ACE 3143/44 Lecture 1 How can you do well in this part of the subject ? Attend lectures and note their themes What are the central concerns? What questions are being asked? Be prepared to draw on your own experience and reflect on what has been discussed Do not be discouraged if you find writing exams difficult N.B. There will be a question on every lecture presented

Our mental set affects how we see things. There is a gap (distortion) in the construction of meanings between all us. We are selective in our perception of events and this is reflected in our communication. The communication process in all its forms is very fragile. See Mohan et al.,

What are our perceptions of each other and how important is communication behaviour in situations such as interview? We perceive good qualities in people who appear to be similar to ourselves If we stereotype members of different racial, cultural groups we do not see their individual characteristics We use our ‘implicit personality theories’ to judge others.

What effect does culture have on communication? There is a tendency to see ‘our’ culture as the norm and others as deviant. All cultures are diverse : there are subcultures based on gender, age, wealth and education, etc. High and low-context cultures have different ways of delivering messages A high-context culture places less emphasis on language and relies heavily on small talk, hints, tone, eye contact and other non-verbal cues. A low-context culture use language to express thoughts, feelings as directly and logically as possible.