PERCEPTION
By
Dr Rosy Walia
What Is Perception, and Why Is It
Important?
Perception
• A process by which
individuals organize
and interpret their
sensory impressions
in order to give
meaning to their
environment.
• People’s behavior is
based on their perception
of what reality is, not on
reality itself.
• The world as it is
perceived is the world
that is behaviorally
important.
Factors That
Influence
Perception
THE PERCEPTION PROCESS
SELECTION
STAGE 1 IN PERCEPTION PROCESS
DEFINITION
SELECTION IS THE PROCESS BY
WHICH YOU SELECT OR CHOOSE
WHAT YOU WANT TO ATTEND TO
AND WHAT YOU WANT TO
DISREGARD
FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE SELECTION ARE:
–STIMULI
–MOTIVES
STIMULI
• STIMULI IS THE DEFINED AS ANYTHING THAT
CAUSES SENSE ORGANS(EYES, NOSE, EARS,
TONGUE AND SKIN) TO RESPOND , FUNCTION
OR BECOME ACTIVE.
• STIMULI IS THE PLURAL FORM OF STIMULUS
INTENSE STIMULI
MOTIVES
INFORMATION INTERPRETATION
– Uncovering the reasons behind the ways
stimuli are grouped.
– People may interpret the same information
differently or make different attributions
about information
INFORMATION RETRIEVAL
– Attention and selection, organization, and
interpretation are part of memory.
– Information stored in memory must be
retrieved in order to be used.
COMMON PERCEPTUAL DISTORTIONS
Stereotypes or prototypes
– Combines information based on the
category or class to which a person,
situation, or object belongs.
– Individual differences are obscured.
– Strong impact at the organization stage
Halo effects
– Occur when one attribute of a person or
situation is used to develop an overall
impression of the individual or situation.
– Likely to occur in the organization stage.
– Important in the performance appraisal
process.
Selective perception
– The tendency to single out those aspects of a
situation, person, or object that are consistent
with one’s needs, values, or attitudes.
– Strongest impact is at the attention stage.
– Perception checking with other persons can help
counter the adverse impact of selective
perception.
Projection
– The assignment of one’s personal attributes
to other individuals.
– Especially likely to occur in interpretation
stage.
– Projection can be controlled through a high
degree of self-awareness and empathy.
Contrast effects
– Occur when an individual is compared to
other people on the same characteristics on
which the others rank higher or lower.
– People must be aware of the impact of
contrast effects in many work settings
Self-fulfilling prophecy
– The tendency to create or find in another
situation or individual that which one
expected to find.
– Also called the “Pygmalion effect.”
– Can have either positive or negative
outcomes.
– Managers should adopt positive and
optimistic approaches to people at work.
HOW CAN PERCEPTIONS BE MANAGED?
 Impression management.
– A person’s systematic attempt to behave in ways
that create and maintain desired impressions in
others’ eyes.
– Successful managers:
• Use impression management to enhance their own
images.
• Are sensitive to other people’s use of impression
management.
Distortion management
– Managers should:
• Balance automatic and controlled information
processing at the attention and selection stage.
• Broaden their schemas at the organizing stage.
• Be attuned to attributions at the interpretation
stage.
Attribution theory
 Attribution theory aids in perceptual
interpretation by focusing on how people
attempt to:
– Understand the causes of a certain event.
– Assess responsibility for the outcomes of the
event.
– Evaluate the personal qualities of the people
involved in the event.
ATTRIBUTION THEORY
Factors influencing internal and
external attributions
– Distinctiveness — consistency of a person’s
behavior across situations.
– Consensus — likelihood of others
responding in a similar way.
– Consistency — whether an individual
responds the same way across time
Fundamental attribution error
– Applies to the evaluation of someone’s else
behavior.
– Attributing success to the influence of situational
factors.
– Attributing failure to the influence of personal
factors.
Self-serving bias
– Applies to the evaluation of our own behavior.
– Attributing success to the influence of personal
factors.
– Attributing failure to the influence of situational
factors.
Techniques for effectively managing
perceptions and attributions
– Be self-aware.
– Seek a wide range of differing information.
– Try to see a situation as others would.
– Be aware of different kinds of schemas.
– Be aware of perceptual distortions.
– Be aware of self and impression management.
– Be aware of attribution theory implications.