Blog Post #2

Jorre Delgado

Communications 160

Blog #2

Identity and Perception

So far, this semester we have been presented with a lot of very great information. But the recently we talked about identity and perception and how that helps us socially and culturally. Identity and perception are things that I feel are very good to be knowledgeable about because we all have differences no one is the same. Everyone acts different in certain social and cultural situations.

In the book, it describes identity as “who someone is, in the sense that your identification refers to you.” (pg.98) So, for example, your drivers license and social security card would be forms of your identity. When talking about identity to someone it just comes down to the answer of who am I? or who are they? Moving on to perception, the book describes it as, “is someone’s perspective or point of view” (pg.98) It really is just the way that people view the world. Identity is something that should be more important because you want to know who you are not let someone else try to tell you any different and perception is something that you can change easily or look past.

When looking at identity and perception the term social construction comes into play. Social construction is defined by the book as, “our social reality emerges through our actions and that our world and the social rules we live by are the product of our communication” This not only has the to do with verbal communication but also nonverbal communication situations. This then leads to a process. For example, trying out for a team, it starts out with tryouts, which then leads to if you are good enough, then to what team the coach wants to put you on, and then finally actually being part of a team. This is a process that can happen in any type of situation.

Another very important term that the book related to identity and perception is impression management. The book defines it as, “we build an impression of ourselves for ourselves and for others.” (pg.105) For example, this term really makes me think of one of the examples that the book gives, which is what should I wear? This is a great example because I know personally that what I am going to wear has lots of factors such as, who I’m seeing, what I’m doing or where I’m going. I always want to present myself in the best way possible. Impression management really relies on culture cues and how we go about the situation.

One other term that I would like to touch on is, positionalities. The book says that it is, “where we stand in relation to various categories or elements of difference- those markers that make us different from one another, whether race, economic background, or ability.” (pg.107) This is something that I think everyone should know about because when we communicate with people who may not be the same as us we need to know how to speak to others and know our place in society. Overall learning about how identity and perception really play a role in our lives was helpful in many ways. It helps teach us proper ways to communicate with people in any type of situation. Knowing how to speak to someone properly should be something that everyone should learn and want to do.