The perceptual side of communication: the mechanisms of our perception of the interlocutor

The perceptual side of communication is the basis of interaction between people. How do you build communication? Are you always able to convey your point of view, gain the trust of your interlocutor, and create a desire to continue the dialogue? If not, perceptual mechanisms will help correct the situation. You will learn to see a person “through and through”, understand the motives of his actions, and correctly evaluate him as a person. Complete benefits. How to learn perceptual communication?

What is perception

What is perception

The perspective side of communication or perception in psychology is the process of interaction between people. Based on ordinary communication, understanding and perception of man by man. The term "perception" comes from the Latin perceptio, meaning "perception".

There is another definition of the concept. Perception in psychology is an individual’s reflection at the cognitive level of the objects and phenomena he encounters.

In short, perception means the perception of one person by another, their awareness of each other’s personal qualities. This happens through understanding attitudes, goals, and motives. You are making an objective assessment of your interlocutor, whose qualities are not similar to yours.

Perception manifests itself not only in understanding, but also in acceptance. It turns out that two people share values ​​and beliefs and coordinate them with each other. As a result, friendship, affection, and love develop.

Perception helps to “read” the people around you, to see what they do not say about themselves. If the analysis is performed inaccurately, a conflict situation occurs.

Perceptual side of communication

What is the perceptual side of communication?

Perception is a person’s reflection at the cognitive level of the objects and phenomena that he encounters.

The perceptual side of communication, from a psychological point of view, refers to the perception of another person, awareness of the characteristics of another person.

Perception of an opponent can occur through understanding his attitudes, goals, motives and views. In this case, an objective assessment of another person is formed, the properties of which do not overlap with the properties of the cognizing subject himself.

On the other hand, in the process of perceiving the interlocutor, not only his understanding, but also acceptance . In this case, all values ​​and attitudes are shared and agreed upon by people.

When such acceptance occurs, close interpersonal relationships of various levels arise: affection, friendship, love, etc.

Using the perceptual side of communication, we “read” the other person .
The success of communication with an individual depends on the degree of accuracy of the conclusions we come to. Incorrect identification of the interlocutor's identity can provoke misunderstanding and conflict.

Functions and purpose of social perception

Functions of social perception

So, the perceptual side of communication is a serious process of information exchange between people. They examine, evaluate, try to understand and accept each other. The functions of social perception include 5 points:

  1. Studying yourself. It is carried out through awareness of oneself through other people. By interacting socially with others, you gain information about yourself. By perceiving the personality of your interlocutor, you gain the opportunity to try on his character traits for yourself. This helps you see your own hidden desires, fears, and needs.
  2. Studying a partner. This function of perception includes understanding the views and beliefs of people around you. This is the only way you can get 100% accurate information about a person. There is no other way to do this. Communication is the basis of any type of relationship, be it romantic, friendly or friendly.
  3. Organization of joint work. If the subjects of social relations understand and accept each other, they can easily conduct joint activities. Knowing your partner’s attitudes, his motives, and values ​​helps you behave correctly with him. In the interaction of not two people, but a group, perception is even more important. Joint activity in this case is possible only with full understanding and acceptance by one member of the team of all the others and vice versa.
  4. Development of mutual understanding. This perceptual function is the basis of any relationship. Common ground, common interests and views are the key to enjoying communication. It is also an opportunity to find compromise solutions in controversial situations.
  5. Development of emotional interaction. Any relationship evokes feelings and emotions in a person. As a result, sympathy, hostility, friendship and other types of relationships appear between people.

The communicative side of speech

Definition 1
Communication is a type of active interaction between objects of any nature, which involves information exchange.

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Communication between people is distinguished by the following specific features:

  • Firstly, it undoubtedly must contain two individuals, each of whom is an active subject. At the same time, their mutual information implies the organization of joint activities.
  • Secondly, it must contain the possibility of mutual influence of partners on each other through the concept of signs. In other words, the exchange of information in this case implies an influence on the behavior of the interlocutor and a change in the state of the participants in the communication process.
  • Thirdly, influence in communication can only be exercised if there is a unified concept of decodification and codification between the communicator (the person who sends information) and the recipient (the person who receives it).
  • Fourth, communication barriers are always likely to arise. In this case, the connection that exists between attitude and communication is clearly visible.

The model of the communication process, as a rule, contains five components: communicator - message (text) - channel - audience - feedback.

