大学英语跨文化交际 chapter 3 culture’s influence on perception 黑龙江大学外语部

大学英语跨文化交际

Chapter 3

Culture’s Influence on Perception

黑龙江大学外语部

Quotation

Everyone thinks that all the bells echo his own thoughts.

— German proverb

Learning Objectives:In this chapter, students will learn how to: 1. understand the definitions of sensation and perception. 2. describe the model of human perception. 3. analyze cross-cultural differences in sensation and perception. 4. summarize the various barriers to accurate perception in intercultural communication. 5. acquire skills to improve intercultural perception.

Chapter 3 Culture’s Influence on Perception

Chapter Outline

Culture’s Influence on Perception

Overview:Human

Perception

Cross-cultural Differences

In Sensation and Perception

Barriers to Accurate

Perception

How to Improve Your

Perceptual Skills

A Basic Model

Sensing

Perceiving

Physiological

Sociological

Psychological


Lead-in Case: Perception of War

Please read Case and then discuss the questions in pairs.

1. Why did Jim and Olga have very different attitudes towards starvation and war?

2. Give a brief analysis of their understandings of starvation and war.

3. What factors do you think influence the actual interaction between Jim and Olga?


Pre-reading Task: Suppose you are an American farmer, a French

engineer living in Paris, a Scottish country poet, a person living in tropical rain forest or a Chinese oversea student. What do you think of the beautiful full moon on the traditional Chinese Mid-Autumn Day?

Text A Overview: Human Perception


Discuss the model of human perception

Step 1:

Read “A Basic Model of Human Perception” and then explain the following key words.

(1) Sensation

(2) Perception

(3) Selection

(4) Organization

(5) Interpretation


Sensation: It is the neurological process by which people become aware of their environment. It refers to the initial detection of energy from the physical world.

感觉：感觉是人们意识到周围环境的神经过程 , 是对物质世界的第一察觉。

Perception: It is the process by which we become aware of objects, events, and especially people and their behavior through our various senses and involves higher-order cognition in the interpretation of the sensory information.

知觉：知觉是一种人们通过各种感觉来觉察事物、事件、人和人的行为的过程。它是解释感觉信息更为高阶的认知过程。

Selection: It is a process in which we screen out what we need from all the stimuli and information around us.

选择 : 选择是从周围选择的刺激信息中筛选出所需要的信息的过程。


Organization: It is the process during which we need to organize and impose structure on what we observe in a meaningful way.

组织：组织是把从周围选择的刺激信息，以一种有意义的方式整理，组合的过程。

Interpretation: It refers to attaching meaning to sense data and is synonymous with decoding.

释义：释义是赋予感觉信息意义的过程，类似于解码过程。


Step 2: Discuss sensing Discuss what we can sense and what we cannot sense in thedaily life, and also analyze how we sense the outside world.


Step 3: Discuss perceivingDefine perception after reading “perception” and

finishing“ Blank Filling”.

(1) Perception refers to the process of the becoming aware of o______, e______, and p______, especially their b_____ through our senses.

(2) Our perceptions are only in a part of function of the outside world; in large measure they are a function of our own c_______, e_______, our d_______, our n_______ and our love and hatred.


After-reading Check Please do the analysis on Case 15 “Observations

on a soldier” and then discuss the questions in

groups.

（ 1） How is the soldier described in the above conversation?

（ 2）What stages of perception are reflected in the above conversation?

（ 3） Could you describe the process in which Sherlock Holmes and Mycroft perceived the stimuli around

them?


Pre-reading Task: Please discuss the following statement and see what

you can get from this statement in pairs: “We see what we choose to see and we hear what we choose to hear.”

There are so many stimuli around me. I really need to think what I choose.

Text BCross-cultural Differences in Sensation and Perception


Discuss Cultural Influence on Sensation and Perception

Step 1: Discuss physiological cross-cultural difference Do the group work—divide the whole class into four groups; each group has one task to discuss one aspect of physiological cross-cultural difference, that is, conditions

of physical environment, indirect environmental conditions, genetic differences and cultural differences in how people interact with their environment. After that, let each group leader to stand for each group to do the summary of the key points.


Physiological filters include the natural or genetic differences in how one sees, hears, smells, tastes, or feels.

According to some scholars, there are four explanations for intercultural differences in the perception of sensory stimuli.

(1) Conditions of the Physical Environment

(2) Indirect Environmental Conditions

(3) Genetic Differences

(4) Cultural Differences in How People Interact with Their Environment


Step 2:

Discuss sociological cross-cultural difference Please read “cultural effect on sensing" and “Cultural

Effect on Perceiving” separately and summarize the key points .

Then share the key points with your classmates. You can have the classroom competition in groups to find more vivid examples about cultural influence on sensation and perception. In the end , you can find which group is the winner.


Sociological filters represent demographic data and one's membership in groups, including one's culture, microculture, and hometown.

culture microculturehometown


Step 3:

Discuss psychological cross-cultural difference

Do the activity “Expressing Opinions” and then analyze psychological cross-cultural difference.

Think Question: Do you think psychological elements can influence our sensation and perception?

