste and smell to many foreign tourists.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Smell.\u00a0<\/strong>While Canadians spend considerable effort to mask natural body odour (which we typically find unpleasant) with soaps, sprays, and lotions, some other cultures would not find it unpleasant or even notice what we consider \u201cb.o.\u201d Those same cultures may find a Canadian's \u201cclean\u201d (soapy, perfumed, deodorized) smell unpleasant.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nIn summary, various cultural factors shape how we perceive others because the beliefs, attitudes, and values of the cultural groups we belong are incorporated into our schema.\r\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--key-takeaways\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<h3 class=\"textbox__title\">Key Takeaways<\/h3>\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>We use attributions to interpret perceptual information: people\u2019s behaviour. Internal attributions connect behaviour to internal characteristics such as personality traits. External attributions connect behaviour to external characteristics such as situational factors.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>\r\n<p class=\"para\">Two common perceptual errors in the attribution process are the fundamental attribution error and the self-serving bias.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>The fundamental attribution error refers to our tendency to overattribute other people\u2019s behaviours to internal rather than external causes.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>The self-serving bias refers to our tendency to overattribute our successes to internal factors and overattribute our failures to external factors.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n \t<li>First and last impressions are powerful forces in the perception process. The primacy effect is a perceptual tendency to place more importance on initial impressions than on later impressions. The recency effect is the perceptual tendency to emphasize the most recent impressions over earlier ones.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Physical and environmental cues such as clothing, grooming, attractiveness, and material objects influence our impressions of people.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>The halo effect describes a perceptual effect that occurs when initial positive impressions lead us to view later interactions as positive. The horn effect describes a perceptual effect that occurs when initial negative impressions lead us to view later interactions as unfavourable.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Even though widespread knowledge claims that women and men communicate very differently, communication processes for each gender are more similar than different.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--exercises\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<h3 class=\"textbox__title\">Exercises<\/h3>\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n<ol>\r\n \t<li>When you watch a film with friends, talk about it afterward and listen to how each person perceived aspects of the film. Ask them each to describe it in 10 words or less. Did they use the exact words? Did you see it the same way or differently? Did you catch all the points, frames of reference, and values, or did you miss any information? What does this say about perception?<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\n<h2>References<\/h2>\r\n<p class=\"hanging-indent\">Crittenden, K. S. (1983).\u00a0Sociological aspects of attribution.\u00a0<em>Annual Review of Sociology<\/em>,\u00a0<em>9<\/em>(1), 425\u2013446. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1146\/annurev.so.09.080183.002233\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1146\/annurev.so.09.080183.002233<\/a><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"hanging-indent\">Encina, G. B. (2003). Milgram\u2019s experiment on obedience to authority. <em class=\"emphasis\">The Regents of the University of California.<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0<a class=\"link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cnr.berkeley.edu\/ucce50\/ag-labor\/7article\/article35.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">http:\/\/www.cnr.berkeley.edu\/ucce50\/ag-labor\/7article\/article35.htm<\/a><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"hanging-indent\">Halpern, D. F. (2000). <em>Sex differences in cognitive abilities<\/em> (3rd ed.). Erlbaum.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"hanging-indent\">Harding, S. (2004). Introduction: Standpoint theory as a site of political, philosophic, and scientific debate. In S. Harding (Ed.), <em>The feminist standpoint theory reader <\/em>(pp. 1\u201315). Routlage.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"hanging-indent\">Hargie, O. (2011). <em class=\"emphasis\">Skilled interpersonal interaction: Research, theory, and practice. <\/em>Routledge.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"hanging-indent\">McCornack, S. (2007). <em>Reflect &amp; relate: An introduction to interpersonal communication<\/em>. Bedford\/St. Martin\u2019s.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"hanging-indent\">McCrea, R. R. (2001). Trait psychology and culture, <em class=\"emphasis\">Journal of Personality,<\/em> <em>69<\/em>(6), 819\u2013846. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/1467-6494.696166\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/1467-6494.696166<\/a><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"hanging-indent\">Schwartz, T. (2020). Where is the culture? Personality as the distributive locus of culture. In G. Spindler (Ed.), <em>The making of psychological anthropology<\/em> (pp. 419\u2013441). University of California Press.