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Definition 2

The communication side is a way of psychologically influencing the interlocutor. During the period of information transfer, one person influences another. The better a subject’s communication skills are developed, the higher the degree of influence he has on his own interlocutors.

Information is provided on two levels:

  1. Incentive. These are remarks of a pleading, commanding, recommendatory nature. They are expressed with the task of stimulating a person to perform some action.
  2. Stater. Speech at this level is of a notification nature, which is aimed at providing any information. Ranges from indifferent presentation to active persuasion.

Perceptual component

Perceptual component

This component of perception helps to correctly assess the appearance and behavior of the interlocutor. The information obtained allows us to study his character, motives, and reasons for his actions. Without the perceptual side of communication, it will not be possible to draw such conclusions. And even if they do, they will be superficial. You will see the “picture”, but you will not be able to understand its content.

The development of social perception is the opportunity to see what a person thinks, why he acted this way and not otherwise, what he is worried about and worried about. The main thing is not to rush. Give time for a reliable assessment to form.

Interestingly, the perceptual component helps to change the first impression, the prevailing opinion about a person. Imagine that you met an old acquaintance and immediately noticed how much he had changed. The perceptual side of communication in this case will help you change your mind and abandon the initial assessment. You will now consider your opponent based on his changes, how he is at the current moment in time.

Aspects

Perception is a process that occurs when you first meet an individual. Based on the analysis of his external data, you are trying to understand what he is like inside. It is not for nothing that physiognomists say that there is a connection between the face and the psychological characteristics of a person.

The next stage of perception is the creation of emotional contact. It can be negative and positive. It all depends on the context of the conversation. To obtain complete information about a person, you need to pay attention not only to the external component and emotions. Behavior is also important.

Mechanisms of social perception

In psychology, there are 6 mechanisms of the perceptual side of communication.

Reflection

This is a process of self-discovery. A person evaluates his thoughts and actions, analyzes mistakes, draws conclusions and, possibly, changes his plan of action. When communicating with others, the ability to reflect involves assessing the impression you make on your interlocutor. To put it in understandable language, to reflect is to look at what is happening from the outside, using rational thinking to identify motives, reasons, and understand the essence.

Identification

This mechanism of perception is an attempt to understand a person, to enter into his situation, to put himself in his place. Identification is useful when you want to understand the inner world of another person, look at the world around you through the prism of his views and values.

Empathy

Empathy

It means the ability to empathize, share the emotions and feelings of an opponent. This ability is most strongly developed in people who have their own value system. It is easier for them than for others to assess the condition of others by their actions, gestures, and words.

Stereotyping

Personality assessment occurs on the basis of external data and the social status of a person. For example, looking at the deep-set eyes of your interlocutor, you can conclude that there is rigidity in his character. A beautiful girl with an ideal figure seems to be a kind, open, sympathetic person. At the same time, her appearance does not in any way reflect what is inside her. And there are many such examples.

Effects of Interpersonal Perception

There are 9 of them:

  1. The effect of primacy or order. This component of perception manifests itself when communicating with a stranger. Its essence is as follows: if the first impression left conflicting feelings, the image will be formed on the basis of previously received information.
  2. Edge effect. Objects of perception that are located at the edges are perceived better than those located in the center.
  3. The effect of novelty. In the case of a previously familiar person, new information about him plays a more important role in his perception.
  4. Halo effect. A brief explanation looks like this: new information about a person is superimposed on an already familiar image. The latter is the “halo”. It prevents you from perceiving your personality correctly. If you have a positive opinion about your interlocutor, then any information will lead to the same positive assessment. The same thing happens with negativity. Most often, this effect occurs when we are talking about moral principles.
  5. The effect of the first impression. Leads to the emergence of a stable opinion about a person. All subsequent estimates will not be consistent with reality.
  6. Projection effect. This is a state in which you attribute your advantages or disadvantages to your opponent. It all depends on your opinion of him.
  7. Average error effect. Deliberately downplaying the interlocutor's strong character traits.
  8. Barnum effect. A person perceives his characteristics as the most correct when they are confirmed by scientific, magical or ritual arguments.
  9. Boomerang effect. Its essence is that the information transmitted to the interlocutor causes an effect opposite to the expected one. This happens if you arouse hostility in your opponent or present false information. Another reason for the development of the effect is distrust of you.

Characteristic

Social perception in fact is the perception of another person through assessment and images that we create in order to better understand him and how to treat and interact with him.

