Individual perception
All our knowledge has its origins in our perceptions.
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519)
Activity 12.2
Consider the following:
A father drove his son, John, to a job interview with a stevedoring company. When John walked into the meeting room a member of the interview panel, Captain Williams, left the room saying, "I cannot take part in this interview because John is my son."
How can this be? Jot down your thoughts.
How successful you are in answering the question may well depend on your cultural background. The answer is that Captain Williams is John's mother. This anecdote highlights another important factor that can impede communication - perception.
Perception is part of the communication process: it is the process through which we receive and interpret information. The communication skills, attitudes and experiences of both the sender and the receiver all affect the perception of the signals being received.
Perception is affected by cultural background. It is natural to interpret messages so that they fit in with our already existing view of the world. Any message that we send and interpret is influenced by our perception of the situation and it is important to realise that no communication takes place without being affected by perception. Perceptions are coloured by our life experiences, our attitudes and beliefs - personal, moral, ethical, religious, social and cultural. The accuracy of perception and the judgements made about others are influenced by the type of relationship which exists between the perceiver and the other person, role or status, occupation, physical factors and appearance and body language - facial expressions, tone of voice, eye contact and gestures.
Managers should be aware of the possibility of perceptual distortion and should develop empathy with their employees so that they can see a situation as other people might perceive it.
The school of structural perception
The oldest and arguably most complete study of perception was conducted in the early 1900s by researchers who held that the world we perceive is a composite of simple and elementary experiences or sensations and the memory of past sensations in various combinations. The school of structural perception used a variety of figures to show that we receive meaning in several ways when we view objects.
Here are two of the most common examples used to illustrate this theory:
Figure 12.1: Demonstrating individual perception
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What do you see in the first picture? In the second?
I immediately see a vase in the picture on the left. Others see a profile of two face-to-face people. In the picture on the right, I immediately see an attractive, well-attired young woman looking away from me. Many see a sad old hag with her chin on her chest. I have had the latter pointed out to me on several occasions but still have difficulty seeing the older woman until it is shown to me again.
Now look quickly at the following diagrams. What do you see?
Did you read Paris in the spring and Busy as a bee? If you did, look again. The words actually say "Busy as a a bee" and " Paris in the the spring". Many people miss the additional word because their perception is influenced by what they expect to see. What does this tell you about interpersonal relationships? Many people already know what they are looking for and are therefore "set" to receive only the information that confirms their initial thoughts. Your previous training or work experience often leads you to take a short cut and only see a certain range of behaviours or situations.
Differences in perception result in different people seeing different things and attaching different meaning to the same stimuli. You see things in your own way and, since perceptions become a person's reality , this can lead to misunderstandings. The following quote provides an interesting example.
An aside: Things are not always black or white
When I was in elementary school, I got into a major argument with a boy in my class. I have forgotten what the argument was about, but I have never forgotten the lesson I learned that day.
I was convinced that "I" was right and "he" was wrong - and he was just as convinced that "I" was wrong and "he" was right. The teacher decided to teach us a very important lesson. She brought us up to the front of the class and placed him on one side of her desk and me on the other. In the middle of her desk was a large, round object. I could clearly see that it was black. She asked the boy what color the object was. "White", he answered.
I couldn't believe he said the object was white, when it was obviously black! Another argument started between my classmate and me, this time about the color of the object.
The teacher told me to go stand where the boy was standing and told him to come stand where I had been.
We changed places, and now she asked me what the color of the object was. I had to answer, "White". It was an object with two differently colored sides, and from his viewpoint it was white. Only from my side was it black.
My teacher taught me a very important lesson that day: You must stand in the other person's shoes and look at the situation through their eyes in order to truly understand their perspective.
Paxton, J., 1998.
Do you see what other service providers miss? Do you see things differently, uniquely?
The following short reading reiterates the barriers and then outlines the outcome and strategies for avoiding the barriers. Dwyer lists differences in perception as an important cause and includes inconsistency between spoken and non-verbal communication.
Reading 12.2
Dwyer, J. 2002, "Communication barriers".
unication with receivers who are not familiar with the jargon.
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