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"hanging-indent\">Shepperd, J., Malone, W., &amp; Sweeny, K. (2008). Exploring causes of the self\u2010serving bias.\u00a0<em>Social and Personality Psychology Compass<\/em>,\u00a0<em>2<\/em>(2), 895\u2013908. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/j.1751-9004.2008.00078.x\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/j.1751-9004.2008.00078.x<\/a><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"hanging-indent\">Sillars, A. L. (1980). Attributions and communication in roommate conflicts.\u00a0<em>Communication Monographs, 47<\/em>(3), 180\u2013200.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/psycnet.apa.org\/doi\/10.1080\/03637758009376031\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/03637758009376031<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\n<h2>Image Attributions<\/h2>\r\nFigure2.3.1. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/whereisat\/370436981\/\">ROAD RAGE FIST <\/a>by beelgin. Licensed under <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/2.0\/\">CC BY 2.0<\/a>.\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\n<h2>Media Attributions<\/h2>\r\n<p class=\"hanging-indent\">HeroicImaginationTV. (2011, September 25). <em>The halo effect<\/em> [Video]. YouTube. <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20240725085231\/https:\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=UEho_4ejkNw\">https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20240725085231\/https:\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=UEho_4ejkNw<\/a> (archived version)<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"hanging-indent\">One Minute Economics. (2019, March 17). <em>The halo effect, reverse halo effect and horn effect defined &amp; explained (w\/ examples) in one minute<\/em> [Video]. YouTube. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=T_SN4FouFn8\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=T_SN4FouFn8<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\n<h2>Attribution Statement<\/h2>\r\nContent adapted, with editorial changes, from:\r\n<p class=\"hanging-indent\">Fisher, T. A. (2021). Fundamentals of interpersonal communication. City University of New York. <a href=\"https:\/\/academicworks.cuny.edu\/cgi\/viewcontent.cgi?article=1044&amp;context=bx_oers\">https:\/\/academicworks.cuny.edu\/cgi\/viewcontent.cgi?article=1044&amp;context=bx_oers<\/a><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"hanging-indent\">University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing. (2013). <em>Communication in the real world<\/em> [Adapted]. <a href=\"https:\/\/open.lib.umn.edu\/communication\/\">https:\/\/open.lib.umn.edu\/communication\/<\/a><\/p>\r\nLicensed under a <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/4.0\/\" rel=\"license\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License<\/a>, except where otherwise noted.\r\n\r\n<img src=\"https:\/\/milnepublishing.geneseo.edu\/app\/themes\/pressbooks-book\/packages\/buckram\/assets\/images\/cc-by-nc-sa.svg\" alt=\"Icon for the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License\" \/>","rendered":"<div class=\"textbox textbox--learning-objectives\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<h3 class=\"textbox__title\">Learning Objectives<\/h3>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<ul>\n<li>Differentiate between internal and external attributions.<\/li>\n<li>Explain two common perceptual errors: the fundamental attribution error and self-serving bias.<\/li>\n<li>Discuss how the primacy and recency effects relate to first and last impressions.<\/li>\n<li>Describe the influences on perception.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Are you a good judge of character? How quickly can you \u201csize someone up?\u201d Interestingly, research shows that many people are surprisingly accurate at predicting how an interaction with someone will unfold based on initial impressions. As you read this section, remember that these principles apply to how you perceive others and how others perceive you. Just as others make impressions on us, we make impressions on others. We have already learned how the perception process works in selecting, organizing, and interpreting. In this section, we will focus on how we perceive others, specifically how we interpret our perceptions of others.<\/p>\n<h3>Attribution and Interpretation<\/h3>\n<p>You likely have a family member, friend, classmate, or coworker with ideological or political differences. When conversations and inevitable disagreements occur, you may view this person as \u201cpushing your buttons\u201d if you are invested in the issue being debated, or you may view the person as \u201con their soapbox\u201d if you are not invested. In either case, your existing perceptions of the other person are probably reinforced after your conversation. You may leave the conversation thinking, \u201cThey will never wake up and see how ignorant they are! I do not know why I even bother talking to them!\u201d Similar situations occur regularly; some critical psychological processes influence how we perceive others\u2019 behaviours. By examining these processes, attribution, in particular, we can see how our communication with others is affected by the explanations we create for others\u2019 behaviour. In addition, we will learn some common errors we make in the attribution process that regularly lead to conflict and misunderstanding.