23/03/2016

LECTURE 5: 
PERCEPTION, SELF AND 
COMMUNICATION

EPC 460: LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION

DR LIM PECK CHOO

TOPIC OUTLINE
• Definition of perception
• Differences in perception
• Perception process
• Errors in perception

“People only see what they are

prepared to see.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

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SELF‐CONCEPT

PERCEPTION: DEFINITION
What?

The use of our senses to gather 
information about the environment or
information about the environment or 
the situation we are in.

PERCEPTION

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PERCEPTION: TYPES
• Passive perception
You are recorders of stimuli
• Active perception
The mind selects, organizes and 
interprets that which you sense
• Subjective perception
Your uniquely constructed meaning 
attributed to sensed stimuli 
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DIFFERENCES IN PERCEPTION
• Physiological factors
 Body size, weight etc…
 Gender
 Temporary conditions
• Past experiences and 
roles
– Perceptual constancy
• Present feelings and 
circumstances
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THREE BLIND MEN & THE ELEPHANT

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MY BOSS & I 
When I take long time, I’m slow
When my boss takes long time , he is thorough
When I don't do it, I’m lazy
When my boss doesn't do it, he is busy
When I do something without being told, I’m trying to be 
smart
When my boss does the same, that is initiative
When I please my boss, I am apple polishing
When my boss pleases his boss, he is co‐operating
When I do something good, he never remembers
When I do something wrong, he never forgets 
•

PERCEPTIONS

DIFFERENCES IN PERCEPTION

Differences in perception caused by 
cultural differences can be overcome in 
our interaction with others
our interaction with others

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PERCEPTION PROCESS
What are the activities involved during 
perception? 

• SSelection: focusing on some stimuli and 
l i f i i li d
neglecting others
• Organization: grouping of stimuli into 
meaningful units or wholes
• Interpretation: assigning meaning to stimuli
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PERCEPTION PROCESS
• Selection
 Selective exposure: The tendency to expose
yourself to information that reinforces, 
rather than contradicts, your beliefs or 
opinions

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

 Selective perception: The tendency to see, 
hear and believe only what you want to 
see, hear and belief

 Selective retention: The tendency to 
remember better the things that reinforce 
your beliefs than those that oppose them.
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PERCEPTION PROCESS
• Organization
 Figure and ground: the focal point of 
your attention and the background 
against which your focused attention 
occurs

 Closure: the tendency to fill in missing 
information in order to complete an
information in order to complete an 
otherwise incomplete figure/statement

 Proximity: The principle that objects 
physically close to each other will be 
perceived as a unit/group

 Similarity: the principle that elements 
are grouped together because they 
share attributes
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Closure: Do you see ink blobs or a cat?

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Proximity: Three groups of lines or 
nine lines?

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Similarity: Squares and circles vs. 
group of geometric shapes?

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PERCEPTION PROCESS
• Interpretation
 Interpretive perception
• Internal states
• External stimuli

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Interpretation

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Context for Interpretation

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ERRORS IN PERCEIVING OTHERS
• Stereotyping: a hasty 
generalization about a group 
based on a judgment about an 
individual from that group 
• Prejudice: an unfavourable
predisposition about an 
di iti b t
individual because of his 
membership in a stereotyped 
group
• First impressions: an initial 
opinion upon meeting 
someone

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PERCEPTUAL CHECKING
• Describe observed 
behavior
• Suggest possible 
interpretations
• Seek clarification

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PERCEPTUAL CHECKING

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WHO ARE YOU?
• Self‐perception
• Learning more about 
yourself
y
• Symbolic 
interactionism: the 
process in which the 
self develops through 
the messages and 
feedback received from 
others
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PRESENTING YOURSELF

• Identity management: the control or lack of 
control of the communication of information 
through a performance

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