I have known "Brother" Thomas for several years. He is a Bible thumping, fundamentalist Christian. He always dresses in all black and talks in an old, western style manner that makes me feel like I am headed straight to Hell. It was through my interaction with him, that I developed my perception of the personality I expected his wife to have. I had my mind made up even before we had the opportunity to meet. Many of the aspects of perception listed in Chapter 3 of the text, Interpersonal Communication: Everyday Encounters came into play as I formed my opinion of Ms. Thomas. I will list the various aspects and explain how and why they led to my misguided perception. I will then explore how I need to change what I use to judge my perception of others. .
Julie Wood states in the text that "perception is an active process of creating meaning by selecting, organizing, and interpreting people, objects, events, situations, and activities." ( Wood, 80,81) The first thing I noticed about "Brother" Thomas was his style of dress. He is an older gentleman, late 50s, so his choice of all black clothing is not a style statement, as the teenage population would use for attention. Wood says that we select things that ""STAND OUT" because they are larger, more intense, or more unusual than other phenomena" (Wood, 81). That is why I noticed his dress, it stands out. The same is true for his hairstyle: coal black, combed straight back. My perception of this man began with the selection of his attire and appearance. .
The second process in perception is organization. In this step, four schemata are used to make sense as we organize the information we selected. Those schemata are prototypes, personal constructs, stereotypes, and scripts. As I tried to understand "Brother" Thomas, my personal constructs and stereotypes carried the most influence on my perception of him. Anyone who tried to scare me into being a Christian was not a person I had ever warmed up to.