<\/p>\n<h4>Fundamental Attribution Error<\/h4>\n<p>In most interactions, we are constantly running an attribution script in our minds, which essentially tries to come up with explanations for what is happening (Crittenden, 1983). Why did my neighbour slam the door when she saw me walking down the hall? Why is my partner being extra nice to me today? Why did my officemate miss our project team meeting this morning? We generally seek to attribute the cause of others\u2019 behaviours to internal or external factors. <span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Internal attributions<\/b><\/span> connect the cause of behaviours to personal aspects such as personality traits. <strong>External attributions<\/strong> connect the cause of behaviours to situational factors. Attributions are essential because our reactions to others\u2019 behaviours are strongly influenced by the explanations we reach (Crittenden, 1983). Imagine that Jen and Luke are colleagues. One day, Luke gets frustrated and raises his voice to Jen. She may find that behaviour offensive and even consider reporting him if she attributes the cause of the blow-up to his personality since personality traits are usually relatively stable and difficult to control or change.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_62\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-62\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a style=\"font-weight: bold; font-size: 0.8em; text-align: center;\" href=\"\/app\/uploads\/sites\/192\/2016\/09\/2.2.0N.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-62 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/openbooks.macewan.ca\/professionalcommunication\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2016\/09\/2.2.0N-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Image of a person waving their fist at traffic through the windshield.\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/openbooks.macewan.ca\/professionalcommunication\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2016\/09\/2.2.0N-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/openbooks.macewan.ca\/professionalcommunication\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2016\/09\/2.2.0N-65x49.jpg 65w, https:\/\/openbooks.macewan.ca\/professionalcommunication\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2016\/09\/2.2.0N-225x169.jpg 225w, https:\/\/openbooks.macewan.ca\/professionalcommunication\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2016\/09\/2.2.0N-350x263.jpg 350w, https:\/\/openbooks.macewan.ca\/professionalcommunication\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2016\/09\/2.2.0N.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-62\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Figure 2.3.1. Frustrated drivers often use internal attributions to explain other drivers\u2019 behaviours.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Conversely, Jen may be more forgiving if she attributes the cause of his behaviour to situational factors beyond Luke\u2019s control since external factors are usually temporary. If she makes an internal attribution, Jen may think, \u201cWow, this person is a loose cannon. Who knows when he will lose it again?\u201d If she makes an external attribution, she may think, \u201cLuke has been under a lot of pressure to meet deadlines at work and has not been getting much sleep. Once this project is over, I am sure he will be more relaxed.\u201d This process of attribution is ongoing, and, as with many aspects of perception, we are sometimes aware of the attributions we make, and sometimes they are automatic or unconscious. Attribution has received much scholarly attention because some of the most common perceptual errors or biases occur in this part of the perception process.<\/p>\n<p>Perceptual errors can also be biased, and in the case of the self-serving bias, the error works in our favour. Just as we tend to attribute others\u2019 behaviours to internal rather than external causes, we do the same for ourselves, mainly when our behaviours have led to something successful or positive (Sillars, 1980). When our behaviours lead to failure or something negative, we attribute the cause to external factors. Thus the <b>self-serving bias<\/b>\u00a0is a perceptual error through which we attribute the cause of our successes to internal personal factors while attributing our failures to external factors beyond our control. When we look at the fundamental attribution error and the self-serving bias together, we can see that we are likely to judge ourselves more favourably than another person, or at least less personally.<\/p>\n<p>The professor\u2013student relationship is an excellent example of how these concepts can play out. We have often heard students who earned an unsatisfactory grade on an assignment attribute that grade to their professor&#8217;s strictness, unfairness, or incompetence. Professors may also attribute a poor grade to the student\u2019s laziness, attitude, or intelligence. In both cases, the behaviour is explained using an internal attribution and is an example of the fundamental attribution error (Shepperd et al., 2008). Students may attribute their poor grades to their busy schedules or other external situational factors rather than their lack of motivation, interest, or preparation (internal attributions).<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, when students get a good grade on a paper, they will likely attribute that cause to their intelligence or hard work rather than an easy assignment or an \u201ceasy grading\u201d professor. Both of these examples illustrate the self-serving bias. These psychological processes have implications for our communication because when we attribute causality to another person\u2019s personality, we tend to have a stronger emotional reaction and assume that this personality characteristic is stable, which may lead us to avoid communication with the person or to react negatively.<\/p>\n<p>Now that you know these common errors, you can monitor them more and check perceptions, which we will learn more about later, to verify your attributions.