Explores perceptions, intrapersonal communication, and self reflection, including self-image, self-concept, and self-awareness. Includes embedded video
15. Am I really paying attention?
Is this a conscious choice?
What might be distracting me?
How am I choosing what to consider?
16. PERSONAL PERCEPTION
Values Culture
Knowledge Beliefs
Expectations Prejudice
Attitudes
Situation Interests
Needs Bias
Communication skills
17.
18. QUESTION
Is my sensory perception accurate?
Is my selective perception complete?
Is my personal perception valid?
Have I considered how others might
perceive differently?
19.
20.
21.
22. Well, it kind of is….
You are transformed with the renewing of your mind. Rom. 2:2
Be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Eph. 4:23
SELF-REFLECTION
23. To know thyself is the beginning of
wisdom - Socrates
SELF-CONCEPT
What you know and understand about yourself.
24. SELF ESTEEM
The extent to which you like, accept, and value yourself
In order to successfully communicate with other people you need to understand who you are and what you think of yourself and your message. This is called intrapersonal communication. According to brain scientists, your brain processes about 50,000 thoughts a day. Of course you aren’t conscious of all those thoughts and only select a few of them to acknowledge and even fewer of them to focus on.
Self-talk is speech that goes on inside our own heads. Those questions and comments you make to yourself. Sometimes they aren’t actual words, but as our brains process the things happening around us and especially to us.
As things happen around us we interpret how important each thing is and figure out what it means to us, what sort of consequences and results to expect, how our relationships and positions in the different groups might be affected, and then how to respond, what responses we want to communicate and to whom and when and how….It’s sort of like a twitter barrage within ourselves.
Let’s play a little game. Write down what you see. Don’t tell anyone.
Let’s try another one.
Another
Here is another one. Now let’s compare what you saw.
Conflict occurs when people’s Varying perceptions cause misunderstandings.
Before you declare your perception as the absolute truth Question your sensory perception/Selective perception/And personal perception
Clarify your perception by digging deeper. Listen to other people’s perceptions and consider their point of view.
Perception is the process you use to assign meaning to the information you encounter. This perception. We don’t usually perceive things exactly the same way because we are all unique. What would you think sensory perception relates to? Sensory perception is exactly what it implies – the information you take in through your five senses. It’s how you know you need to duck because a ball is coming your way or feel it’s time to take off your jacket because it’s getting hot.
We are surrounded by stimuli, this competing for our attention. We can’t possible pay attention to all of it. Selective perception is the mental process of choosing what to focus on from everything going on around you.
Some filters that influence that are:
When we witness something intense and dramatic we tend to notice it.
We also notice when we see something unexpected or new
The more we are bombarded with the same message over and over the more likely we are to notice it.
We also notice things that address our own desires interests, needs, and motivations. We can use selective perception as attention-getting devices in communication with others. As you begin giving speeches and presentations in front of the class you’ll find that one of the things I look for on the rubric is an attention-getter at the beginning of the speech. That’s where you can use intensity, uniqueness and relevance. Repetition – not the boring saying something over and over again, but repeating powerful phrases, using an extended metaphor, or employing rhythm or alliteration are repetitive devices that tie your speech together.
This “selective perception” can distract us. While our brains are wired to notice these things we are also designed to be able to make conscious choices about what is important and what we focus on. If we are honest with ourselves about our filters then we are more likely to be able to screen out distractions and noise and really concentrate.
The mental process you use to evaluate all this stimuli is called Personal Perception. Your draw from past experiences It’s how you make judgments and decisions about yourself, other people, and the world around you. This is your individual understanding of reality. You base what you tell yourself about a particular situation on these things. Your personal perception determines the choices you make in communicating your ideas. GROUP ACTIVITY
Based on your personal perceptions what is your response to this picture?
It’s good to be willing to question ourselves. Our first response could be right but truth should hold up to scrutiny. How open are you to people’s points of view? How objective are you about your own perceptions? Are you willing to let new information challenge your perceptions? Are you willing to test your perceptions to see if they are are accurate and valid?
