PERCEPTION

AND .
PERSONALITY IN
ORGANIZATIONS
FO U N D ATIO N S O F IN D IVID U AL BEH AVIO U R
“ WE DON’T SEE THINGS AS THEY ARE,
WE SEE THINGS AS WE ARE.”
PERCEPTION
“ The study of perception is concerned with
identifying the process through which we interpret
and organize sensory information to produce our
conscious experience of objects and object
relationship.”
“ Perception is the process of receiving information
about and making sense of the world around us. It
involves deciding which information to notice, how
to categorize this information and how to interpret
it within the framework of existing knowledge.
PERCEPTION
“ A process by which individuals organize and
interpret their sensory impressions in order to
give meaning to their environment ”.
PERCEPTUAL PROCESS MODEL
Environmental Stimuli

Feeling Hearing Seeing Smelling Tasting

Selective Attention
THE PERCEPTUAL PROCESS

1. Sensation 1. Organization
 An individual’s ability to  The process of placing
detect stimuli in the selected perceptual
immediate environment. stimuli into a framework
2. Selection for “storage.”
 The process a person 2. Interpretation
uses to eliminate some of  The stage of the
the stimuli that have perceptual process at
been sensed and to which stimuli are
retain others for further interpreted and given
processing. meaning.
SELECTIVE ATTENTION
 Characteristics of the object
 size, intensity, motion, repetition, novelty

 Perceptual context

 Characteristics of the perceiver

 attitudes
 perceptual defense
 expectations -- condition us to expect events
 Factors in the Target
• Motion
• Novelty
• Sounds
• Size
• Background
Factors in the perceiver • Proximity
• Attitudes • Similarity
• Motives
• Interests
• Experience Perception
• Expectations
Factors in the situation
• Time
• Work Setting
• Social Setting
FIGURE-GROUND ILLUSTRATION

Field-ground differentiation
 The tendency to distinguish
and focus on a stimulus that
is classified as figure as
opposed to background.
PERCEPTUAL GROUPING

 Our tendency to group several individual

stimuli into a meaningful and recognizable
pattern.
 It is very basic in nature and largely it seems
to be inborn.
 Some factors underlying grouping are

-continuity -closure
-proximity -similarity
ATTRIBUTION THEORY

IS THE CAUSE OF THE BEHAVIOR SEEN AS INTERNAL

OR EXTERNAL? WE LOOK FOR THREE TYPES OF
INFORMATION TO DECIDE:

DISTINCTIVENESS : Is this person’s performance different

on other tasks and in other situations?
CONSISTENCY : Over time, is there a change in behavior or
results on this task by this person?
CONSENSUS : Do others perform or behave similarly when in
a similar position?

“YES” answers lead to EXTERNAL attributions (Environmental

causes)

“NO” answers lead to INTERNAL attributions (Personal

causes)
 ATTRIBUTION
THEORY

When individuals observe behavior, they attempt to determine whether it

is internally or externally caused.
observation Interpretation Attribution of cause
H
External
Distictinctiveness
L Internal
H
Individual External
behavior
Consensus
L Internal

H
Internal
Consistency L
External
H –high L- Low
Distinctiveness Consensus Consistency
Does this person Do other person Does this person
behave in Behave in the behave
this manner Same manner? in this same
in other situation manner at other
times ?

Internal
Attribution
No
YES Low Yes
Low Consensus High
Distinctiveness Consistency External
Attributio
NO Yes No n

High High Low

Distinctiveness Consensus Consistency
20
PERCEPTUAL ERRORS & ATTRIBUTIONS

 STEREOTYPES : Based on appearance

 HALO (HORN) EFFECTS : One outstanding characteristic
noted
 CONTRAST EFFECT : Ordering
 RECENCY EFFECT : Limited recall
 PROJECTION : “Similar to me” Error
 SKEWING ERRORS : Central tendency, leniency, strictness
bias
 SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY : People respond the way
you “expected” they would
 SELECTIVE PERCEPTION (MIND SETS) : Filtering,
selection,
ATTRIBUTION ERRORS

 THE FUNDAMENTAL ATTRIBUTION ERROR

 the cause of poor performance (by others) is due to

personal factors (lazy…didn’t try very hard)

 SELF-SERVING BIAS

 the cause of poor performance (by myself) is due to

situational factors (poor support), not because of a lack of
effort
IMPROVING PERCEPTUAL
ACCURACY

Diversity
Management

Know Improving Empathize

Yourself With Others
Perceptual
Accuracy
Compare Postpone
Perceptions Impression
With Others Formation
KNOW YOURSELF (JOHARI
WINDOW)
Feedback

Known to Self Unknown to Self

Known
to Others Open
Area Open Blind
Disclosure Area Blind
Area Area

Hidden
Area Unknown
Hidden Unknown
Area
Unknown Area Area
to Others
DEFINING PERSONALITY

Relatively stable pattern of behaviours and

consistent internal states that explain a person's
behavioural tendencies
Sum total of ways in which an individual reacts and
interacts with others and environment
DE TE RMINA NTS OF
PE RSONA L ITY
BIG FIVE PERSONALITY
DIMENSIONS

Caring, dependable

Poised, secure

Sensitive, flexible

Agreeableness Courteous, empathic

Extraversion Outgoing, talkative

MYERS-BRIGGS TYPE INDICATOR

 Extroversion versus
introversion
 Sensing versus
intuition
 Thinking versus feeling

 Judging versus
perceiving Courtesy of Thompson Doyle Hennessey & Everest
LOCUS OF CONTROL AND SELF-
MONITORING
 Locus of control
 Internals believe in their effort and ability
 Externals believe events are mainly due to external
causes

 Self-monitoring personality
 Sensitivity to situational cues, and ability to adapt
your behaviour to that situation
PE RSONA L ITY TRA ITS