One of the focuses for this week’s reading is forming perceptions. Our text describes perception as “a summary attitude that is based on all of our past and present sensory information.” On page 219, Hinton describes five social factors that influence our perceptions:
1. The information from the actor
2. The influence of the perceiver on this information
3. The relationship between the perceiver and the actor
4. The social context
5. The cultural setting
Describe a situation when you formed some sort of a “perception” and describe how each of these factors influenced your perception.
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Throughout my life I have compiled a lot of different perceptions. Some of these perceptions are broader than others. The perception I will use for this particular question is when I visited Europe last summer, specifically the part of the trip where we were in Paris.
ReplyDeletePrior to visiting France, I had always heard that the French disliked Americans and were very unfriendly towards American tourists. This perception was based off of the media, stories I had heard, information I had obtained during my French classes in high school, and just “general information” I had heard. I was pleasantly surprised when I learned these perceptions were false.
The information of the actors (such as hotel workers, servers at various restaurants, everyday French people, store owners, etc) involved were friendly gestures, smiles, and a willingness to help. The influence of the perceiver (me) was a preconceived notion that people in France were unfriendly and rude. The relationship between myself (the perceiver) and the French (actors) was obviously very casual. I was pleasantly surprised though, when French workers at Starbucks were incredibly helpful. I had ordered a mocha latte and had left Starbucks, unaware that I had left an envelope that contained 650 euro (equivalent to $800) on the counter. To my surprise, the Starbuck workers returned my money. During the trip, the social context in France was always very friendly and upbeat. I never experienced prejudice because I was American. Lastly, the cultural setting was obviously my ideas that the French disliked Americans. Overall, my experienced proved my perceptions very wrong. After France, I visited Italy which was much more unfriendly towards Americans.
I believe that my experiences show how perceptions can easily be proven wrong. A perception is “a summary attitude that is based on all of our past and present sensory information.” Obviously, my past and present information on French people was wrong.
Recently I received training to learn multiple ballroom and Latin dances in order to become certified to teach my own ballroom and Latin dance classes. Before, during, and after the private lesson, I created many different perceptions. The perception I would like to discuss and connect to Hinton’s five social factors that influence our perceptions is the perception I created during the dance lessons.
ReplyDeleteThe information from the actor: As the couple walked through the doors of the dance studio and made their first impressions on me, I started to form my perceptions. I knew the man and his wife had danced competitively for twenty years, won many competitions, and trained with professionals. They’re style of dress which was high fashion dance clothes and their formal information such as detailed books they published made me perceive them as intimidating.
The influence of the perceiver on this information: My own expectations, knowing the woman was from Europe, influenced my perception of how well they would be able to dance. I assumed they were the best competitive ballroom dancers in Fargo.
The relationship between the perceiver and the actor: My perception of the couple being extremely intimidating lessened as I worked with the couple and got to know each other. At first my perception viewed them as strangers and now I view them as close friends.
The social context: Because I learned how to dance ballroom in a dance studio compared to at a wedding, I perceived I was learning the correct way to dance through formal training. If I had been taught at a wedding dance or bar, I wouldn’t view the training as formal or thorough.
The cultural setting: Since I learned ballroom dance in the United States, it is known to use Cuban motion rather than the universal Latin motion. Therefore, if I were to compete Latin dances in Europe, I would have to change the style of motion because it is the opposite.
When I was 12 years old my family took a trip to Tennessee. As a 12 year-old I was very naïve and unaware of the southern stereotypes the ‘northern’ states had. When I went on the vacation I had no preconceived notions, but that did not last long.
ReplyDeleteOne of our first stops on our vacation was a tour driving through the Smokey Mountains. At one point, the cars were backed up and everyone was getting out. My family did the same. As we were walking with everyone we could hear everyone saying there’s a ‘bar’ in the tree. A ‘bar’ in the tree? We had no idea what they were talking about. Only until we got up to the location did we notice that there was a ‘bear’ in the tree.
The information of the actors: The individuals yelling there was a ‘bar’ in the tree were simply just speaking, but their accent was much different than what I knew.
The influence of the perceiver on this information: By hearing them pronounce a ‘bear’ as a ‘bar’ my perception became negative and I viewed Southerners as unintelligent.
The relationship between perceiver and actors: I believed I was more intelligent than Southerners.
The social context: Since it was one of our first stops, my perceptions remained for the next few days. When we toured the plantations and went white water rafting, my perception of Southerners changed. I no longer viewed them as unintelligent and perceived them as equals.
The cultural setting: I was young and naïve. I was in a different region than I had ever been in before. I am sure if a 12 year-old from the South came and visited Fargo they would have different perceptions of me as well.
