Perception Check Reflection

People experience many different kinds of emotions, and in order for people to clearly recognize how other people are feeling, they must ask questions in order to completely understand the situation without causing a large amount of tension. When conflict occurs between two people, one must be careful to not cause additional tension between the two parties. One of the most effective ways to accomplish this is through perception checks. The purpose of a perception check is to clarify nonverbal behavior by stating the behavior, giving possible interpretations, then finally listening and paraphrasing what was actually happening. Perception checks helped me to effectively avoid conflict with my family by discovering what was actually going on in …show more content…
Through vocalics, which is the study of the use of voice to express one’s self (80), and the tone in my Mom’s voice, I understood that she was being sarcastic with me, and that I shouldn’t take her comments too seriously because she was in a bad mood. I think that my perception check would have gone over better if she wouldn’t have been as tired and had not already lost most of her patience at the store. My perception check would have also been more effective if it had been completed before my Mom had reached the point where she became more upset than she was before. Although the perception check did not go exactly the way I was expecting, it was still successful, because typically my Mom would have yelled at me because she would have thought that I was being …show more content…
They can be used in most situations, and can decrease tension in relationships. Decreased tension means that there is an increase of effective communication that is used. This point was proven multiple times throughout my research. The observations that I made helped me to see that perception checks can be used in a variety of future settings, whether it be with roommates, coworkers, or family members. Throughout the process I learned that perception checks are not as easy as I had originally thought. Often, I would start to go into one, but by the time I had determined what I was going to say the conversation would be elsewhere. Ultimately, the more I use perception checks, the easier it will be to use them effectively. Perception checks are a skill that can be developed in order to have more effective communication. Without them, communication is more difficult when there are extreme emotions involved in a conversation or