Ch 4 is all about how we perceive others. There are so many internal and external factors that can affect our perception of others, either negative of positive. Anything from cultural background to information accessibility can change the way you view others. It is interesting to think how many little distractions or nuances if our life can persuade us to either think poorly or highly of someone. After the exstensive list of perception influence the authors went on to discuss perception checking. This bit got me thinking about how I perceive people and react to them but, I never thought of checking my perceptions.
The three steps to perception checking seem pretty easy to follow 1) description of behavior 2) 2 possible interpretations and 3) clarification. In reality, I felt as though it would be hard to remember and enact these steps during communication. There are shorter ways to the process, but I wonder how one would catch themselves that easily. I only say this because as the text mentioned we seem to "judge out selves charitably", and it would be hard to stop and imagine that your own perception is wrong. Working though perceptions is what I would like to think as the first steps to building empathy.
I transition to the topic of empathy because for me it is something I am currently working on. I always mixed up sympathy and empathy, because I thought, of course I have empathy, I show concern for people everyday. Although, I realized I was seeing there troubles from my point of view. When someone is telling me a personal story or problem, my first instinct is solve the problem or compare their story to something I heard before. I have learned that is not empathy. Even reading the text, I feel as though I have all the necessary requirements for empathy, but sometimes I revert back o my sympathetic ways. Empathy is definitely a process, something I have acknowledged I lack, but still something I am working on because it is a very important form of communication that builds deeper connections. Being able to show someone empathy is a very powerful thing, and I believe it has helped change my perception of others and myself.
-Morgan
I love your paragraph on empathy. I too struggled with this myself because I thought I had all the components of what it took to be empathetic. It's definitely hard to take your own experiences out of the equation and to not compare your story to theirs. I find it difficult to be empathetic because of my sympathetic tendencies. I definitely agree that by learning to be less sympathetic and more empathetic you will have a stronger and deeper connection with the other person because you aren't perceiving their experiences through your eyes but are putting ourself in their shoes.
ReplyDeleteI liked that you talked about how checking your own perceptions is the first step toward achieving an empathetic point of view. You were very honest in your response and I think empathy is something everyone struggles with to a certain degree. We are built in our own minds and it can often be a challenge to try and disregard our own perceptions and think of another's. I also have a hard time differentiating my sympathetic actions versus my empathetic actions and I hope to become better at it. I think opening our mind in any way is beneficial to our growth. Great job on your post! :)
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