McCall and Simmons stated on p. 214 of Public Opinion that, “the perceptions we have of others are always incomplete and are usually less than accurate.” To answer this question, I will use Hinton’s five social factors to describe perceptions I formed during a trip to Costa Rica in 2004 with my high school Spanish class. Before going on this trip, I did not know what to expect, as I had never left the United States before. My initial perceptions, as McCall and Simmons said, were inaccurate and extremely incomplete—it took full immersion into the culture to be able to form a more accurate (although not “accurate,” by any means) perception of the Costa Rican culture.
ReplyDelete1. The information from the actor: Upon arrival in Costa Rica, I met the family I would be staying with and was able to gather information about the culture from their lifestyle, their personal actions and interactions with one another. The first night I spent in their house, I was quick to create a negative perception about the lifestyle of the Costa Ricans. Their house had cracked cement floors, had an old, musty smell to it, and was quite small. The kids wore hand-me-down clothes, and the parents, grandparents, kids, and aunt and uncle all stayed in the same small house. I inferred from this information that the family must have been poor, underprivileged, and hence, unhappy—little did I know, I was quite wrong. After watching more and more interactions with the family, I realized that the family was very close to one another and was very happy about sharing such a small house among the large group. All of the family members helped around the house and the mother told us (there were two of us from my high school staying with them) that though there is limited space, they wouldn’t want to live without all the family living together—the collectivity of family is very important to the Costa Rican culture.
2. The influence of my own perception as the perceiver: Growing up in a large farmhouse in rural Minnesota really affected my perception on how a family should live and interact with one another. In my childhood, my two sisters and I each had our own bedroom, we had two living rooms, two playrooms and large back and front yards (as we lived on a farm). We never had to work on the farm, because my father and his brothers had hired hands to help around the farm. Growing up in an environment where emphasis on family togetherness was not prominent really influenced my perceptions of how the Costa Ricans lived and valued family.
3. The relationship between the perceiver and the actor: Though the relationship between the Costa Rican family and I was merely temporary and only lasted a week, being completely immersed in the family life by living with them really helped me to form deeper, less superficial perceptions of the culture.
4. The social context: My initial perceptions were made from the moment we walked through the door of the house in a somewhat awkward, first-time meeting. My fellow American classmate and I were not fluent in speaking Spanish, and the family spoke almost no English (the 7-year old was just starting to learn small bits of English in school, but everyone else knew no English whatsoever). As the social setting started to change and we began sightseeing around the public areas more, we were able to get a better feel for why the family lived the way they did. This also helped us to better communicate with the family as we better understood how people communicated in social situations in the culture.
5. The cultural setting: Upon arriving in Costa Rica and seeing the condition of the house in which I stayed, I thought that the family would be unhappy about their living situation and would not like to live with many people in such a small house. However, after touring and getting a “bigger picture” of the Costa Rican culture, I was able to see the larger context of the Costa Ricans and that most Costa Ricans live with many family members and wouldn’t choose to have it any other way.
To reiterate, I completely agree with McCall and Simmons’ statement that, “the perceptions we have of others are always incomplete and are usually less than accurate.” My initial perceptions were obviously wrong, but were very much changed by immersion into the Costa Rican culture. However, my perceptions could never be truly “correct,” especially after a mere week of staying there.
The book discusses how our perceptions are not formed by "the combination of our innate intelligence, our unique personalities, and our senses" but also by the "contact we have with others in our physical and social world through processes such as socialization and social comparison." I believe this to be true and would place very high importance on the role of our contact with others in developing our perceptions. As an example, I will talk about my perception of my high school dance team. In high school, while the girls on the dance team were liked for the most part, students did also find them a bit annoying. The girls hung out almost exclusively together and were seen as a bit snobbish and ditzy.
ReplyDelete1. The information from the actors: The girls on the dance team spent a lot of time together since the season was all year long. However, the team also held team sleepovers nearly every weekend and a majority of their free time was spent together. Many of them signed up to be in the same classes and nearly every day of the week the entire team coordinated outfits (i.e. Monday they all wore a T-shirt from a certain year's State Competition, Tuesday they all wore skirts, Wednesday they all wore school spirit clothes, etc). Also, the girls talked a lot about what was going on at our school and the people that attended there.
2. The influence of the perceiver on this information: I'm not one for a lot of gossip and drama so that definitely helped shape my perception of the dance team. I looked at them as shallow and materialistic. I also realized that high school was only the beginning of our lives, not the be all end all, so I considered them somewhat naive. Additionally, I think it's very important to surround yourself with a variety of different people and opinions so I found their exclusivity very boring.
3. The relationship between the perceiver and the actor: I did socialize with a few girls who were members of the dance team but not enough to consider them friends. At times they were interesting and made classes fun, but overall, my interactions with them were limited to school days and events.
4. The social context: High school tends to have a hierarchy. At my school, the dance team was somewhere near the top as the team was actually very talented and did well in competitions. Overall, the girls were fairly attractive and were outgoing and because there was a large group of them, they seemed to have a lot of friends. Also, the nature of their team brought them into contact with many groups on campus which only increased the number of people that recognized them. Although I wasn't close friends with any of the girls on the team, I did have classes with a few of them and got to know them better than others. I was also mutual friends with a girl who quit the team due to the exclusivity of it so I got some information about the team that way and I was good friends with someone whose best friend was on the team and learned some things from her (all very confusing but that's the way high school is).
