PERCEPTION
It is known to us that Cognition is basically bits of
information. While Cognitive process involves the way
in which the people process all those information. It is
suggested that like computers, humans are information
processors. People’s individual differences and
uniqueness are largely the result of the cognitive
process.
Between the situation & behaviour the most
representating cognitive process is Perception (out of
imagination/perception/even thinking). It is a unique
interpretation of the situation & not an exact recording
of situation.
For example;
Promotion policy
Manager feels
Subordinate always
want promotion
Subordinate feels
Psychologically forced
to take promotion.
Perception can be represented as follows :
Stimuli like :
noise/touch/sight/ smell/taste/ or any other  through our sense of
organ(Nose/Skin/Hearing/vision/tongue) 
constantly
bombarded
on
individuals Individual process these information through psychological
manner 
The process is known as perception.
Perception begins when an person is confronted with a stimulus or
a situation. Thus perception is the meaning of the situation or
sensation. This meaning built- up from past experience. Thus
Sensation + Meaning = Perception. It can also be illustrated as the
ability of an individual to predict a sensation on the basis of past
experience. e.g. when in a room we put on the switch of a light
within a fraction of a second we understand that whether light is
from Filament lamp or Florescence one. Obviously when we
understand the meaning of a situation we react on the basis of our
past experience.
However, in case of an adult person who is a mature one , there is
hardly any difference between sensation & perception. While for a
newly born baby, when he/she recognize a sensation in the same
pattern – we call it is his perception. Usually a baby start
recognition of a sensation of feeding & perception after 36 hours of
his birth.
Definition : Perception is a process by which individual organize &
interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their
environment.
Perception about a thing changes with time. But if a person
changes his perception very frequently then we call him an
undependable or inconsistent person.
Elements of perception : It includes 5 - elements.
Stimuli RegistrationSelection Feedback  Action/Reaction
(external)
or
or
or
(external)
Receiving
Interpretation Organizing
(covert/overt)
Internal
(sub – process)
In an organizational situation Supervisor may form the stimulus
situation for the workers perceptual process.
• Registration involves Physiological mechanism including both
sensory & neutral e.g. individual’s ability to see/ to hear.
• Interpretation is the most important sub process. Interpretation
of stimuli determined by individuals
learning/motivation/personality.
• Feedback is the psychological sub process direct the individual
as to what to do or how to behave.
External
Environment
Perception with respect to S.O.B.C. model :
O
S
Regisstration of
Confrontation Stimulus
Interpretation
Senatoional
New environment Of stimulus
Stimulus
(Changed office time) (motivation/
Personality/
Physical
Learning)
Environment
(office timing)
Feed back
Sociocultuaral
Environment
(Mgmt. Style)
(for classification)
B
Behaviour
Consequence
(Grp.
discussion)
mgmt.)
+ Gathering
C
(agitation
with
Sensation vs. Perception :
•
•
•
Five senses i.e. vision, touch, smell, taste, & hearing are constantly
bombarded by
Outside stimuli are light waves, sound waves, mechanical energy of
pressure or chemical energy from objects (in the form of smell & taste).
Inside stimuli are energy generated by muscles / food passes through
intestine/ glands secreting behaviour – influencing hormones.
•
Thus sensation deals with very elementary behaviour that is largely by
physiological functioning of human beings experience on colour/
brightness / shape/ loudness / heat odour / taste.
•
Where as perception is a more complex psychological process. It is the
interaction of Selection --- Organization --- Interpretation with respect of
sensation.
•
Senses are the raw material / data which under Cognitive process will
filter or modify or completely change. e.g. the purchase manager buys a
m/c. spares that he thinks best & not to one that the engineer says is
best.
Perceptual Selectivity :
Several stimuli are affecting an individual at a any point of time.
However, only a few stimuli are being select out by the individual at
that point of time.
This is because a no. of factors affect/influence on perception of
an individual.
