Page 59 - Essentials of Human Communication

38 CHapTer 2 Perception of Self and Others

A widely known example of the self-fulfilling prophecy is the Pygmalion effect
(Rosenthal & Jacobson, 1992). In this classic research study, experimenters told teachers that
certain pupils were expected to do exceptionally well—that they were late bloomers). And
although the experimenters selected the “late bloomers” at random, the students who were
labeled “late bloomers” performed at higher levels than their classmates. These students became
what their teachers thought they were. The expectations of the teachers may have caused
them to pay extra attention to the students, and this may have positively affected the students’
performance. The Pygmalion effect has also been studied in such varied contexts as the court-
room, the clinic, the work cubicle, management and leadership practices, athletic coaching, and
stepfamilies (Eden, 1992; Solomon et al., 1996; Einstein, 1995; McNatt, 2001; Rosenthal, 2002).

primacy–recency Assume for a moment that you’re enrolled in a course in which half
the classes are extremely dull and half extremely exciting. At the end of the semester, you
evaluate the course and the instructor. Would your evaluation be more favorable if the dull
classes occurred in the first half of the semester and the exciting classes in the second? Or
would it be more favorable if the order were reversed? If what comes first exerts the most
influence, you have a primacy effect. If what comes last (or most recently) exerts the most
influence, you have a recency effect.
In the classic study on the effects of primacy–recency in perception, college students
perceived a person who was described as “intelligent, industrious, impulsive, critical, stub-
born, and envious” more positively than a person described as “envious, stubborn, critical, im-
pulsive, industrious, and intelligent” (Asch, 1946). Notice that the descriptions are identical;
only the order was changed. Clearly, there’s a tendency to use early information to get a gen-
eral idea about a person and to use later information to make this impression more
Communication specific.
Choice point For example, if you form a picture of a potential date solely on the basis of an
first Impression introductory video, you may filter future information about this person through
Correction this picture/image/impression. So, if your initial impression was that the individual
You made a bad impression was supportive, friendly, and warm, you may interpret future behaviors of this per-
at work—you drank too much at an office son as confirming your initial assessment. Often, of course, first impressions are in-
party and played the clown. This is an im- correct. For example, if you judged a job applicant as generally nervous and ill-at-
pression you want to change fast. Although ease when he or she may simply be showing normal nervousness in an interview for
you can’t erase such an impression, you a much-needed job, you will have misperceived this individual. Similarly, this ten-
need to counteract it in some way. What dency can lead you to distort subsequent perceptions so as not to upset your origi-
might you say and do to help lessen the nal impression. For example, you may fail to see signs of deceit in someone you like
negative effects?
because of your early impressions that this person is a good and honest individual.

Stereotyping One of the most common shortcuts in perception is stereotyping. A
stereotype is a fixed impression of a group of people. We all have attitudinal stereotypes—of
national, religious, sexual, or racial groups, or perhaps of criminals, prostitutes, teachers, or
plumbers. If you have these fixed impressions, you will, on meeting a member of a particular
group, often see that person primarily as a member of that group and apply to him or her all
the characteristics you assign to the group. If you meet someone who is a prostitute, for exam-
ple, there are a host of characteristics for prostitutes that you may apply to this one person. To
complicate matters further, you will often “see” in this person’s behavior the manifestation of
characteristics that you would not “see” if you didn’t know what the person did for a living.
Stereotypes can easily distort accurate perception and prevent you from seeing an individual
purely as an individual. Stereotypes can be especially prevalent in online communication; be-
cause there are few visual and auditory cues, it’s not surprising that people often rely heavily
on stereotypes in forming impressions of online partners (Jacobson, 1999).
The tendency to group people and to respond to individuals primarily as members of
groups can lead you to perceive an individual as possessing those qualities (usually negative)
that you believe characterize his or her group (e.g., “All Mexicans are . . .”). As a result, you
may fail to appreciate the multifaceted nature of all individuals and groups. Stereotyping also
Watch the Video
“She Can Stay” at can lead you to ignore each person’s unique characteristics so that you fail to benefit from the
MyCommunicationLab special contributions each individual might bring to an encounter.