5. The cultural setting: Most people in America want to fit in. In high school, this desire is magnified and teenagers agonize over being popular and being accepted by others. I had a great group of friends in high school that I loved spending time with and still am close to today. While I realized that there were perks to being more popular in high school, I also realized that their was life after high school and once we had graduated, it really wasn't going to matter if you were the most popular person in high school.
Currently, one of my close friends in college is a former dance team member. Based on my perceptions of dance team girls formed in high school, I would never have expected that she and I would form such a close relationship. However, the book also states that our perceptions of others are usually inaccurate and incomplete. Had I been firm in carrying my perceptions from high school onto college, I would have missed out on a great friendship.
On page 216, the book discusses socialization and how our perception of what we think others think affects our own perceptions. I think that when looking at these 5 aspects, our socialization really comes into play.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in high school, I had the opportunity to come to NDSU every year during little I. When I was on campus, I created perceptions of the students that attended the college.
1. The information from the actor: The actor in this instance were the students. The students themselves changed the way I percieved them because of the way they interacted with each other and also the lack of interaction they had with us.
2. The influence of the perceiver on this information: Because my friends and I thought college was something to look forward to, I thought the way they dressed and the their general mannerisms were mature and "cool".
3. The relationship between the perceive and the actor: I had always been taught to respect my elders and others who were "higher up" than what I was. To me, the students were my elders and so this relationship encouraged me to respect them and almost fear them in a way.
4. The social context: If I had been at my own school were they were the guests that would have been different. Me and my friends were all awed by the surroundings of the college and thus we were intimidated by the college students even more.
5. The cultural setting: At a college like NDSU, the culture is very diverse and were I grew up there wasn't any diversity. Because of this fact, I was slightly shocked but at the same time, I am a Midwesterner and we are taught to be modest and kind to all so I tried not to look at others and discriminate.
It is interesting to look at the relationship of how we perceive others by the perceptions others have of us and what we think others perceive. It seems to become a vicious cycle which we all follow.
When I was 12 years old I won a modeling contest for Tommy Hilfiger. I got to go to New York City to model with 49 other girls. Upon arriving in NYC, I had many perceptions about the girls i was about to meet.
ReplyDelete1. The information from the actor: Before I met the other girls I had known a few facts about them already. I knew they would be ages 6-12, and each would be from a different state in the U.S. I had perceptions that these girls would all have better knowledge of modeling than I did. I was right about that for some, but not all of them.
2. The influence of the perceiver on this information: Knowing that some of these girls had modeled for other things before this event made me perceive that they would be stuck up and much more knowledgeable than I.
3. The relationship between the perceiver and the actor: I had perceived that the girls that had modeled beforehand would be stuck up but much to my surprise one of the girls I spent most of my time with had modeled prior to this event. She was not stuck up at all and we became close friends.
4. The social context: Being around so many girls of different ages made me think that some of them would be rude because this was a competition that we all had won in our home states. Although some of the girls were rude, most of them were really nice and i noticed that my perception was wrong. Especially when we toured NYC on a bus I noticed that most of the girls were very sociable, but when we were getting fitted for our outfits and when we had dress rehearsal, I noticed the ones that were a bit rude.
5. The cultural setting: When I got to New York City I knew I was going to be surrounded with 49 other girls from different states. Since we were in a big city and around people of much importance, the competition between some of the girls was lingering in the air.
When reading this chapter and writing about my experience, I agreed that "our perceptions help us understand the world around us." We have perceptions about everything. Without them, we would not have a foundation for an opinion on an issue.
When I was about 15, I became a summer camp counselor for the elementary school kids that attended my church. I formed perceptions about the camp that summer that were based on the five social factors.
ReplyDelete1. I knew the campers and the camp staff fairly well and when I found out that we would be going to camp together, I was very excited.
2. When I was younger, I had attended the camp a few times so I expected camp to be a certain way. I knew the schedule and I knew where everything was so I wasn't very nervous about being in charge with a lot of small children.
3. I attended church with most of the campers on a weekly basis and we already had a solid relationship before we got to camp. Because of this, I felt more comfortable spending time with my campers because we already knew a lot about each other.
4. Since it was a church camp, there were many different rules to be followed and a certain level of respect was required. However, this was also summer camp so the campers were allowed a lot of freedom. More than they would be given at church on a Sunday morning. Attire wasn't too regulated and there was a lot of free time to run around and explore the camp.
5. Most of the staff and the campers were from the Minnesota so almost everyone had similar understandings of situations.
That summer at camp was one of my favorite experiences. Consequent summers were always a little different because a few of the factors tended to vary from year to year.