Question

How do perceptions impact on Communication Effectiveness?

Answer 1

Perception acts as a filter through which all the content of communication pass as they travel from one person to the other. As different individuals tend to perceive things differently, the same message may be rendered quite uniquely by different people. Our perceptions are shaped by who we are and what experiences we have had. Thus, interpersonal perceptions reflect both what is inside of us and what is outside of us (Wood, 2016). Perception depends on the Physiology, Age, Culture, Social Roles, and Cognitive Abilities of the recipient of the communication. Common perceptual distortions that are responsible for reducing the effectiveness of a communication include projections, stereotypes, halo effects, and selective perception.

A stereotype is about assigning specific attributes to individuals or groups with having evidenced them in reality. A halo effect happens when we make a judgment about a person or group based only on one particular attribute. Projection is about assigning self-attributes to others. Finally, selective perception is the tendency to define things from one's own point of view. All these perceptual distortions affect the receiver of the communication in a way that makes him/ her act or behave in different ways after the communication is received. They lead to inaccurate assumptions regarding people or events.

Reference

Wood, J. (2016). Interpersonal communication: Everyday encounters (3rd ed. Stamford, CT: Wadsworth.)