II. Creating Explanations

1. We create explanations that fit with our schemata. They are called attributions, and they are answers to the “why” question.

2. Harold Kelly: Attributions can be internal (we say that the person acted a certain way because of their character), or external (their actions had to do with the situation).

3. Invalid attributions include: (a) fundamental attribution error, when we see others’ actions in terms of their character, and our own in terms of the situation; (b) related actor-observer effect, when by changing sides we immediately see a totally different perspective; (c) self-serving bias (success is ours; failure is because of them).

III. Experiencing Uncertainty

1. Charles Berger, Richard Calabrese: We don’t like uncertain situations and tend to avoid them; therefore we seek to find as much information as we can to understand our schemata in a particular situation.

2. There are three strategies we can use: (a) passive (watching others); (b) active (exploring on your own; (c) interactive (asking questions).

DISCUSSION STARTER 3: In what types of interpersonal encounters do you use passive strategies to reduce your uncertainty? Active strategies? Interactive?

Judging from your experiences, which of the three types of strategies is most effective? Why? In your view, are passive and active strategies ethical? Why or why not?

IV. Influences on Perception

1. Culture: (a) we relate what we see to cultural schemata in our experience; (b) we perceive those whose beliefs, norms, values and attitudes we share, our in-group, and ignore those who we don’t (our out-group); (c) we tend to make more positive impressions of our in-groups; (d) when we observe people who act in ways we can’t agree with, we relate them to out-groups (William Sumner).

DISCUSSION STARTER 4: Consider people you view as ingroupers and those you view as outgroupers. How does your communication with each type differ? Have you ever perceived someone initially as an outgrouper, only to decide later that he or she is an ingrouper? If so, what does this suggest about the limitations of categorizing people in this way?

2. Gender: (a) men and women perceive differently; (b) men focus on facts, women – on relationships; (c) men offer solutions, women offer support; (d) men speak factually, women use more flowery language; (e) we are socialized to believe points (a), (b), (c) and (d). This perceived gender difference leads to two problems: (a) difficulties in cross-gender relationships; (b) viewing women as inferior. We need to learn to challenge these assumptions.

3. Personality: (a) degree of extraversion/introversion; (b) degree of agreeableness; (c) degree of conscientiousness (pointed pursuance of goals) , (d) degree of neuroticism (number of negative assumptions about oneself); (e) openness.

DISCUSSION STARTER 5: Recall an encounter in which you perceived gender differences in communication. What differences did you perceive? How did your perception shape your communication? Reconsidering the encounter, do you now believe there was an actual communication difference? If so, what factors other than gender might have caused it?

4. Prioritizing Personality Traits: (a) we seek the company of those who we believe fit our ideas of ourselves; (b) we evaluate other people depending on how we view our own traits; (c) we apply implicit personality theory (i.e., cluster character traits in packages that “fit.”