Blog Post 3- Perception &Emotion
Last lecture started the beginning of group presentations and there was a lot to look forward to. We briefly talked about the midterm and it was cool to me that Professor Barber gave us some freedom in how our midterm would be conducted. I think we ended up deciding that we would choose a video format like a movie or a television show which works out for me because I voted for this. I liked how class was set up today because after the quizzes she started with a lecture and then let one of the groups present. It gave us some background knowledge going into their presentation, so it was a nice primer and it got us ready for their material. I’m looking forward to the midterm because everything that we have learnt thus far has been interesting material.
The group that did perception did a good job particularly with the group activity they had planned for us. Thinking of an example of something we perceive or judge without knowing the truth we do every day. For me it was easy to relate to this and our group used it as an example of work and not being able to show up to a meeting. I work overnights which is unconventional to most students, (I pull it off though) and often times they do not understand that I run differently because of it. I may oversleep on a day we are supposed to meet, or maybe will not be able to meet in the evenings at all. Most people cannot understand this until I tell them and of course they are quick to judge me via text or email to remind me of how irresponsible I’m. These days I make sure I establish what I am and I’m not capable of. If you establish this and tell them your realistic flexibility things should be ok.
The group that did emotions knocked it out of the park and I was surprised by their level of showmanship. I think they did an awesome job connecting the content to the class and they broke it down on a level that we could all understand. Their use of skits was something that I admired and thought of a fun idea to make the presentation more engaging. I could really connect with the idea of the job interview and how being confident and prepared can make the difference between landing the job or not. (But not McDonald’s). When they did their bit about the crush and not having the guts to talk to her, it reminded me of when I went through similar experiences in middle school.
On the chapter of emotions I could relate to the fear of disclosure very well. At work it is very difficult for me to express my emotions to my bosses thinking that they will judge me on it. If I’m having a bad day or I had a bad day in class going into work I’d rather not express it at work and keep it to myself. I feel like this can sometime be bad because I tend to act differently when I’m angry and maybe I can come across as being an ass-hole or passive aggressive. Making myself vulnerable is already hard enough with people that are close to me, let alone my boss…(whom I secretly hate). If I need to get something across to her that is emotional I cloak it in simple terms like ‘I feel sick’, or ‘I have a headache’. What this really can mean is ‘I’m behind in school’, ‘I don’t want to be hear all night’, etc.
Reading about emotional contagion was so funny to me because again, I related it back to work. I feel that I and the boss that I work with “kind-of-sort-of” hate our jobs. She gets payed salary and therefore a lot more cheese, but she still comes in a bad mood a lot of the time and unenthused. It’s funny because I can come in like this too after a long day of class or after a long day without much sleep. There are days however when I come in focused, and ready to work and her negative emotion rubs off on me! This is vice versa because I feel like my emotions also rub off on her. I’m pretty conscious about this even before reading about emotional contagion…this was just validation. I try and make changes to my emotional state so it doesn’t rub off on her because I know nothing good can come from being in a crappy mood. Instead I try to act serious and stern instead of in a lethargic or annoyed mood.
I thought the idea of self-talk was also pretty cool because it is the way we monitor how we feel. We all do it and it is primarily how we interpret the things that are said to us. Relating this back to work. When we have a busy night sometimes my manager will say something like “I think we are behind”, I interpret this to meaning that she thinks I’m doing a bad job and this will most likely make me angry inside. It makes me angry because she thinks we are behind but is unwilling to suggest any solutions. She would rather just tell the team leaders that ‘we are behind’ rather than come up with some functional solutions. Especially in the retail world I interpret their jargon very well and I can tell when someone is telling me something negative guised in a normal word or statement.
Overall this week went by awesome and I was happy to learn and read about perception and emotions. These are things that we go through every day and educating ourselves on these ideas can help us become better people and help us understand how to make better decisions and reflect on the poor ones we have made. It ties in with interpersonal communication also because we will be able to see it more among the people we communicate with because we will have a background knowledge of how interpersonal communication works. I look forward to the next week of lecture and also the next group presentations!
