Skip to main content
Social Sci LibreTexts

3: The Perception Process and Perception of Others

  1. Last updated
  2. Save as PDF
  • Page ID
    114745

    • \( \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } \) \( \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash {#1}}} \)\(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)\(\newcommand{\AA}{\unicode[.8,0]{x212B}}\)

    Take a moment do a quick inventory of your senses: What do you see? Smell? Hear? Feel? Every second of every minute of every hour of every day, we are exposed to stimuli. Yet, what we choose to attend to and how we interpret it varies greatly from person to person. In this chapter, we will learn about the perception process and how we interpret a wide range of stimuli, from objects to people to behaviors. We will also address cultural and personality differences, and we will discuss how to improve communication competence.

    Learning Objectives
    • How does the perception process work?
    • How and why can we improve the role of perception in interpersonal communication?

    Successful students will be able to:

    • explain three parts of the perception process
    • describe how we form impressions of people and make attributions for behaviors
    • recognize ways that culture and personality may affect perception
    • demonstrate the skill of perception checking
    • explain the roles of context and reflection in improving perception

    Contributors and Attributions

    • Sections: 3.0, 3.4.2, 3.4.3: Interpersonal Communication Abridged Textbook (I.C.A.T.); Central New Mexico Community College; 2019; CC BY NC SA 4.0
    • Sections: 3.1.1 – 3.1.3, 3.2.1- 3.3.2, 3.4.1: adapted from Communication in the Real World: An Introduction to Communication Studies; University of Minnesota; 2016; CC BY NC SA 4.0

    This page titled 3: The Perception Process and Perception of Others is shared under a CC BY-SA 3.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Pamela J. Gerber & Heidi Murphy (https://www.cnm.edu/) via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.