Listening and Perception 2 We humans are different and unique. We can see these differences in everything we do and create. Interestedly we have a variety of views and concepts in very little or insignificant aspects of our daily living. Members of the same family can have a personal interpretation of what they considered best for society. For this reason we had to find ways to resolve conflict and manage situations, in order to live a more productive life with the less conflict possible.
For my assignment I contacted five persons three of them were of Hispanic background. One of them was a white person and the other one an African American. I showed them the picture and all were kind to accept to help me with the assignment. They all had similar descriptions and also very different words to qualify the work to be done. They all agreed that the picture portrait a male, of middle age from African American background. The first traits that came to people’s perception were those that had to do with the physical appearance of the male in the photograph.
Those traits that describe best the person were those who define the individual with his color of skin, his age, his complexity, his gender; then they describe, what was the perception they had; due to what the individual was doing on the ground. And finally they tried to guess what he was doing in that position. What they saw was determinant to make a description of the man in the picture. When we gather some information about a person; or a situation whatsoever, one can formulate a Listening and Perception 3 ight or wrong comment or decision of the individual or situation we encounter. A lot of people have a tendency of talking too quick to make a statement without analyzing the situation; and at this point the process of communication becomes unclear or lead to misunderstandings. We need to be careful when we are exercising our judgment. We need to analyze all situations before making a statement. Once the words have come out is Impossible to take them back. Most of interpersonal relations get affected for what we say or what we see. We must be prudent before stating our views.
What it was particularly interesting is how different perceptions people have in trying to interpret a situation: in the picture when looking at the man sitting on the ground; some people describe him as relax, waiting for somebody or the bus, while others picture him as being homeless without hope disconnected from reality. I can say that they made this choices because they saw somebody in jeans and t-shirt and sneakers the way he dress; plus the attitude of being alone looking to the side make people think he had no home no food, and was moving his head around randomly with no hurry.
We can all of us be wrong at least we know for sure what and why he was doing at that precise moment. Certainly the only one who can really depict his situation without fault is the individual himself. In my view gender was the reason why my observers made their choice, I noticed that the women were looking differently the picture; than the men. Women looked more at the traits of this person while the men looked more at what he was doing. Women found the man Listening and Perception 4 trong and athletic while the men found him more like a construction guy, a homeless, skinny individual. The women observers look at this man age and complexity, while the men found him more like without future or lost. I am glad of the outcome of this exercise because by choosing two women and three men I found the similarities and differences in the two genders. But the one trait that it was common to most of them was relax, and observing, this could be to the fact that the picture shows him seated, and looking at something or somebody.
The different perceptions I found in this process by my friends could alter the reality of who is really this person, and what is he doing at this particular moment when the shot was taken. How after analyzing this picture can we come out with an accurate description of this person that could be anyone of us trying to get a little warm on a beautiful spring day? Situations like this one arise every day in our society, with our friend and with our family. I remember the case of a teenager being shot by a police officer because the police thought the teen had a gun.
There are many cases of mistaken identity where innocent people had to pay for somebody else mistake. We can also recall the jealous husband who killed his wife because she was talking to a stranger. It is imperative that we use a fair assessment of any circumstance before we can come out with a conclusion. To me is good that we come out with different ideas about somebody or a situation; why? Because if I am wrong I could see what is the real truth. It is sane to know that we can be wrong about something or someone. We need to give the benefit of the doubt to anybody regardless of what we think.
Most people today don’t want Listening and Perception 5 to exercise this way of thinking; because they don’t really care about somebody else feelings. The less we learn from people or circumstances the more we make mistakes or false judgments to others. To excel in communication we need to understand all process of good Communication skills and improve all theories of the art of Communication. References: Communication in a Changing World 2nd Edition Walden University Comm_1001_photo . jpg www. Sylvan. live. college. com