<\/p>\n<h4>Impressions and Interpretation<\/h4>\n<p>As we perceive others, we make impressions about their personality, likeability, attractiveness, and other characteristics. Although many impressions are personal, what forms them is sometimes based more on circumstances than individual characteristics. The information we take in is not all treated equally. How important are first impressions? Does the last thing you notice about a person stick with you longer because it is more recent? Do we tend to remember the positive or negative things we notice about a person? This section will help answer these questions as we explore how the timing of information and the content of the messages we receive can influence our perception.<\/p>\n<h4>First and Last Impressions<\/h4>\n<p>The old saying, \u201cYou never get a second chance to make a good impression,\u201d points to the fact that first impressions matter. The brain is a predictive organ in that it wants to know, based on previous experiences and patterns, what to expect next. First impressions fill this need, allowing us to determine how to proceed with an interaction after only a quick assessment of the person we are interacting with (Hargie, 2011). People are surprisingly good at making accurate first impressions about how an interaction will unfold and identifying personality characteristics of people they do not know. Furthermore, based on initial interaction, people can generally predict how another person will behave toward them. People\u2019s accuracy and ability to predict interaction based on first impressions vary, but people with high accuracy are typically socially skilled and popular and have less loneliness, anxiety, and depression; more satisfying relationships; and more senior positions and higher salaries (Hargie, 2011). So not only do first impressions matter, but having the ability to form accurate first impressions seems to correlate to many other positive characteristics.<\/p>\n<p>First impressions are enduring because of the <b>primacy effect<\/b>, which leads us to place more value on the first information we receive about a person. So if we interpret the first information we receive from or about a person as positive, then a positive first impression will form and influence how we respond to that person as the interaction continues. Likewise, negative interpretations of information can lead us to form negative first impressions. If you sit down at a clinic and staff walk by for several minutes and no one greets you, you will likely interpret that negatively and not have a good impression of health care providers when they finally show up. This may lead you to be short with the staff, which may lead them not to be as attentive as usual. At this point, a series of negative interactions have set a cycle that will be difficult to reverse and make cheerful.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>recency effect<\/strong> puts more weight on the most recent impression of a person\u2019s communication over earlier impressions. A negative final impression can tarnish even a positive first impression. Imagine that a professor has maintained relatively high credibility with you over the semester. They made an excellent first impression by being organized, approachable, and interesting during the first days of class. The rest of the semester went reasonably well, with no significant conflicts. However, during the last week of the term, they did not have the final papers graded and ready to turn back by the time they said they would, which left you with some uncertainty about how well you needed to do on the final exam to earn an A in the class. When you did get your paper back, on the last day of class, you saw that your grade was much lower than you expected. What would you write on the instructor evaluation if this happened to you? Because of the recency effect, many students would likely give a disproportionate amount of value to the professor\u2019s actions in the final week of the semester, negatively skewing the evaluation, which is supposed to be reflective of the entire semester. Even though the professor only returned one assignment late, that fact is very recent in students\u2019 minds and can overshadow the positive impression that formed many weeks earlier.<\/p>\n<h3>Influences on Perception<\/h3>\n<h4>Physiological Influences<\/h4>\n<p>Some of the reasons why we do not interpret things in the same way, are due to physiology. Hence, biology impacts what we do and do not perceive. In this section, we will discuss various physiological influences.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Senses<\/strong> \u2014 our senses can impact what and where we focus our attention. For instance, if you have a strong sense of smell, you might be more sensitive to a foul-smelling odour than someone who cannot smell anything due to sinus problems. Our senses give us a different perception of the world.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Age<\/strong> \u2014 age can impact what we perceive. Have you ever noticed children have so much energy and the elderly do not? Children may perceive there is much to do daily, and the elderly may perceive nothing to do. Our age influences how we think about things.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Health<\/strong> \u2014 when we are healthy, we have the stamina and endurance to do many things. However, our bodies may be more inclined to rest when we are sick. Thus, we will perceive a lot of information differently. For instance, some of your favourite meals will taste good when you are healthy, but when you are sick, they might not taste so good because you cannot smell things due to a stuffy nose.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Hunger<\/strong> \u2014 when you are hungry, it is tough to concentrate on anything except food. Studies have shown that when people are hungry, they only focus on something to eat.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Biological cycles<\/strong> \u2014 some people are \u201cmorning larks,\u201d and some are \u201cnight owls.