A lot goes into the reality each of us perceives. We are often not aware of how we arrived at our conclusions or why we respond in certain ways to certain things. I want to show you a 9 minute video that someone made from a commencement speech given by David Foster Wallace in 2005 concerning perception and choosing. I’m showing this for two reasons. First I think the content is relevant and also I think it’s a great example of good speaking. Listen to his vocal delivery. The tone and quality of his voice, the pace and pauses all contribute to content of his message. END OF FIRST DAY
So let’s get selfish for a few minutes. It may seem really self-centered to spend so much time thinking about ourselves. Life indeed is not all about you but taking some time for self-reflection equips you to set your mind and to have it renewed. Self awareness actually equips you live and love with a greater connectedness to God and other people.
Your self concept is how you see yourself. . It’s the mental picture you have of yourself based on the sum total of what you know and understand about yourself. There is a point in which a child understands that he or she is a separate being from the mother. Then as we grow older we notice how we are distinguished from other people. As little kids we categorize ourselves according to physical traits like gender, size, hair, eye and skin color, etc. As we get older we notice things like our preferences and talent and how those compare with other people.
Self esteem is the extent to which you like, accept, and value yourself. Two people can have exactly the same success yet develop different levels of self-esteem based on their own and other’s expectations and how others react to their success. In this scenario, how the kid batting feels about himself depends on how he performs in relation to how good he thinks he is already, what he expects from himself, what he thinks the people watching expect, and the feedback he actually gets from them.
Self regard, or self respect is a key component to communication. What you think of you has a lot to do with how you communicate your ideas and how you respond to others’ ideas.
Aibileen Clark is a maid who takes care of this little girl named Mae Mobley. Mae’s mother is disappointed because she doesn’t think her daughter is pretty enough or charming enough. Aibileen tries to equip this little girl with positive self-talk. Research shows that positive self talk helps increase concentration and performance.
What is the balance between realistic-self acceptance and delusional narcissism? Positive doesn’t mean dishonest. Much of our self-esteem issues come from not only from how we see ourselves but how we think others see us and the conclusions we draw about that based on the other people’s reactions to us – or what we perceive their reactions might be – which may or may not be what they are really thinking.
Self-awareness is awareness that you are separate from the thoughts that are occurring at any point in time. This is what David Foster Wallace was talking about yesterday. Knowing that you have the option to choose the thoughts being thought rather than simply thinking the thoughts that responses to stimuli. What were some of the things that stimulate our thoughts – the things that affect our Sensory and Selective Perception
Maslow’s Hierarchy is a theory in psychology. The idea is that as our basic human needs can be divided into these five categories and that our behavior is motivated by wanting to have these needs met. When they aren’t met we feel incomplete and unsatisfied. Depending on our circumstances Maslow believed people fluctuate among the levels. For example in a place like Iraq safety is likely to be the focus for most people.
This is a video someone put up on YouTube explaining Maslow using Ratatouille.
Each of is unique therefore how each of us feels actualized will be different too. Traditionally it’s defined as realizing your potential by developing your unique set of talents and gifts or achieving your goals. Certain traits like creativity, thankfulness, spontaneity, and spirituality are supposed to accompany it. Real self-actualization comes from knowing and understanding ourselves, having a sense that we have something unique to contribute and fearlessly being who we really are. It’s about choosing what we think about. It’s being creative, grateful, spontaneous, . It’s also about what we bring to our relationships with other people.
Some have added to Maslow’s pyramid, believing that we also need intellectual stimulation, beauty, and at the top, transcendence – a sense of connection with forces larger than ourselves. From a Christian perspective, to be fully satisfied humans need a transcendent relationships with God.
The last piece of self reflection is self confidence. What you believe about yourself, how your perceptions color your message and what you tell yourself about yourself and what you have to say is going to affect your communication – and your performance in this speech class. I hope you’ll spend some time in some self reflection.