These factors are :
The Perceiver (internal)
The object or target (external)
The situation (external)
Following are the external & internal factors be studied in detail
External
Internal
Intensity
Learning
Size
Perceptual set
Contrast
Motivation
Repetition
Personality
Motion
Novelty & familiarity
Intensity : Greater the intensity of external stimulus higher will be
chance of perception or more likely it is to be perceived. Like – loud
noise, strong odour, bright light etc. e.g.
Advertiser ´s use intensity to gain consumers attention.
T.V. commercials are slightly louder than the regular programme.
Bright packaging.
Size : Bigger the size of the stimulus, higher will be the probability
to perceive it.
1. The maintenance engineering staff pay more attention to a big
m/c. than to a smaller one, even when the smaller is costlier.
2. In advertising, a full page spread is more – attention – getting
than a few lines in classified section.
Contrast : It is the presentation pattern of stimuli. External stimuli
which stand out against the background or which are not what
people are expecting will receive their attention.
Plant safety signs with black lettering on yellow background or
white lettering on red-background are attention getting.
Black circles of similar size will attract in different way because of
their contrast.
In an experiment the workers on training in a quite /clean /noise
free classroom were shown a poor performance while in the noisy
shop floor they shown satisfactory performance. This is as because
they are accustomed with noises
Repetation : A repeated external stimulus is more attention-getting
than a single one. Repetition increases our sensitivity or alertness
to the stimulus.
Advertiser create a unique image for a product which is different
from its competitors.
Motion : People will pay more attention to moving objects in their
field of vision than they will to stationary objects.
Novelty & Familiarity : Either a novel or a familiar external situation
can serve as an attention greater. Following cases will draw the
attention of the Perceiver:
New object or event in a familiar setting.
Familiar object or event in a new setting.
This approach of perceptual selectivity helps in ´´Brand loyalty´´.
Set : The concept of set is an important cognition in selectivity. It
can be thought of as an internal form of attention getting. It
depends on 1. The individual’s complex psychological makeup.
2. People will select out stimuli or situation from the environment
that appeal to & compatible with their learning, motivation & with
their personality
Learning : What one has acquired from his childhood through his
surroundings. It is the single biggest role in developing perceptual
set. It can be illustrate as –
1. ´´ MACHINERY´´
´´Mac-Hinery´´
This view states simply that people see & hear what they expect to
see & hear.
2. TURN
´´TURN OFF THE ENGINE´´
OFF THE
ENGINE
This illustrate that learning affects set by creating an expectancy to
perceive in a certain manner.
Perceptual Set : Selection of a stimuli (commodity) based on
previous experience. In organisations some employees may
perceive world around them in a particular manner. Perceptual
differences are a major explanation for industrial disputes –
Management & Union members may perceived a situation in
different manner.
e.g Poor output record in the production department of a
manufacturing plant – may be perceived by different persons in
different way ,
1. The Engineer perceives the solution to this problem as one of
improved machine design.
2. The Personnel manager perceives the solution as one of
more training & better wage incentives.
3. H.O.D. perceives the solution to be more effective organizing,
planning & control.
4. On the other hand the workers may perceive the low output as
pleasure as the supervisor will be in trouble to make explanation,
whom they dislike most.
Motivation : It has a vital impact on perceptual selectivity. Highly
motivated person on perceiving a favorable situation, try to adhere
to it – as we know if there is a need there will be a force to achieve
the desired target. This can be further illustrated by following
examples1. If there is a great need for food then by mention/sight (vision)/
smell of food gives a great deal of attention.
2. A person who has a relatively high need for power, affiliation
or achievement will be more attentive to relevant situational
variables. For example a worker with strong need for affiliation
when works into the canteen , the tables where maximum coworkers are sitting will be perceived.
Personality : Optimistic people will perceive the things in favorable
terms. While pessimistic people in negative terms. For example –
1. In a confronting situation, it is the personality of an individual
to attend or percept.
2. The conflict between old & new generation workers is the
resultant effect of this factor.
3. Perception of a modern movie to older people will be
disgusting or not been able to understand.