\u201d In other words, there are peaks where people perform at their highest level. For some individuals, it is late at night, and for others, it is early in the morning. People who perform at their peak times are likely to be more perceptive of information. If you are a person who loves getting up early, you would probably hate night classes because you are not able to absorb as much information as you could if the class was in the morning.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Psychological Influences<\/h4>\n<p>Sometimes influences on perception are not physiological but psychological. These influences include mood and self-concept. These influences are based on our minds, and we cannot detect them in others.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Mood<\/strong> \u2014 whether happy or sad, can affect how we view the world. For instance, we might view anything that happens more positively if we are happy.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Self-concept<\/strong> \u2014 if we have a healthy self-concept, we may not be offended if someone makes a negative remark. Still, if we have a poor self-concept, we will probably be more influenced by negative remarks. The stronger our self-concept is, the more likely it will affect how we perceive other people\u2019s communication behaviours toward us.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Social Influences<\/h4>\n<p>Social influences include sex and gender roles, as well as occupational roles. These roles can impact our perceptions. Because we are in these roles, we might likely think differently than others in different roles.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Sex and gender roles<\/strong> \u2014 our culture has certain expectations regarding how men and women should behave in public. Women are expected to be more nurturing than men. Moreover, men and women are viewed differently concerning the marital status and age.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Occupational roles<\/strong> \u2014 our jobs influence how we perceive the world. If you were a lawyer, you might be more inclined to take action on civil cases than the average public member because you know how to handle these situations. Moreover, if you work in a health environment, you are more likely to perceive the health of other individuals. You would be able to tell if someone needed urgent medical care or not.<\/li>\n<li>Another social influence on perception is the <strong>standpoint theory<\/strong> (Harding, 2004). This theory states that your perspective is influenced by where you stand. In other words, your experience colours your perspective. If, for example, you were raised in an upper-class family, you might not understand the challenges many working-class families face. This can lead to misinterpretations if you base your interpretation on your perspective without considering others\u2019 perspectives.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Physical and Environmental Characteristics<\/h3>\n<p>We make first impressions based on various factors, including physical and environmental characteristics. Regarding physical characteristics, dress and grooming are essential, especially in professional contexts. We have a general schema regarding how to dress and groom for various situations ranging from formal to business casual to casual to lounging around the house.<\/p>\n<p>Think about the harm done when people posing as social workers or healthcare providers commit crimes or other acts of malice. Seeing someone in a white lab coat automatically leads us to see that person as an authority figure. We fall into a scripted pattern of deferring to the \u201chealth care provider\u201d and not asking too many questions. The Milgram experiments offer a startling example of how powerful these influences are. In the experiments, participants followed instructions from a man in a white lab coat (actually an actor), who prompted them to deliver electric shocks to a person in another room whenever the other person answered a memory question incorrectly. The experiment was about how people defer to authority figures instead of acting independently. Although no one was being shocked in the other room, many participants continued to \u201cshock\u201d (at very high levels of voltage) the other person even after the person supposedly being shocked complained of chest pains and became unresponsive (Encina, 2003).<\/p>\n<h3>Personality<\/h3>\n<p>Potential employers often conduct \u201cemployment verifications,\u201d during which they ask general questions about the applicant. While they may ask a few questions about intellectual ability or academic performance, they typically ask questions that try to create a personality profile of the applicant. They want to know what kind of leader, coworker, and person they are. This is a smart move on their part because our personalities greatly influence how we see ourselves in the world and how we perceive and interact with others.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Personality<\/strong> is a person\u2019s general way of thinking, feeling, and behaving based on underlying motivations and impulses (McCornack, 2007). These underlying motivations and impulses form our personality traits. Personality traits are \u201cunderlying,\u201d but they are pretty enduring once a person reaches adulthood. That is not to say that people\u2019s personalities do not change, but significant personality changes are not expected unless they result from trauma. Although personality scholars believe there are thousands of personalities, they all comprise some combination of the same few traits. Much research has been done on personality traits, and the \u201cBig Five\u201d most commonly discussed are extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness (McCrea, 2001, p. 825). These five traits appear to be representative of personalities across cultures.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Extraversion. <\/strong>This refers to a person\u2019s interest in interacting with others. People with high extroversion are sociable and often called \u201cextroverts.