Your Name: Paul Filatov

Your Class: Communication 2110

Submitted to: Professor Susan Knott Dept. of Communication
Date Submitted: July 25, 2017

Overview
Throughout my communication class I was working on my current habit, which is
I automatically assume characteristics and behaviors just by looking at them. Jumping to
conclusions and assuming they are this type of person by their looks and actions which is
mentioned as the Impression Formation Theory (Beebe, pg.68). It was very ineffective
because I assume someone isnt right for me or that person wont be my friend. But if I
got to know them, they couldnt have been my best friend or even my soulmate. In this
final report, I will mention my goal I had and what my strategies were to achieve my
goal. Any kind of obstacles I ran into. The actions I took and the results I have gotten.
Also, my recommendations and the proudness I have for stepping up and trying to fix this
issue I will become less shy and a better friend.

Unwanted Communication Pattern

The problem I have is that I jump to conclusions without really getting to know
the other person. My goal would be to improve my impressions of others and practicing
my perceptions. Trying to understand the other person before thin slicing (Beebe, pg.65)
the person. This occurs often when I meet new people in school lets say. I see them act a
way and I assume they arent worth my time to talk to and maybe get to know them. Or
just get a bit of info and automatically ignore the rest because the little piece I had as
already enough info to not like the person. My shyness also plays a huge role in this
unwanted communication. But with these upcoming strategies it will the solved.

Strategies
There are many strategies to help reach my goal. But I choose these three that I
will try to work on and these will help me.

1. Selective Perception (Beebe, pg.64) The way of how we select what we see and
perceive around us. Ill try to keep myself open to all images and not just the ones
I want to see or hear. Practicing focusing my attention on the what is really
needed. Since we all select what to perceive, I will try to be less selective and
open. This way I can communicate in a conversation and not choose to see the
bad, but good also. Hear out the whole conversation and that way Ill have a
better perception of the person.

2. Organizing (Beebe, pg.66) The way in which we assemble stimuli into

convenient and efficient patterns. Its the second stage of perception. Creating the
categories or to superimpose the information we choose. Working on properly
organizing all the details and by linking them properly without automatically
organizing the info to the I dont care section, I will keep it open and floating and
link it to the proper category for that person. Without organizing my thoughts
before a conversation, it could really throw me off and Ill have an unsuccessful
 conversation. By working on my punctuation and closure I could properly
organize all the information in a perception and conversation. Then Id have to
interpret all the info in the categories and this will make my perception strong and
have a background.

3. Active Perception (Beebe, pg.68) The process of actively finding out specific
information by intentionally observing and sometimes question others. In other
words, its like a people watch. You look around at others and observe how
they act and guess what kind of person they are. Practicing this most to first
observe the person before I conclude something helped me learn them more and
not make a blind perception of them. This way it will help me understand the
person more and get to know them a little more before approaching the person to
talk. This will help me because I already kind of know the person before
approaching them and starting up a conversation. Itll help me to not jump to
conclusion right away. Giving my background will help me build and organize
the other person to correctly identify them as a friend or whoever.

Constraints
My biggest obstacle was my shyness. Ever since I was a little boy, I was
extremely shy. I hated talked to people unless I was comfortable with them. Even after
these strategies I still have a challenging time talking to girls since I never really talked to
them until lately. My shyness gets in the way and whenever I try to talk, my mind goes
blank and I feel retarded standing there and just looking at here and shes just confused
on what happening. Another struggle for me was the fact of I like to keep my circle
small, so I dont really find reason to expand it. Its comfortable like that, but I am trying
to get out of my comfort zone and try to expand my communications skills.

Implementation
I will initiate these strategies as soon as possible. Since I am a shy person I cant
really start conversations. But I will start working on these steps at school and work
where I dont know the people around me as well and that way I can have a great
connection with everyone. One of my strategies is to be open minded and sort of mindful
(Beebe, pg. 80). An example is when at school I try to walk around with my hands open
and a smile on my face. This sets an example that Im open to others and happy. Instead
of being in a hoodie or having headphones on and not caring at all. I had a couple
conversations when I was like that at school and it was easier to talk. Then the shyness
kicked in and I quickly ended it by saying I have to be in class excuses.
Another scenario was at work when I was working on my active perception.
Watching my coworkers work and listening to the music they played to get an idea of
who they are. Trying to find a common ground before confronting them. Implicit
personality theory (Beebe, pg. 68) states that we rely on our own ideas and guess of the
other person and that is what I did exactly at work. Yet the theory was true and the people
watching was too. Hearing on coworker listening to pop music all the time, I sparked a
conversation saying that that was my favorite song, after that we become like music
friends. Sharing out thoughts on music and having conversation all the time at work now.
I'm glad I did so become since then I have found a lot of new music I like now.
My organizations skills also change slightly. By being open to ideas and information,
I began to organize perceptions differently. Since Im new to this kind of organization I
sometimes went back to the old ways, which I wish I could have done better knowing
these examples. Being open and not going into auto mode made me understand and know
the people around me. Interpreting my perception and categorizing them differently
helped a lot in the long run. Getting out of my confront zone was hard, but worth it.

Results
The results of my practices werent visible right away, but as I continued to work
on them I started to notice the difference. I was beginning to feel more included in
conversations and people seemed to be interesting talking to me. Some positive moments
I had were the shyness slowing creeping away. I am now able to start a conversation with
girls and continue it without losing my thought and blanking out. Another positive thing
is at work the vibe now is a lot better for me and my neighboring coworkers because we
have in common characteristics making us communicate and being friends.
Some negative consequences I had was getting to carried away. Sometimes
running into self-disclosure (Beebe, pg.54) which is never good when you are talking to
someone new. Also having still being shy I created stupid success to quickly end
conversations that I was having trouble continuing. But the theory was true, we all jump
to conclusion way to fast and base them of our own experiences and likes. Which was
visible when I was out trying to work on my strategies I would sometimes slip up and see
a girl and be like Oh heck no talking to them which I jumped to conclusion and who
knows, maybe that could have been a good friend if I were to talk and get to know her.

Recommendations
I will continue to try these strategies and use them in my daily life. I already see
some progress and if I continue then I will get more. Getting rid of my shyness (Beebe,
pg. 41) and a better open friend to others. I will alter one detail though, learning and
knowing how much to talk and tell the other person about yourself. Trying to keep the
conversation going and being brave enough to ask a girl out if it all goes good. Theres
lots of information given to us through the textbook and the theories/ides it offers. I will
try to work on them all so I could be good at interpersonal communication in my life.

Works Cited
Beebe, S., Beebe S., & Redmond M. (2014). Interpersonal Communication:
Relating to Others (7th ed.). Boston: Pearson Publishers.