Perceptual Organization :
Perceptual selectivity was concerned with the external & internal
variables that gain an individual’s attention.
Now, the focus will be on perceptual process, once the information
from situation received.
An individual seldom perceives patches of colour, light or sound.
Instead the person will perceive organised patterns of stimuli &
identifiable whole object.
For example, in a football match we does not usually perceive the
leather ball or colour of the dresses but perceive fun & excitement.
It is one of the sub-process of perceptual process.
Stimuli
Actual transformation of these Resultant opinion,
feelings
(Perceptual
inputs through perceptual
attitude which influence our
input)
mechanism of selection,
behaviour
organisation & interpretation
(Perceptual output)
(Perceptual through puts)
Among the all stimuli of the environment some are only selected &
organised in some form, in order to make some sense out of them.
This organisation of stimuli may take the form of –
i)
Figure Ground
ii)
Grouping
iii)
Simplification
iv)
Closure

Figure ground :
1. It is the most basic form of Perceptual Organisation.
2. People wants to organise information in this principle.
3. It explains that while perceiving stimuli, individual tries to keep
certain phenomenon in focus & other in the background.
4. More attention is paid on the phenomenon which have kept in
focus or figure and less on the background.
5. Thus the principle simply means that perceived objects stand
out as separable from their general background.
6. This can be explained while we read a text . In respect of light
stimuli, the reader is receiving patches of irregularly shaped blacks
& whites. But we perceive black shape – letter, word, sentencesprinted against white background. Thus the reader perceptually
organises incoming stimuli into recognizable figures (words) that
are seen against a ground (white page ).
7. The perception may change if certain stimuli are changed
from figure to ground. e.g. in some organisation good performance
(a figure for promotion in normal case) may be taken as ground &
maintaining good relation with boss (ground in normal case) for
promotion may be taken as figure.
Grouping :
1. There is a tendency to group several stimuli together into a
recognizable pattern.
2. The perceiver groups various stimuli on the basis of their
similarity or proximity.
3. Thus all such stimuli which have been grouped are likely to be
perceived as having same characteristics. e.g. All the workers may
be perceived to have same opinion about the management
because of grouping on the basis of similarity.
OR
All the persons coming from the same place may be perceived as
having same characteristics because of the grouping on the basis
of proximity.
Grouping is based on –
i) Continuity : A new design of productive process or product.
ii) Proximity : Workers who worked on a particular machine may be
perceived as a single whole.
iii)Similarity : Workers with a particular colour uniform OR women
OR minority.
Simplification :
1. When ever people are overloaded with informations, they try
to simplify it for making it more meaningful & understandable.
2. During this simplification process the perceiver subtracts less
important informations while concentrate more in important one.
3. Simplification makes things more understandable as the
perceiver able to reduce the complexity by reducing the number of
informations of less importance.
Closure :
When faced with incomplete informations people will fill-up the
gaps to make the information meaningful. e.g. In many
advertisement alphabets are being made by electronic bulbs, which
indicate the concerned alphabets. In such case people fill-up gaps
between the bulbs to understand the meaning of alphabets.
Perceptual Defense :
A person may build a defense (block or refusal to recognize)
against stimuli or situational events.
It is in context that are personally or culturally unacceptable or
threatening.
Perceptual defense influence to understand the role of
management- union / boss- subordinate relationship.
Although some conflicting evidence is there in some studies, but
the existence of perceptual defense mechanism has been
established in almost all cases.
Following are the three general explanations of perceptual defense
–
1. Emotionally disturbing information has a higher threshold for
recognition i.e. do not perceive readily than neutral or nondisturbing information.
2. Disturbing information & stimuli are likely to bring about
substitute perceptions which are distorted to prevent recognition of
disturbing elements.
3. Emotionally arousing information actually does arouse
emotion even though the emotion is distorted or directed
elsewhere.
In a study Intelligent was considered as a characteristic of factory
worker. The students response in this case was defensive & like :
1. Denial – A group of students denied the existence of
intelligence in factory workers.
