Perceptual Influences

Influences on Perception


Implicit Personality Theory
If someone shows characteristics in some areas, it's assumed they have similar characteristics as well.
  • The silent bum. His personal hygiene contributes to the implication that he’s deficient in other areas as well.
  • The man is unshaven, hygienically challenged, and (illiterate or self-sufficient).
  • The woman is proper, well to do, and (open-minded or assuming).
Self-fulfilling Prophesy
The Belief Stage
  • Once her stimuli was organized the lady may have believed, “That bum’s eating my chicken salad.”
  • And the same with the man when the lady sits across from him, “She’s gotta be hard up.”
Acting on the Prediction or Belief
  • The lady confronts the man by sitting across from him.
  • The man shares his chicken salad with the lady.
The Prediction or Belief Becomes Validated
  • “He’s still eating, I knew he was a bum.”
  • “She’s eating my chicken salad, she’s hard up.”
The Prophesy Fulfilled
  • “He’s a bum.”
  • "She’s hard up.”

Primacy-Recency Effect
The bum is unkempt, spontaneous, funny, intelligent and hopeless.

Stereotype
Prejudices. If you’re a smelly, unkempt, black male somewhere in his forties you risk the stereotype of being homeless.

Attribution
Assigning motive to action. The bum sitting at the table, the attribution is the guy can't pay so he's stealing the lunch.

Syllabus - Course Objectives


Through regular attendance and active participation you will be able to:
• Identify the essentials of communication,
• Evaluate the interplay between verbal and non-verbal communication,
• Identify the strengths and weaknesses of the perceptual process of communication,
• Apply active listening and its principles in your communication,
• Overcome the barriers to thinking and communication,
• Increase your understanding of trust in relationships and be able to define and build trust,
• Evaluate the risks and advantages involved in increasing self disclosure,
• Identify dysfunctional conflict styles and apply strategies for resolving conflict,
• Execute effective interviewing principles by constructing and responding to questions for an employment interview,
• Participate in and evaluate small group discussion and leadership,
• Identify effective topics for public speaking, narrow them to fit the time and audience, construct the main ideas of a speech and support them, construct an effective introduction and conclusion, rehearse and effectively present a speech before an audience.

Sylabus - Course Policies and Resources

Final Exam
The final exam is Thursday, May 6th at 9:30am.

Missing Class
Class attendance goes without question. Two absences and your evaluation drops one whole grade. Four absences results in administrative withdrawal or if after the withdraw deadline, failing the course. There is no such thing as an excused absence. You show up or you don’t. The drop date this semester is March 5th.

Plagiarism and Cheating
Plagiarism is the use of another source’s words, ideas or statistics without their permission and/or proper citation. Anyone who plagiarizes material in my class will receive a grade of zero on that assignment. Anyone found cheating on term assessments will fail the test, though I also reserve the right to assign you an “F” for the course and/or refer you to our chair for further sanctions. If you submit a falsified electronic document that I cannot open, you will fail the assignment. Please keep in mind that one can be expelled from the college for academic dishonesty.

Also see Academic dishonesty / Academic integrity policy.

Electronic Devices
Cell phones will not be tolerated in class. Turn them off while you’re here. First interruption infraction and you're buying everyone pizza and sodas the next meeting. Second infraction and you're buying everyone lunch at Cafe Rio.

Lap tops are encouraged for use in class discussion and research. Facebook and email on your own time. If I find you engaged in something other than what's relevant to discussion, you owe me a full Cafe Rio Free Meal card.

Submission of Assignments
All work for this class will be submitted via email as a PDF document. This ensures I can open your document and verify contents regardless of platform. No other format will be accepted. Format your submissions in the subject line with the course number, assignment, and your name. If I were submitting my personal contract for COMM 1010, my subject line would read:
COMM1010, Contract, Young.

Assignments will be word-processed and are due the date indicated on the course schedule on this web site. I don't accept late work nor do I accept technical excuses like a crashed computer or an email glitch. Papers are due by the beginning of class. Work containing typographical and grammatical errors will be returned without evaluation. Proof your work. The college provides a free service for students desiring additional assistance with their writing assignments. The Writing Center is located in the Browning Building. Call Barbara Turnbow at 652-7743 for information.

Email Communication
Important class and college information will be sent to your D-mail account. All DSC students are automatically assigned a D-mail email account. Click and select D-mail for complete instructions. You will be held accountable for information sent to your D-mail, so please check it often.

Hostility
I reserve the right to remove any student from this class and/or program based on documentable breech of citizenship such as sexual harassment, hostile environment, discrimination based on race, religion, gender and/or sexual preference, plagiarism, misrepresentation, and/or malicious gossip.

Withdrawal and Drop Deadlines
Please consult the semester schedule for withdrawal and reimbursement deadlines. You will be charged a $10 fee for dropping this class.

