Reflection 7

Audrey Beedle

COMM 211 – Reflection 7

Perception of Self and Others

            I thought that Alex’s discussion on perception of self and others was very interesting and extremely relevant in intercultural communication.  He discussed the notion that culture is not objective, because it is a social construct.  It is not the same for any two people, as it all depends on the way you perceive it which can be affected by many factors such as your family, ethnicity, education level, and so on.  I thought it was very interesting how he used a psychological approach to study and discuss this aspect of communication.  It was especially helpful and interesting for me since I have a slight background in studying psychology and one of the main things we learned about was schemas or mental frameworks that create meaningful patterns from stimuli.  Our self-concept has a lot to do with our schemas of things and how we perceive them.  Self-concept too, is a social construct, which was created and continues to be influenced by society and the ideas and opinions of others.  Without other ideas to compare yourself and opinions with, you would have a hard time really understanding a standard for “good,” “correct,” or even have preferences about certain things.  The most interesting aspect of this subject and the way it ties with intercultural communication the best is that these social construct vary from society to society, culture to culture, and person to person.  One culture may value openness and honesty as core to communication, while others remain more reserved, or closed off.  It is in situations that challenge your schemas of standards that make you more interculturally competent and tolerant.