PERSPECTIVES IN

C O M M U N I C AT I O N
UNIT I COMMUNICATION SKILLS

CHAPTER 3
PERSPECTIVE IN
C O M M U N I C AT I O N
• Perspective is an individual’s point of view through which we interpret and understand every
communication and event happening around us
• Different people have different perspectives as everyone sees things differently from the other
• We convey and interpret messages through the filters of our knowledge, believes and motives
FA C T O R S A F F E C T I N G P E R S P E C T I V E S
A N D C O M M U N I C AT I O N
Visual perspective
Language
Past experiences
Attitude
Prejudice
Environment
Feelings
Beliefs
VISUAL PERSPECTIVE

• Our tendency to focus only on the part of a scenario that we are most inclined to notice is visual
perspective
• Our brain processes the information seen through the eyes and interpret it
• Look at the given figure:

In this image
One is of two black faces in the foreground A
white background and 2nd is a white vase in
the front with a black background
VISUAL PERSPECTIVE
• We usually see only one of the perspectives at first the second perspective is visible either after
someone helps us to recognize it, or after sometime when we realize it ourselves.
• We see that both the perspectives are valid similarly you must have heard people say

“Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder”

It is not the eyes, but the brain, that tells us to think of something as beautiful or not. Most of our
visual perceptions, are judgments that we make about people we are communicating with.
• Some of the judgments that we make are about:
• Qualification of the person
• Mental capability of the person
• Position and the financial status of the person
LANGUAGE

• Perspectives play a role in the interpretation of

words as well.
• Some words can have very different meaning
depending how we interpret them.
• The interpretation depends upon the meaning that
a receiver associates with the words.
• Therefore it is advisable to use words and
synonyms that express the exact thought or
emotions and leave the least to interpretation.
PA S T E X P E R I E N C E S

• We have positive as well as negative

experiences throughout our life.
• However we must take care that our past
negative experiences do not affect our
behaviour or the way we communicate with
others.
• Some negative experiences, however, also
serve a caution, and help us to protect
ourselves from dangerous situations.
AT T I T U D E

Attitude is a mindset that decides how an

individual perceives an idea or a situation and
responds to it

Example:
Half glass filled or Half glass empty
PREJUDICE
• Prejudice is an idea or opinion that is not based on fact,
logic or experience.
• Prejudice is considered a negative attitude specially when it
is related to hatred or intolerance for certain group of
people.
• Prejudices are partly due to culture and partly due to
personal preferences.
• When we act on our prejudices then it becomes
discrimination.
• When we discriminate we make decisions without trying to
find all the necessary information about the person or the
group that we are judging.
PREJUDICE

• Some examples of prejudice are, social status,

gender bias, our attitude towards specially abled
people, antipathy towards a particular religion or a
cultural group.
• Communicating with a person based on our
prejudices reduces our chances of having a
successful communication and producing desired
results.
• Therefore, while talking, the goal should be to
view every person or situation with a new
perspective in spite of preconceived notions about
them.
ENVIRONMENT
• All of us communicate differently in different
environments.
• For example, some students hesitate to speak their
opinion in the class while others thrive on the attention
of their classmates.
• Therefore while some students enjoy and learn more
from classroom discussion, the shy students do not
speak up in the class.
• This shows that environment affects communication.
FEELINGS

There are two ways in which your feelings can influence your communication with another person:
1. The first one refers to the way how you feel on a specific day. If you are feeling well you
will communicate as usual and if you are feeling sick or bad or are in a bad mood, you will
talk differently.
2. Second aspect related to feelings refers to how you feel about a specific person. When you
generally like someone, you communicate with him or her in a very positive way.
However, when you interact with someone you do not like, your style and body language
changes.
BELIEFS

• Our beliefs form a vicious cycle. Our unique perspectives,

with which we interpret any message or event, stems from our
belief system.
• Beliefs shape our behaviour, which in turn affects our
communication style.
• Our communication style draws out responses from others and
determines the result of an interaction and the reactions further
reinforce our beliefs.