\u201d People with low extroversion, often called \u201cintroverts,\u201d are less sociable.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Agreeableness. <\/strong>This refers to a person\u2019s level of trustworthiness and friendliness. People with high agreeableness are cooperative and likable. People with low agreeableness are suspicious of others and sometimes aggressive. This makes it more difficult for people to find them pleasant to be with.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Conscientiousness.\u00a0<\/strong>This refers to a person\u2019s level of self-organization and motivation. People with high conscientiousness are methodical, motivated, and dependable. People with low conscientiousness are less focused, careful, and dependable.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Neuroticism.\u00a0<\/strong>This refers to a person\u2019s level of negative thoughts regarding himself or herself. People high in neuroticism are insecure, experience emotional distress, and may be perceived as unstable. People low in neuroticism are more relaxed, have fewer emotional swings, and are perceived as more stable.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Openness.\u00a0<\/strong>This refers to a person\u2019s willingness to consider new ideas and perspectives. People high in openness are creative and are perceived as open-minded. People low in openness are more rigid, set in their thinking, and are perceived as \u201cset in their ways.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>The Halo and Horn Effects<\/h4>\n<p>We tend to adapt information that conflicts with our earlier impressions to fit the established frame. This is known as selective distortion and manifests in the &#8220;halo and horn&#8221; effects. The angelic halo and devilish horn are helpful metaphors for the lasting effects of positive and negative impressions.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>halo effect<\/strong> occurs when initial positive perceptions lead us to view later interactions as positive. The <strong>horn effect<\/strong>\u00a0occurs when initial negative perceptions lead us to view later interactions as negative (Hargie, 2011).<br \/>\nWatch the following video and compare and contrast the halo and horn effects.<\/p>\n<h2>Watch: The Halo Effect<a id=\"retvid2.3\"><\/a><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=UEho_4ejkNw\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=UEho_4ejkNw<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/openbooks.macewan.ca\/professionalcommunication\/back-matter\/video-transcripts\/#vid2.3.1\">Video Transcript (see Appendix B 2.3.1)<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Watch: Horn Effect<a id=\"retvid2.3.2\"><\/a><\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"oembed-1\" title=\"The Halo Effect, Reverse Halo Effect and Horn Effect Defined &amp; Explained (w\/ Examples) in One Minute\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/T_SN4FouFn8?feature=oembed&#38;rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/openbooks.macewan.ca\/professionalcommunication\/back-matter\/video-transcripts\/#vid2.3.2\">Video Transcript (see Appendix B 2.3.2)<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Culture and Perception<\/h3>\n<p>Our cultural identities and our personalities affect our perceptions. Sometimes we are conscious of these effects, and sometimes we are not. In either case, we tend to favour others who exhibit cultural or personality traits that match our own. This tendency is so strong that it often leads us to assume that people we like are more similar to us than they are. Knowing more about how these forces influence our perceptions can help us become more aware of and competent about the impressions we form of others.<\/p>\n<h4>Culture<\/h4>\n<p>Race, gender, sexual orientation, class, ability, nationality, and age affect our perceptions. Our cultural identities influence the schemata through which we interpret our perceptions (Schwartz, 2020). As we are socialized into various cultural identities, we internalize beliefs, attitudes, and values shared by others in our cultural group. Schemata held by members of a cultural identity group have similarities, but schemata held by different cultural groups may vary significantly. Unless we are exposed to various cultural groups and learn how others perceive us and the world around them, we will likely have a narrow or na\u00efve view of the world and assume that others see things the way we do. Exposing yourself to and experiencing cultural differences in perspective does not mean that you have to change your schema to match that of another cultural group. Instead, it may offer you a chance to understand better why and how your schemata were constructed the way they were.<\/p>\n<p>You no doubt frequently hear people talking and writing about the \u201cvast differences\u201d between men and women. Whether it is communication, athletic ability, expressing emotions, or perception, people will say that women are one way and men are the other. While it is true that gender affects our perception, the reason for this difference stems more from social norms than genetic, physical, or psychological differences between men and women. We are socialized to perceive differences between men and women, leading us to exaggerate and amplify the existing differences (Halpern, 2000<span style=\"font-size: 1em; text-align: initial;\">). <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 1em; text-align: initial;\">We see the stereotypes and differences we are told to see, which helps to create a reality in which gender differences are \u201cobvious.\u201d However, <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 1em; text-align: initial;\">in multiple aspects of communication, men and women communicate much more similarly than differently <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 1em; text-align: initial;\">(Halpern, 2000).