Perception and

Chapter
Attribution
Syllabus
 Meaning and Definition of Perception
 Nature and Importance of Perception
 Sensation verses Perception
 Sub processes of Perception
 Perceptual Selectivity and Organization
 Attention Factors in Selectivity
 Perceptual Organization
 Social Perception
 Characteristics of Perceiver and Perceived,
1 Stereotyping, Halo Effect By Brajesh Jha
  Attribution
 Attribution Theory
 Locus of Control Attributions
 Other Attributions
 Attribution Errors
 Impression Management- Concept & Process
of Impression Management
 Employee Impression Management Strategies
 Link between Perception and Decision Making
in Organizations
 Individual Differences and Organizational
Constraints.
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 Meaning and Definition of
Perception

 Perception is a process by which individuals

organize and interpret their sensory impressions
in order to give meaning to their environment.
 It is the base of every individual's behaviour.
 We perceive what we like to perceive.
 Perception is the process of gathering,
organizing and interpreting the information from
environment.

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 Nature /Features of Perception

 Base of behaviour
 Psychological or cognitive process
 It is dependent
 Not always factual
 Based on expectation
 May differ from reality
 It can be developed.

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 Difference between Sensation and
Perception

Sensation Perception
1. It is primarily mental process and the 1. It is the complex mental process and
first step in the process of knowledge. the second step in the process of
knowledge.
2. It is awareness only. It is meaningless. 2. It is meaningful.

3. Sense organs have greater role in 3. Brain is more active in perceptual

sensation process.
4. It is concerned with the receptor
process.
5. It is an abstract (complex) mental
process.
6. Past experience is not involved.
process.
4. It is also concerned with symbolic
process.
5. It is a concrete mental process.
6. Past experience is must.

7. It is awareness of immediate 7. Immediate knowledge is explained

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 Importance of Perception

 Better Interpersonal Relationship

 Better Selection of Employees
 Better Performance Appraisal
 Better Impression Management
 Helps to Minimize Conflicts
 For effective decision
 Promotes Healthy OB

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 Factors Affecting/
Influencing Perception

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 Factors Affecting/
Influencing Perception

1. Factors in the Perceiver

 Attitudes
 Motives
 Interests
 Experience
 Expectations

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 2. Factors in the Target

 Size
 Motion
 Novelty and Familiarity
 Sounds
 Background
 Proximity (Nearness)
 Similarity

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 3. Factors in the Situation

 Time
 Work Setting
 Social Setting

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 Sub-Processes of Perception
Immediate
Immediate Sensual
Sensual Stimulation
Stimulation
Taste,
Taste, Vision,
Vision, Sound,
Sound, Smell,
Smell, Touch,
Touch, etc.
etc.

CONFRONTATIOIN
CONFRONTATIOIN REGISTRATION
REGISTRATION INTERPRETATION
INTERPRETATION
of
of specific
specific stimulus
stimulus (e.g.,
(e.g., supervisor
supervisor of
of stimulus
stimulus (e.g.,
(e.g., sensory
sensory and
and of
of stimulus
stimulus (e.g.,
(e.g., motivation,
motivation,
or
or new
new procedure)
procedure) neural
neural mechanisms)
mechanisms) learning
learning and
and personality)
personality)
EXTERNAL
EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT
ENVIRONMENT
Physical
Physical Environment:
Environment: Office
Office
Factory
Factory floor
floor
1.
Research
Research laboratory
laboratory
(Stimulation or
Store
Store Situation) FEEDBACK
FEEDBACK
Climate,
Climate, etc.
etc. 2. for
for clarification
clarification (e.g.
(e.g. kinesthetic
kinesthetic or
or
psychological)
psychological)
Sociocultural
Sociocultural Environment:
Environment: The Person
Management
Management styles
styles
Values
Values
Discrimination
Discrimination
etc.
etc.
CONSEQUENCE
CONSEQUENCE BEHAVIOR
BEHAVIOR
(e.g.,
(e.g., reinforcement
reinforcement /punishment
/punishment or
or some
some (e.g.,
(e.g., overt
overt such
such as
as rushing
rushing off
off or
or
organizational
organizational outcome
outcome covert
covert such
such as
as an
an attitude)
attitude)

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 Sub Process of Perception

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 1. Stimulus or Situation
a. Immediate Sensual Stimulation
b. External Environment
☺Physical environment
☺Socio-cultural environment
2. The Person (Cognitive processes)
☺ Registration
☺ Interpretation
☺ Feedback
☺ Behaviour
☺ Consequences
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 Importance of Perceptual
Selectivity

 Selectivityis an important means

of handling perceptual overload.
 Our five sense organs are
constantly bombarded
(overloaded) with stimuli (inputs).

