Interpersonal Relations: Perception

   In conflict situations, perception of interpersonal relations are important. In class and in the text, we learned that perception is a feature in conflict. Perception of  the other person's behavior can affect the situation's direction within a conflict. Fritz Heider, considered a social psychologist, wrote many books pertaining to interpersonal relations that can be helpful in understanding conflict. In his book, The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations, quite relevantly he quotes:
        In the experience of conversation, a common ground constitutes itself between the other one and myself,
       my thought and his make up a single tissue, my words and his are called out by the phase of the discussion,
       they insert themselves in a common operation of which neither one of us is the sole creator. A double being
       comes about, and neither is the other one for me a simple behavior in my transcendental field, nor am I that
       for him, we are, one for the other, collaborators in a perfect reciprocity, our perspectives glide one into the
       other, we coexist within the same world (Merleau-Ponty, 1945).

   The image represents a video in Heider's experiments where the triangles and the circle are in a series of movements that are interpreted by the subjects.The personal characteristics given to each object are portrayed in their movements so their motives and sentiments can be perceived. His work also implies, simply, that when one person (A) acts, person (B) will interpret it in his own psychological processes and perceive (A)'s psychological processes as well.
  The more I read of Heider, the more relevance I find for his studies and research for this class. I would recommend reading more of his works because he sets up a bases for human interactions, perceptions, and reciprocity which are key features in conflict.                                                                            http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Zh6TDmayL0AC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=interpersonal+communication+psychology&ots=x0XSiZba7M&sig=TYZCqQJRsKgDY49a97V38wwV23k#v=onepage&q&f=false