<\/span><\/p>\n<p>As we have learned, perception starts with information that comes through our senses (Macpherson, 2011). Our culture influences how we perceive even basic sensory information. The following list illustrates this:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Sight.\u00a0<\/strong>People in different cultures \u201cread\u201d art differently, differing in where they start to look at an image and the types of information they perceive and process.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Sound.\u00a0<\/strong>Music is perceived as both pleasant and unpleasent.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Touch.\u00a0<\/strong>In some cultures, it would be very offensive for a man to touch \u2014 even tap on the shoulder \u2014 a woman who is not a relative.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Taste.\u00a0<\/strong>Tastes for foods vary significantly around the world. \u201cStinky tofu,\u201d a favourite snack of people in Taipei, Taiwan\u2019s famous night market, would likely be very off-putting in terms of taste and smell to many foreign tourists.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Smell.\u00a0<\/strong>While Canadians spend considerable effort to mask natural body odour (which we typically find unpleasant) with soaps, sprays, and lotions, some other cultures would not find it unpleasant or even notice what we consider \u201cb.o.\u201d Those same cultures may find a Canadian&#8217;s \u201cclean\u201d (soapy, perfumed, deodorized) smell unpleasant.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In summary, various cultural factors shape how we perceive others because the beliefs, attitudes, and values of the cultural groups we belong are incorporated into our schema.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--key-takeaways\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<h3 class=\"textbox__title\">Key Takeaways<\/h3>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<ul>\n<li>We use attributions to interpret perceptual information: people\u2019s behaviour. Internal attributions connect behaviour to internal characteristics such as personality traits. External attributions connect behaviour to external characteristics such as situational factors.<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"para\">Two common perceptual errors in the attribution process are the fundamental attribution error and the self-serving bias.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The fundamental attribution error refers to our tendency to overattribute other people\u2019s behaviours to internal rather than external causes.<\/li>\n<li>The self-serving bias refers to our tendency to overattribute our successes to internal factors and overattribute our failures to external factors.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>First and last impressions are powerful forces in the perception process. The primacy effect is a perceptual tendency to place more importance on initial impressions than on later impressions. The recency effect is the perceptual tendency to emphasize the most recent impressions over earlier ones.<\/li>\n<li>Physical and environmental cues such as clothing, grooming, attractiveness, and material objects influence our impressions of people.<\/li>\n<li>The halo effect describes a perceptual effect that occurs when initial positive impressions lead us to view later interactions as positive. The horn effect describes a perceptual effect that occurs when initial negative impressions lead us to view later interactions as unfavourable.<\/li>\n<li>Even though widespread knowledge claims that women and men communicate very differently, communication processes for each gender are more similar than different.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--exercises\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<h3 class=\"textbox__title\">Exercises<\/h3>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<ol>\n<li>When you watch a film with friends, talk about it afterward and listen to how each person perceived aspects of the film. Ask them each to describe it in 10 words or less. Did they use the exact words? Did you see it the same way or differently? Did you catch all the points, frames of reference, and values, or did you miss any information? What does this say about perception?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>References<\/h2>\n<p class=\"hanging-indent\">Crittenden, K. S. (1983).\u00a0Sociological aspects of attribution.\u00a0<em>Annual Review of Sociology<\/em>,\u00a0<em>9<\/em>(1), 425\u2013446. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1146\/annurev.so.09.080183.002233\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1146\/annurev.so.09.080183.002233<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"hanging-indent\">Encina, G. B. (2003). Milgram\u2019s experiment on obedience to authority. <em class=\"emphasis\">The Regents of the University of California.<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0<a class=\"link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cnr.berkeley.edu\/ucce50\/ag-labor\/7article\/article35.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">http:\/\/www.cnr.berkeley.edu\/ucce50\/ag-labor\/7article\/article35.htm<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"hanging-indent\">Halpern, D. F. (2000). <em>Sex differences in cognitive abilities<\/em> (3rd ed.). Erlbaum.<\/p>\n<p class=\"hanging-indent\">Harding, S. (2004). Introduction: Standpoint theory as a site of political, philosophic, and scientific debate. In S. Harding (Ed.), <em>The feminist standpoint theory reader <\/em>(pp. 1\u201315). Routlage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"hanging-indent\">Hargie, O. (2011). <em class=\"emphasis\">Skilled interpersonal interaction: Research, theory, and practice. <\/em>Routledge.