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 Attention Factors in Selectivity
(Principles of Perceptual Selection)

 Intensity
 Size
 Contrast
 Repetition (Frequency)
 Motion
 Novelty and familiarity

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 Perceptual Organization

 In short, the person's perceptual process

organizes the received inputs into a
meaningful whole.
 To understand the concept of perceptual
organization in a better way lets know the
principles applied in it.

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 Principles of Perceptual
Organization

1. Figure-Grounded Principle
2. Perceptual Grouping Principle
a. Closure (Bridging the Gap)
b. Continuity Principle
c. Proximity (Nearness)
d. Similarity
3. Perceptual Constancy Principle
4. Perceptual Context (Principle)
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 Social Perception
(Application of Perception Theories in Organization)

 It is directly concerned with how one individual

perceives other individuals: how we get to
know others?
 It describes how and why we categorize others
into homogeneous and often less favourable
groups.
 Social perception is defined as the study of
how form impressions of and make inferences
about other people.
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  The Characteristics of the
Person Being Perceived
(suppose OB teacher)
 The Characteristics of the
Perceiver (Suppose OB student)
 The Situation of Context within
which the Perception Takes
Place (Suppose your OB class)

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 Combining Perceived, Perceiver
and Situation Together

 Stereotyping (Generalizing/Grouping)
 Halo Effect

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 Stereotyping
(Generalizing/Grouping)

The stereotype is any commonly known public belief about a certain social
group or a type of individual. Stereotypes are often created about people of
specific cultures or races.
 Gender Profiling
Men are strong and do all the work.
 Cultures
All Arabs and Muslims are terrorists.
Italian or French people are the best lovers.
 Groups of Individuals
All politicians are philanders and think only of personal gain and benefit.
 Sexual orientation when you have negative views on gays, lesbians, and
transgender individuals. People who have these negative views are often
known as homophobic.

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 Halo Effect

 Halo effect, error in reasoning in which an impression formed

from a single trait or characteristic is allowed to influence
multiple judgments or ratings of unrelated factors.
 Research on the phenomenon of the halo effect was pioneered
by American psychologist Edward L. Thorndike, who in 1920
reported the existence of the effect in servicemen following
experiments in which commanding officers were asked to rate
their subordinates on intelligence, physique, leadership, and
character, without having spoken to the subordinates.
Thorndike noted a correlation between unrelated positive and
negative traits.

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 Attribution Theory
 When people attach cause and effect explanation to
their behaviour it is known as attribution. The
perception of a person depends to a large extent on
whether he attributes the observed behaviour to
internal causes (abilities, motives or traits) or external
causes (environmental factors situations). Attribution
theory states that in making attributions people focus
on three major factors viz., consistency, distinctiveness
and consensus.
 There are two types of attribution errors viz.,
fundamental attribution errors and self serving bias.
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 Attribution Errors

 There are three main attribution errors viz;

a. Fundamental attribution errors
b. Self-serving bias
d. Optimistic bias.

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 Perceptual Errors

 People generally use a number of shortcuts when they

judge others. They are also called perceptual errors or
barriers to perceptual accuracy. They are: selective
perception, halo effect, stereotyping, contrast effect,
projection, etc.
1. Selective Perception
2. Halo Effect
3. Stereotyping (Generalizing/Grouping):
4. Contrast Effect
5. Projection
6. Impression

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 Link Between Perception and
Decision Making in Organizations

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 Organizational Constraints on
Individual Decision Making

 Performance Evaluation
 Reward System
 Formal Regulations
 System-Imposed Time Constraints
 Historical Precedents

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 How to Improve Individual
Decision Making?

 Increase Information Inputs

 Proper Communication
 Select Appropriate Timing
 Increase Acceptance and Commitment
 Create Supportive Environment
 Change Personal Habits
 Proper Reward and Punishment System
 Avoid Prejudice and Biasness
 Calculate Risk
 Avoid Indecisiveness

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 Common Biases and Errors in
Decision Making

 Anchoring Bias
 Conformation Bias
 Availability Bias
 Representative Bias
 Escalation of Commitment
 Hindsight Bias

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 Impression Management (IM)

 It is the process by which individual attempt

to control the impression others form of them.
 Impression management is usually used
synonymously with self-presentation, in
which a person tries to influence the
perception of their image.
 The notion of impression management was
first applied to face-to-face communication.
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 Process of IM

They are:
1. Impression motivation
2. Impression construction (development).

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 Employee IM Strategies

They can be grouped as:

A. Impression Prevention strategy like:
1. Accounts/excuses
2. Apologies/pardon
3. Disassociation
4. Obstacles disclosure
5. Association Exposure
B. Promotion Enhancing Strategy like:
1. Enlightments
2. Enhancements
☺☺☺☺

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 Thank you

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