PERSON PERCEPTION (Taken from Human Communication by Tubbs and Moss)

Read this following dialogue:

Karen: What did you think of your first meeting?

Sandra: It went well-we got a lot accomplished. I think I’ll get to know everyone before too long. Who is the heavy-set one again? You know, the sloppy-looking one.

Karen: Mike-Mike Wilson. He asks good questions.

Sandra: So does Joan. The only one who makes me uncomfortable is Paula

Green. There’s something brusque about her. Karen: Do you think so?

Sandra: Yes. She speaks so quickly-and she doesn’t really look you in the eye.

Karen: I know what you mean. She looks down a lot.

Sandra: She seems so dogmatic-as though only her opinion counts. She really seems aggressive. And she only talks to the people from her district.

Karen: Well, mostly. But she has made some excellent proposals … Do you know what?

Sandra: What­

Karen: I think she might be shy. She was the same way last year.

Sandra: Really? Shy? It would never have occurred to me. You might be right. I wonder why I was feeling so threatened by her. Maybe it has to do with my being the newest member of the committee.

In exchanging impressions of others, there are times it is difficult to believe we are talking about the same person. Yet as communicators we depend on these perceptions in almost every aspect of daily life. And the way we perceive another person determines the kind and quality of the communication that will take place between us. Consider the dialogue above for a moment. If Sandra continues to regard Paula Green as dogmatic and aggressive, there is a strong possibility she’ll resist whatever proposals Paula makes at future committee meetings.

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The importance of Human Communication

Many of us would like to be able to communicate effectively across several different situations. According to numerous research studies, for your entire life you have spent about 75 percent of each day engaged in communication. Therefore, you may be wondering why you need to study communication in the first place. There is a good reason: Quantity is no guarantee of quality. Given the number of divorces, unhappy workers, and ruptured parent-to-offspring relationships, quantity and frequency of communication are clearly no measure of how effectively people communicate with each other.

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