Late Work and Missing Tests
Should you miss an assessment due to medical reasons, you must provide documentation that states you were otherwise occupied at the time or in the general vicinity of class time. All excused absences must be presented right after the absence, and will be verified. I will determine what is excused. Any missed exams will only be made up with appropriate excused documentation.

Students with Disabilities
If you are a student with a medical, psychological or a learning difference and requesting reasonable academic accommodations due to this disability, you must provide an official request of accommodation to your professor(s) from the Disability Resource Center within the first two weeks of the beginning of classes. Students are to contact the center on the main campus to follow through with, and receive assistance in the documentation process to determine the appropriate accommodations related to their disability.

You may call (435) 652-7516 for an appointment and further information regarding the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 per Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The office is located in the Student Services Center, Room #201 of the Edith Whitehead Building.

Library and Literacy Contacts
Dianne Hirning is the librarian over Communication resources. She is your resource and guide for research within this discipline. You can reach her at hirning@dixie.edu and by phone at 652-7720.

Resources:

Syllabus - Grading Philosophy

It’s my opinion that letter grades and subsequent grade point averages in no way represent an assessment of achievement of this course’s objectives and the above activities. Grade inflation and behaviorism over the years have mutated what might once have been considered valid assessment of student achievement.

Unfortunately for you, I’m still required to give you a grade at the end of the semester, a grade that in some way, in one little letter, states your achievement, application, improvement and ability that you have demonstrated during that semester - an impossible evaluation. However, that’s what you’ve come to expect after twelve years of conditioning in our schools.

Since I’m required to give you a letter grade, it’s my philosophy that the grade will represent the following criteria:

A – The student surpasses the requirements of the rubrics, executes original critical thinking in interpersonal communication contexts, demonstrates achievement of the objectives evidenced in written and oral communication, asks good questions and engages others, including the instructor.

B – The student meets the requirements of the rubrics, executes critical thinking in interpersonal communication contexts, demonstrates understanding of the objectives evidenced in written and oral communication, asks good questions and engages others, including the instructor.

C – The student achieves at least 75% points possible of the rubrics, demonstrates identification of the objectives evidenced in written and oral communication, asks good questions and engages others, including the instructor.

D – The student achieved at least 65% points possible of the rubrics and acknowledges the objectives evidenced in written and oral communication.

F – The student’s apathy outweighed achievement.

Past students have expressed fears to me that this course could disrupt their current GPA and thwart scholarship opportunities. It’s my experience that we are driven by two basic emotions; fear and love.

Students who are afraid of their performance in this course will limit themselves and will consequently fear their evaluations.

Students who love what they do in this course and discipline and embrace evaluation for their own improvement go beyond the course expectations and have little worry or care about their grade. The outcomes are dramatically different.

It’s a choice, I promise.

Syllabus - Item Pool

Group Roles and Trust Analysis
Write about the roles that evolved in your group during the Red/Green game. These roles should be categorized in task-oriented roles, and maintenance-oriented roles. Also, discuss the essential nature of trust in relationships based on your findings within your group and the other groups.

Small Group Discussion Evaluation
You will participate in a problem–solving group discussion and then write an original and thorough evaluation of your group discussion in the following three areas; quantitative participation of each member, qualitative participation of each member, and an overall analysis of the group's communication as a whole. You must site evidence of library and/or Internet research on your group discussion topic in a bibliography.

Speech Outlines
Write two original outlines for each assigned speech (informative and persuasive). This work should follow a traditional outline, including an attention step in the introduction, sign-posting transitions, three or four main points supported by at least two references each with referenced sources indicated, and a conclusion with a summary or concluding statement. You must site library and/or Internet research on your topic in a bibliography.

Speeches
You will receive a minimum passing grade if you deliver to the class an informative and a persuasive speech. Speeches should be no longer than six minutes and no shorter than four. At least four sources should be sited within your speeches. Your speeches should follow an outline structure, stating the thesis and your propositions. Creative transitions should move your audience through your speech.

Group Discussion
You will receive a minimum passing grade if you meet three basic criteria of participating in a group discussion: You speak up, you know what you're talking about, and you allow and invite other quieter members of the group to participate in the discussion. You must show evidence of library and/or Internet research on your topic in your input to the discussion.

Tests
Three Term Assessments


Points

Informative Speech Outline - 100

Persuasive Speech Outline - 100

Group Roles and Trust Analysis - 100

Small Group Discussion Evaluation - 100

Group Discussion - 100

Informative Speech * - 100

Persuasive Speech* - 100


Assessments

Term Assessments (2 at 100 points each) - 200

Final Assessment - 100

Total Class Points - 1,000

*Speeches must be completed to earn a passing grade for the class.

Grading Breakdown
900 - 1000 = A range
800 - 899 = B range
700 - 799 = C range
600 - 699 = D range
Below 599 = F
Cut off for minus to straight grade = 35
Cut off for plus to straight grade = 65

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