2. Modification & distortion - A group of students stated ´´ HE is
intelligent but does not possess initiative to rise above his group´´.
3. Change in perception - A group of students change their stand
& said ´Cracks Jokes´.
4. Recognition but refusal to change – Only a small group of
students recognize that there is a conflict between their perception
of the workers & the characteristics of ´Intelligent´. They said ´´
Most of the factory workers I have heard about are not too
intelligent´´.
Social Perception :
It is directly concerned with how one individual perceives other
individuals.
Formal organizational participants are constantly perceiving one
another e.g. Managers are perceiving workers & the Workers are
perceiving the Managers.
Factors found in the social perception are Psychological process &
personality.
Finding of a research work showed following characteristics are
important to influence how a person perceives others in
environment –
i) Knowing oneself makes it easier to see others accurately.
ii) One’s own characteristics affect the characteristics one is likely
to see in others.
iii) People who accept themselves are more likely to be able to see
favorable aspects of other people.
iv) Accuracy of perceiving others is not a single skill.
Following characteristics of the individual being perceived were
found influencing Social Perception –
i) Status of the person will greatly influence other’s perception of
him.
ii)The person being perceived is usually placed into categories to
simplify viewers perceptual activities. Two common categories are
status & role.
iii)The visible traits of the person perceived will greatly influence the
perception of him.
Organizational individuals perception as well as perception of
others are greatly influenced by their characteristics & of others.
e.g. If the manager feels good about himself & the subordinates
are physically attractive, pleasant, then he will perceive the
subordinates in a +ve & favorable manner. If the manager is down
on himself & other subordinates are unattractive & / or arrogant, he
will perceive them in `-ve & unfavorable manner.
Practical application of Social Perceptions :
A) Attribution : It refers to how a person explains the cause of
another person’s behaviour. It is the process by which people draw
conclusions about the factors that influence or make sense of
another’s behaviour.
Attributions are of two type :
i) Dispositional type – It ascribe a person’s behaviour to internal
factors e.g. Personality / Motivation.
ii) Situational type – It ascribe a person’s behaviour to external
factors e.g. Social influence from others. It plays important role in
Motivation / Performance Appraisal / Leadership.
B) Stereotyping : It is a perpetual error that developed in social
perception. It refers the tendency to perceive another person (thus
social perception) as belonging to a single class or category. It also
implies general agreement on the attributed traits & the existence
of a discrepancy between attributed traits & actual traits.
Stereotyping is the assignment of favorable or un-favorable traits to
a class of persons as a function of whether the observer has a +ve
or –ve attitude towards the person category. Most often a person is
put into a stereotype because the perceiver knows only the overall
category to which the person belongs. However, every individual is
unique. Thus real trait of the person be quite different from those
the stereotype suggest e.g. Managers, Supervisors, Union-leaders,
minorities, women, police.
C) Hallo Effect : It is an error in Social perception. In Stereotype the
individual is perceived on the basis of a single category. Whereas
in Hallo Effect the person is perceived on the basis of single trait. It
is often discussed in Performance Appraisal when a rater makes an
error in judging a person’s total personality & / or performance on
the basis of a simple trait viz. Intelligence, Appearance,
Dependability or Co-operativeness. Whatever the single trait is, it
override all other traits in forming the Perception of the person.
!
Perceived as - Intelligent / Performer
e.g. Attractive women secretary of a male boss !
!
Actually – Poor typist / quite
dense
This means looking at her & perceived as his secretary & not as an
able manager to cope with important responsibilities is obviously an
error. Thus one trait blind the perceiver to all other traits in the
perpetual process.
The traits of a Hallo :
i) It is a common error.
ii) It has both true & illusory components.
iii) Lead to inflated correlation among rating dimensions.
iv) –ve consequence & should be avoided.
There are 3 – conditions under which Halo Effect most marked –
i) When the traits to be perceived are unclear in behavioural
expression.
ii) When the traits are not frequently encountered by the perceiver.
iii) When the traits have more moral implications.