Its main functions:

  • Knowing yourself . In order to give a correct assessment and description of another, you must first know yourself. One’s own identity is, as it were, the initial base, the foundation. Based on it, one can make assumptions about the personality of another. Also, if you compare the provided knowledge about the character of the interlocutor in relation to yourself, then, noticing similarities and differences, you can also discover something new, previously unknown. Let’s assume resources and skills that you didn’t even know you had.
  • Knowing your interlocutor . It allows you not only to get to know him better, but also to understand what social space he is in, what kind of people he chooses...
  • Establishing emotional connections . The essence of this function is that it allows you to choose as a partner the person most suitable for your value system. Let’s say someone values ​​loyalty and reliability, while others value ease and spontaneity in contact...
  • Organization of teamwork . It is impossible to achieve success if you do not work together in a group, otherwise conflicts and disagreements amid a lack of mutual understanding will make joint activities impossible.

The structure consists of three components, such as the subject of perception, the object and, of course, the process itself.

Characteristics and features of stereotyping: how the perceptual side of communication is manifested in it

features of stereotyping

Perception is a term that refers to understanding and accepting another person. As you can see, it is closely intertwined with many stereotypes imposed by society. In the process of communication, they appear under the influence of 3 factors:

  1. Superiority. It is most noticeable if the interlocutors have different status, financial situation, and intellectual abilities. You can either overestimate a person, or, conversely, underestimate him.
  2. Attractiveness. In any case, perception is influenced by sympathy or antipathy. Beautiful people are always attributed more positive qualities.
  3. Attitude towards us. You will most likely always perceive people who treat you well in a positive way.

These factors of social perception distort the idea of ​​a person and interfere with the creation of an objective assessment of him. In addition to stereotypes, some barriers can disrupt the perception mechanism:

  1. Use of jargon, unknown words, terms, and concepts in speech.
  2. Fear of expressing your feelings and emotions.
  3. Lack of interest in the topic being discussed.
  4. Difference of opinion.
  5. Having physical problems, such as hearing or speech problems.
  6. The inability to understand and evaluate the behavior of the interlocutor due to communication by phone or via the Internet.
  7. Language differences.
  8. Reluctance to accept what is heard.
  9. Differences in culture and worldview in general.

It is almost impossible to remove these barriers during perception, since a person becomes aware of information only by passing it through several of his “filters.” Therefore, during the conversation, you need to highlight and then convey the essence so that the interlocutor can correctly decipher it. The responsibility for this lies with the perceptual side of communication. By understanding your opponent’s inner world, you can choose the right model of behavior. There are 4 of them:

  1. Humanistic. Mutual interest has arisen between you and your opponent, empathy is manifested.
  2. Manipulative. You are trying to impose your point of view, position. Such actions do not always have positive consequences.
  3. Ritual. Your behavior takes into account the cultural traditions of the interlocutor.

Another model of behavior is called transactional analysis. This is a way of interaction that takes into account the role of each participant in the conversation. There are only 3 such roles:

  • “parent” tells how to behave;
  • “adult” tells how to combine desires and responsibilities;
  • The “child” is guided by emotions.

If both you and your interlocutor have these roles, be sure that the information will be perceived correctly.

First impression mistakes

Information enters the human consciousness from three sources:

  1. Visual perception, which forms a complex of visual images.
  2. An auditory source formed by a combination of sounds.
  3. The kinesthetic channel of management perception, built on sensations.

Important! Individual subjects of society are able to perceive and process data, focusing on three data sources. However, one channel is a priority; on its basis, the main perception, formation of thoughts, memories occurs

Modality (qualitative characteristics of sensations) in people (visual, auditory and kinesthetic, respectively) is formed individually.

Inequality

It arises against the background of a superior parameter that is subject to a positive assessment, or, conversely, if the subject is superior to the object of communication, the second is underestimated.

Attractiveness factor

An important factor is whether you like the appearance of the interlocutor. Under the influence of one factor, there is an overestimation or underestimation of the partner’s properties. With a positive perception of external parameters, there is a high probability of perceiving a person as an intelligent, interesting person.

Perceptual side of communication: psychological content

Distorted perception of the interlocutor

Attitude factor

Social science says that people who have a kinder attitude seem better than those who have a bad attitude. Positivity generates a strong tendency to attribute positive qualities; as soon as the negative is included, the person will stop noticing the characteristic features of the partner and will begin to highlight the negative ones.

Errors in forming first impressions are called the halo effect, which is triggered by a number of reasons: prospect superiority, attractiveness and attitude.

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