Let’s go to see the movie “Transformers II”

tonight, ok?

I don’t like it, for

I don’t like the original cartoons.


The psychological filters refer to the psychological factors, including the attitudes, beliefs, and dispositions of the individual.

attitudes beliefsdispositions

of the individual.


After-reading Check Please do the analysis on Case 16 “Different

Responses to Noise” and then discuss the questions in groups.

(1) How did the German professor interpret the motor for the heating system?

(2) In what way did the Japanese professor interpret the motor for the heating system?

(3) Why did they make different responses to the same motor for the heating system?


Pre-reading Task: Form groups of four or five. Look at the following

pictures and write down a few words for each picture to describe your perceptions about the following questions:

(1) What can you see in these pictures? (2) What does everyone in the pictures look like? (3) What are the people doing? (4) What are their relationships to one another? (5) Why are they doing so ? And then share with your group members what you have

written down. Try to discuss why you and your group members give different answers. What factors influence your perceptions of these pictures?

Text CBarriers to Accurate Perception in Intercultural Communication


Discuss barriers to accurate perception in intercultural communication

Take all the barriers as the whole to conduct learning. Do the analysis of the case 17 “What is Black?” in detail and then discuss what barriers we have at the very beginning.

What is Black?


(1) Ignoring Details(2) Over-generalizing(3) Holding on to Preconceptions and Stereotypes(4) Imposing Consistency(5) Preconnecting Causes and Effects(6) Preferring Simple Explanations(7) Ignoring Circumstances(8) Crediting Irrelevant Information(9) Focusing on the Negative(10) Seeing Good or Bad


(1) Ignoring Details

We give too much weight to information that is obvious and superficial. We tend to explain the motives for a person's actions on the basis of the most obvious information rather than on in-depth information we might have. When meeting someone new from another culture, we perceive his or her physical qualities: color of skin, body size and shape, age, sex, and other obvious physical characteristics. We focus on these qualities, because they are so vivid and available. In doing this, we are just ignoring some important details.


(2) Over-generalizing

We treat small amounts of information as if they were highly representa tive. This tendency also leads us to draw inaccurate, prejudicial conclusions. And also we can even get some general predictions about the people in a certain culture. But in doing this, we are over-generalizing as well.


(3) Holding on to Preconceptions and Stereotypes

We distort or ignore information that violates our expectations, preconcep tions, or stereotypes. We see what we want to see, hear what we want to hear. Once we develop our impression on something, we have preconceptions about what we expect from another person. These preconceptions and stereotypes can be so strong that we will distort the way we process our perceptions in order to remain faithful to them.


(4) Imposing Consistency

We overestimate the consistency and constancy of others' behaviors. When we organize our perceptions, we also tend to ignore fluctuation in people’s behaviors, and see them as consistent. We believe that if someone acted a certain way one day, he or she will continue to act that way in the future. In fact, everyone's behavior varies from day to day.


(5) Preconnecting Causes and Effects

We rely on preexisting ideas about underlying causes and what we observe. We’ve already seen how preconceptions about a person can shape our attribu tions. We also develop a particular type of preconception that reflects both our implicit personality theory and our personal constructs. We create beliefs about what particular causes are linked to what particular effects. This keeps us from investigating and collecting additional information to explain an individual's action. To avoid imposing our own preconceptions on others, we must be ready to listen to alternative explanations.


(6) Preferring Simple Explanations

We prefer simple explanations to complex ones, for simple explanations tend to be more believable and easier to use in making sense of another's actions. But in reality our behaviors are affected by many factors.

Unfortunately, it takes a lot of efforts to understand what makes another person do what he or she does - more efforts than we are typically willing to give.


(7) Ignoring Circumstances

We diminish the effect of external circumstances on another's behavior. We also fail to compare one person's behavior with that of others under the same circumstances. This tendency also represents our desire for simplification. We are often unaware of the circumstances that affect others, and we do not want to take the trouble to investigate them.


(8) Crediting Irrelevant Information

We treat irrelevant information as if it were relevant. In truth, most exchanges are filled with irrelevant information, and it requires skill and experience to separate the irrelevant information from information that really does help explain another's actions.


(9) Focusing on the Negative

We give more weight to negative information than to positive information, We seem to recognize this bias and compensate for it when we first meet someone by sharing only positive information about ourselves. One piece of negative information can have a disproportionate effect on our impressions and negate the effect of several positive pieces of information.


(10) Seeing Good or Bad

We distort our attributions to match our like or dislike for someone. You would attribute the behavior to an internal cause. You relieve your friend of responsibility by attributing his or her action to external causes. And also, if someone we like does something posi tive, we attribute it to his or her personality, but when those we dislike do some thing positive, we attribute it to external reasons or to some darker motivation.


After-reading checkDo the interview to explore

the deep ideas about the

barriers to accurate

intercultural perception.

And then have interview

any classmate according to

the table and exchange

some information with the

classmate, then he or she

can know his or her barriers

to accurate perception.

