Chapter 2 Flashcards (AI)

Perception

The process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting information.

Perceptual field

The world around us.

Salience

The degree to which something attracts our attention in a particular context.

Punctuation

Refers to the structure of information into a timeline to determine the cause (stimulus) and effect (response) of our communication interactions.

Schemata

Databases of stored, related information that we use to interpret new experiences.

Internal attribution

Attributes behaviors to personal aspects such as personality traits.

External attribution

Attributes behaviors to situational factors.

Fundamental attribution error

Our tendency to explain others' behaviors using internal rather than external attributions.

Self-serving bias

A perceptual error through which we attribute the cause of our successes to internal personal factors while attributing our failures to external factors.

Primacy Effect

Leads us to place more value on the first information we receive about a person.

Recency Effect

Leads us to put more weight on the most recent impression we have of a person’s communication.

Selective Distortion

Adapting information that conflicts with our earlier impressions in order to fit within the framework we have established.

Halo effect

Leads us to view later interactions as positive based on earlier positive interactions.

Horn Effect

Leads us to view later interactions as negative based on earlier negative interactions.

Self Concept

The overall idea of who a person thinks he or she is.

Looking glass Self

The concept that we see ourselves reflected in other people’s reactions to us and form our self-concept based on how we believe others see us.

Social comparison theory

We describe and evaluate ourselves in terms of how we compare to other people.

Self-esteem

The judgment and evaluations we make about our self-concept.

Self-efficacy

Judgments people make about their ability to perform a task within a specific context.

Self-discrepancy Theory

People have beliefs about and expectations for their actual and potential selves that do not always match up with what they actually experience.

Culture

Factors that influence self-perception through feedback on who we are, often expressed through media.

Self-presentation

The process of strategically concealing or revealing personal information in order to influence others' perceptions.

Empathetic listening

A skill developed to help understand others’ feelings and views during communication.

Perception Checking

A strategy that helps monitor our perceptions of and reactions to others in communication.