<\/p>\n<p class=\"hanging-indent\">McCornack, S. (2007). <em>Reflect &amp; relate: An introduction to interpersonal communication<\/em>. Bedford\/St. Martin\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p class=\"hanging-indent\">McCrea, R. R. (2001). Trait psychology and culture, <em class=\"emphasis\">Journal of Personality,<\/em> <em>69<\/em>(6), 819\u2013846. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/1467-6494.696166\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/1467-6494.696166<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"hanging-indent\">Schwartz, T. (2020). Where is the culture? Personality as the distributive locus of culture. In G. Spindler (Ed.), <em>The making of psychological anthropology<\/em> (pp. 419\u2013441). University of California Press.<\/p>\n<p class=\"hanging-indent\">Shepperd, J., Malone, W., &amp; Sweeny, K. (2008). Exploring causes of the self\u2010serving bias.\u00a0<em>Social and Personality Psychology Compass<\/em>,\u00a0<em>2<\/em>(2), 895\u2013908. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/j.1751-9004.2008.00078.x\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/j.1751-9004.2008.00078.x<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"hanging-indent\">Sillars, A. L. (1980). Attributions and communication in roommate conflicts.\u00a0<em>Communication Monographs, 47<\/em>(3), 180\u2013200.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/psycnet.apa.org\/doi\/10.1080\/03637758009376031\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/03637758009376031<\/a><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Image Attributions<\/h2>\n<p>Figure2.3.1. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/whereisat\/370436981\/\">ROAD RAGE FIST <\/a>by beelgin. Licensed under <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/2.0\/\">CC BY 2.0<\/a>.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Media Attributions<\/h2>\n<p class=\"hanging-indent\">HeroicImaginationTV. (2011, September 25). <em>The halo effect<\/em> [Video]. YouTube. <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20240725085231\/https:\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=UEho_4ejkNw\">https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20240725085231\/https:\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=UEho_4ejkNw<\/a> (archived version)<\/p>\n<p class=\"hanging-indent\">One Minute Economics. (2019, March 17). <em>The halo effect, reverse halo effect and horn effect defined &amp; explained (w\/ examples) in one minute<\/em> [Video]. YouTube. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=T_SN4FouFn8\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=T_SN4FouFn8<\/a><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Attribution Statement<\/h2>\n<p>Content adapted, with editorial changes, from:<\/p>\n<p class=\"hanging-indent\">Fisher, T. A. (2021). Fundamentals of interpersonal communication. City University of New York. <a href=\"https:\/\/academicworks.cuny.edu\/cgi\/viewcontent.cgi?article=1044&amp;context=bx_oers\">https:\/\/academicworks.cuny.edu\/cgi\/viewcontent.cgi?article=1044&amp;context=bx_oers<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"hanging-indent\">University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing. (2013). <em>Communication in the real world<\/em> [Adapted]. <a href=\"https:\/\/open.lib.umn.edu\/communication\/\">https:\/\/open.lib.umn.edu\/communication\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Licensed under a <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/4.0\/\" rel=\"license\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License<\/a>, except where otherwise noted.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/milnepublishing.geneseo.edu\/app\/themes\/pressbooks-book\/packages\/buckram\/assets\/images\/cc-by-nc-sa.svg\" alt=\"Icon for the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"menu_order":3,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":"cc-by-nc-sa"},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[57],"class_list":["post-67","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","license-cc-by-nc-sa"],"part":53,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/openbooks.macewan.ca\/professionalcommunication\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/67","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/openbooks.macewan.ca\/professionalcommunication\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/openbooks.macewan.ca\/professionalcommunication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openbooks.macewan.ca\/professionalcommunication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"version-history":[{"count":84,"href":"https:\/\/openbooks.macewan.ca\/professionalcommunication\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/67\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5066,"href":"https:\/\/openbooks.macewan.ca\/professionalcommunication\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/67\/revisions\/5066"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/openbooks.macewan.ca\/professionalcommunication\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/53"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/openbooks.macewan.ca\/professionalcommunication\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/67\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/openbooks.macewan.ca\/professionalcommunication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openbooks.macewan.ca\/professionalcommunication\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=67"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openbooks.macewan.ca\/professionalcommunication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=67"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openbooks.macewan.ca\/professionalcommunication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=67"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}