First Impressions

Name

Star Sign

College Major

Hometown

Music preferences

Sport preferences


My Barriers to Accurate Perception________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Pre-reading Task:Think about your own preconceptions about cause-and-effectrelationships. For each of the following, think about what yourfirst explanation of cause would be :(1)A person not calling back after a first date.(2)An American waiter giving you lousy service. (3)Your car not being repaired after you paid a high service fee. (4)A teacher’s being late for class. (5)A child who beats up other kids.

(6)A student who copies test answers from the student next to him.

Text DHow to Improve Your Perceptual Skills in Intercultural Communication


And then generate as many explanations for each behavior as you can. Discuss in groups on how you can be sure of which explanation is correct and which one is incorrect and also how to improve your perceptual skills in intercultural communication.


Discuss how to improve your perceptual skills in intercultural communication

Take all the skills as the whole to conduct learning. Read “How to improve Your Perceptual Skills in Intercultural Communication” and then discuss what we can benefit from each skill separately.


(1) Increase Your Understanding of the Perceptual Process(2) Increase Your Observational Acuity(3) Recognize the Elements to Which You Attribute

Meaning (4) Check Your Perceptions(5) Increase Your Awareness of Perceptual Inaccuracies and

Compensate for Them (6) Increase Your Awareness of Others’ Perceptions of you(7) Develop Social Decentering, Empathy, and Other-

Orientation


(1) Increase Your Understanding of the Perceptual Process

You need to understand the process through which you make sense of the world and other people. Don't take your conclu sions about others for granted. Question your perceptions and analyze the process through which you arrive at perceptual conclusions. And use your knowledge of the perceptual process to sharpen your own perceptions and conclusions.


(2) Increase Your Observational Acuity

You can increase the amount of information that you process from your senses by consciously attending to the input. When you interact with others, try to identify one new thing each time to focus on and observe. Each observation will provide information that potentially can improve the quality of your interactions. Try to notice as much detail as possible, but keep the entire picture in view.


(3) Recognize the Elements to Which You Attribute Meaning

The perception process involves attribu ting meaning to what we perceive. We do this so automatically that we often fail to realize that we have attributed meaning to something. Therefore, we also fail to recognize the effect it might have on what we do and say. Try to become aware of the stimuli to which you attribute meaning. Take an inventory of your own perceptual tendencies. When you become more aware of what you attend to and when you are attributing meaning, you can then decide whether you are giving proper weight to the elements you perceive.


(4) Check Your Perceptions You can check out the accuracy of your perceptions

and attributions indi rectly and directly. Indirect perception checking involves seeking additional information through passive perception to either confirm or refute your inter pretations. Direct perception checking involves asking straight out whether your inter pretations of a perception are correct. This is often not easy to do for several reasons: we don't like to admit uncertainty or suspicions to others; we might not trust that they will respond honestly; if our interpretations are wrong, we might suffer embarrassment or anger. But asking someone to confirm a percep tion shows that you are committed to understanding his or her behavior.


(5) Increase Your Awareness of Perceptual Inaccuracies and

Compensate for Them

As you read through the list of distorting factors above, some of them should have struck a familiar chord. Keep in mind which distortions tend to color your perceptions of others and be aware of their effect. For example, if you know you are likely to interpret the behavior of people you don’t like in a negative way, regardless of their intentions, then you can question your interpretations and correct them if necessary.


(6) Increase Your Awareness of Others’ Perceptions of You

The best athletes don't avoid hearing criticisms and observations from their coaches. Instead, they seek out as much feedback as they can about what they are doing right and wrong. Olympic training often involves the use of video taped replays and computer analysis so that athletes can see themselves as others see them and use that perspective to improve their performance. It is difficult to be objective about our own behavior, so feedback from others can help us with our self-perceptions. The strongest relationships are those in which the partners are both willing to share and be receptive to the perceptions of the other.


(7) Develop Social Decentering, Empathy, and Other-

Orientation Effective interpersonal perception depends upon our

ability to understand where others are coming from, to get inside their heads, to see things from their perspective. We have already introduced the importance of social decentering and empathy in interpersonal communication. They enable us to increase our understanding of others, and they improve our ability to predict and adapt, to increase our communication effectiveness, and to achieve our interpersonal goals. To improve your ability to decenter (to focus on the thoughts of others), strive for two key goals: (1) gather as much knowledge about the circumstances that are affecting the other person as possible; and (2) gather as much knowledge about the other person as possible.


After-reading Check: Please do the analysis on Case 18“Are Perceptions

Always Right?” and then discuss the questions in groups.

(1) How does the process of perception work in this conversation?

(2) What are the barriers to accurate perception in intercultural communication shown in this conversation?

(3) What kinds of skills are needed to improve one’s perceptual skills in intercultural communication or to avoid the barriers mentioned above?


Assignments

Do the Checklist and Assessment. Do the rest exercises and activities in “After-reading

Check” of each text. Review what has been learned and preview the next

chapter.


Thank you ！


大学英语 跨文化交际 chapter 3 culture’s influence on perception 黑龙江大学外语部

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大学英语跨文化交际 chapter 3 culture’s influence on perception 黑龙江大学外语部