What you see and hear depends a good deal on where you are standing; it also depends on what sort of person you are.

—C.S. Lewis, The Magician’s Nephew

As you begin to work on Week 2 of this course, ask yourself this question: “Who am I right now?” You may be “the student” who is preparing to focus on coursework, “the parent” who has to leave the computer soon to tuck a child into bed, or any number of other “selves” that flow in and out of your daily situations. How do these “selves” change depending on the people around you? What are the changes in how you represent yourself when you talk with your coworkers compared to when you talk with your friends?

This week’s content moves from the interpersonal communication foundation introduced in Week 1 to looking at how your relationships and perceptions of yourself and of others impact how you apply interpersonal communication skills. In this week, you will consider your self-concept and how you present different “faces” in different contexts, and how these faces play in your relationships and communication with others.

You will also consider how one’s own perceptions develop and how that ties into identity formation, relationships, and communication with others. By the end of this week, you may have a new appreciation for the complexity inherent to your relationships and perceptions of others!

Learning Objectives

Students will:

• Explain how communication shapes the self
• Identify how particular others and the generalized other shape our identity
• Explain the three-step process of perception
• Appraise problematic stereotypes
• Explain factors that affect individuals’ perceptions
• Analyze methods for improving perception and communication

Photo Credit: Laureate Education

Learning Resources

Required Readings

Barna Group. (2015, March 19). What Most Influences the Self-Identity of Americans? Retrieved from https://www.barna.com/research/what-most-influence…

Communication in the Real World: An Introduction to Communication Studies. Retrieved from http://open.lib.umn.edu/communication/

CNA Insider. (2014, June 2). Threat of Stereotypes | Social Experiments Illustrated | Channel NewsAsia Connect. Retrieved from

Jason, Keith. (2013, May 8). The Science of Stereotypes?: Keith Jason at TEDxEMU. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FySM-xiFef4 /