The Individual:
Perceptions, Attributions, and
Behaviour

• The process of interpreting messages of our senses to provide order and meaning to the environment

• Bruner’s
Perceptual
Process Model
– In unfamiliar situations cues are used to categorize the target.

• Selective attention is a function of :
– The characteristics of the perceiver (e.g. past experiences, motivational state, emotional state)
• Perceptual Defense - We protect ourselves against threatening information
– The characteristics of the target (salience)
• ambiguity
– The characteristics of the situation (salience)

• Selective : ignore other available cues
• Constancy : tend to perceive the target in the same way over time and across situations (initial impressions)
• Consistency : tend to select, ignore and distort cues so to create a homogeneous picture

• Implicit Personality Theory : which personality characteristics go together
• Stereotyping : assume characteristics by virtue of the category that they fall into
• Projection : assume others are like ourselves
• Primacy and Recency : early memory and recent memory

• Smith, Jones, and Kelly were absent from work today. To what do you attribute the cause?
– Smith is absent a lot, his peers are seldom absent, and he was absent a lot in his previous job.
– Jones is absent a lot, her peers are also absent a lot, but she was almost never absent in her previous job.
– Kelley is seldom absent, his co-workers are seldom absent, and he was seldom absent in his previous job.

• Explaining the cause of behavior
– Distinctiveness information: occur across a variety of situations (does target respond in X fashion generally or only in situation A)
– Consistency information: occur regularly (does target respond in X fashion at all times or only occasionally).
– Consensus information: act the same as the majority of people (Do most others respond in X fashion).
• (used or underused???)
• Attribution of cause will depend on the answers
(what are our choices?).

• Fundamental Attribution Error : Tendency to underestimate situational factors & overestimate dispositional factors in controlling behaviour
• Self-Serving Bias : Tendency to attribute success to your own efforts, ability, & character, and to attribute failure to external factors such as luck, task difficulty, etc.
• Actor-Observer Effect : Tendency to be more sensitive to the situational events that effect your behaviour while others will be more likely to make dispositional attributions

• When our expectations about another person cause that person to act in a way that is consistent with our expectations. Steps:
– Expectations formed about future performance
– Behaviour toward the person is consistent with our expectations
– Effects are produced on the person’s beliefs ( selfefficacy ), motivations and performance
– Behaviour fulfills expectations and reinforces original perceptions