Page 69 - Essentials of Human Communication

48 Chapter 2 Perception of Self and Others

5. Self-disclosure is more likely to occur when the potential 14. Each of these impression management strategies can back-
discloser (a) feels competent, is sociable and extroverted, fire and give others negative impressions of you. And each
and is not apprehensive about communication; (b) comes of these strategies may be used to reveal your true self or to
from a culture that encourages self-disclosure; (c) is a present a false self and deceive others in the process.
woman; (d) is talking to supportive listeners who also Throughout this discussion of the self and perception, a
disclose; and (e) talks about impersonal rather than per- variety of skills were identified. Place a check mark next to
sonal topics and reveals positive rather than negative those skills that you feel you need to work on most.
information.
6. The rewards of self-disclosure include increased self- 1. I seek to understand my self-concept and to be re-
knowledge, the ability to cope with difficult situations and alistic about my strengths and weaknesses.
guilt, communication efficiency, and chances for more 2. I actively seek to increase self-awareness by talk-
meaningful relationships. The dangers of self-disclosure in- ing with myself, listening to others, reducing my
clude personal and social rejection and material loss.
blind self, seeing myself from different perspec-
7. Before self-disclosing, consider the motivation for the self- tives, and increasing my open self.
disclosure, the possible burdens you might impose on your 3. I seek to enhance my self-esteem by attacking self-
listener or yourself, the appropriateness of the self-disclosure, destructive beliefs, seeking out nourishing others,
and the disclosures of the other person.
working on projects that will result in success, and
8. When listening to others’ disclosures, try to understand securing affirmation.
what the discloser is feeling, support the discloser, be will- 4. I regulate my disclosures on the basis of the
ing to reciprocate, keep the disclosures confidential, and unique communication situation.
don’t use the disclosures against the person.
5. When deciding whether or not to self-disclose,
9. When you don’t want to disclose, try being firm, being in- I take into consideration my motivation, the pos-
direct and changing the topic, or assertively stating your sible burdens on my listener and on me, the dis-
unwillingness to disclose.
closure’s appropriateness to the other person and
Perception its context, and the other person’s disclosures.
6. I respond to the disclosures of others by trying to
10. Perception is the process by which you become aware of feel what the other person is feeling, using effec-
the many stimuli impinging on your senses. It occurs in tive and active listening skills, expressing support-
five stages: (a) sensory stimulation, (b) organization, (c) in- iveness, refraining from criticism and evaluation,
terpretation–evaluation, (d) memory, and (e) recall.
and keeping the disclosures confidential.
Impression Formation 7. I resist disclosing when I don’t want to by being
firm, by trying indirectness and changing the topic,
11. Four important processes influence the way you form im- and/or by stating assertively my refusal to disclose.
pressions: self-fulfilling prophecies, primacy–recency, ste-
reotyping, and attributions of controllability. 8. I think mindfully when I use perceptual shortcuts
12. To increase your accuracy in impression formation, ana- so that they don’t mislead me and result in inaccu-
lyze your impressions and recognize your role in percep- rate perceptions.
tion; check your impressions; reduce uncertainty; and 9. I guard against ethnocentric thinking by regard-
become culturally sensitive by recognizing the differences ing the behavior and customs of others from a
between you and others and also the differences among multicultural viewpoint rather than from just my
people from other cultures. cultural perspective.
10. To guard against the self-fulfilling prophecy, I take
Impression Management: Goals and Strategies a second look at my perceptions when they con-

13. Impression management includes these goals and strate- form too closely to my expectations.
gies: to be liked (affinity-seeking and politeness strategies); 11. Recognizing how primacy–recency works, I ac-
to be believed (credibility strategies that establish your tively guard against first impressions that might
competence, character, and charisma); to excuse failure prevent accurate perceptions of future events; I
(self-handicapping strategies); to secure help (self-depre- formulate hypotheses rather than conclusions.
cating strategies); to hide faults (self-monitoring strategies); 12. I recognize stereotyping in the messages of others
to be followed (influencing strategies); and to confirm one’s and avoid it in my own.
self-image (image-confirming strategies).