You can use the following questions to guide your formation of your analysis:
1. Explain why so many people see the same man, Michael Girard differently? Choose at least two characters (His mother, the cab driver, the waiter, the rooming house proprietor, the cleaning person) and explain why they saw him differently. How does this relate to how we perceive others? How does it relate to how others perceive us?
2. Both Michael and his mother feel the other does not listen to them, yet each feels they themselves do listen. Why is this? What perceptual phenomena are at play?
3. Both Michael and the “model” had mistaken perceptions of each other. Why?
4. Could Michael have elicited different responses through greater self monitoring, self presentation management, empathy for what others may be feeling and awareness of how his behaviors may be perceived by others?
Try to work two or three of the key terms below in your analysis:
Internal Attribution
External Attribution
Halo Effect
Horn Effect
Schemata
Gestalt
Selection
Organization
Interpretation
