PERCEPTION
LECTURE 5
WHAT IS PERCEPTION?
What is Perception?
 Perception is a
process by which
individuals organize
and interpret their
sensory impressions
in order to give
meaning to their
environment.
IMPORTANCE OF PERCEPTION:
WRITE DOWN HOW YOU PERCEIVE
THE FOLLOWING IMAGES.
Horizontal lines or do they slope?
How many legs does this elephant
have?
Vase or two profiles?
An old woman or a young lady?
Content or skeptical?
WE DON’T SEE THINGS AS
THEY ARE….
WE SEE THINGS AS WE
ARE….
The importance of Perception
People’s perceptions influence how they behave in
their organization. Perception describes the way people
filter, organize and interpret sensory information.
Accurate perception allows employees to interpret what
they see and hear in the workplace effectively to make
decisions, complete tasks and act in ethical manner.
Faulty perceptions lead to problems in the organization,
such as stereotyping, that lead people to erroneously
make assumptions.
MENTION SOME FACTORS YOU
BELIEVE INFLUENCE
PERCEPTION..
Factors Influencing Perception
 There are three main categories of factors
influencing perception:
Factors in the perceiver
Factors in the situation
Factors in the target
Factors in the perceiver (personal characteristics of the individual
perceiver for example if we except young people to be lazy, we may
perceive them as such regardless of their behavior)
 Attitudes
 Motives
 Interests
 Experience
 Expectations
Factors in the situation (the context in which we see objects or events
for example you might not notice an extreme haircut in a club but
you’ll probably notice it at school. The perceiver and the target are
the same.)
 Time
 Work Setting
 Social Setting
Factors in the target (Characteristics of the target we observe
eg loud people will get more notice than quiet ones)
 Novelty
 Motion
 Sounds
 Size
 Background
 Proximity
 Similarity
Selective
perception
Halo
Effects
Shortcuts
for judging
others
Stereotyping
Contrast
Effects
Frequently used Shortcuts in
Judging Others
 Selective Perception: The tendency to
selectively interpret what one sees on the
basis of one’s interests, background,
experience and attitudes.
 Halo Effects: The tendency to draw a general
impression about an individual on the basis of
a single characteristic.
Frequently used Shortcuts in
Judging Others
 Contrast Effects: Evaluation of a person’s
characteristics that is affected by
comparisons with other people recently
encountered who rank higher or lower on the
same characteristics.
 Stereotyping: Judging someone on the basis
of one’s perception of the group to which that
person belongs ( for example the police).
What is your stereotype of a
manager?
Sensation Versus Perception
Sensation is the
information we pick
up with the help from
our sensory organs.
Perception is the
interpretation of this
sensory information.
Perceptual Selectivity
Numerous stimuli constantly confront
everyone. The noise of air conditioners, the
sound of other people talking and moving,
and outside noises from cars and vehicles,
planes, and many other sounds are heard by
us every minute but why and how people
select a specific stimulus or a few stimuli at a
given time?
Perceptual Selectivity
The answers can be found in the principles of
perceptual selectivity.
External Attention
Factors
Internal Set
Factors
Perceptual Selectivity
External Attention Factors:
Intensity: The more intense, the most likely will be
t be perceived.
Size: The larger the object, the more likely it will
be perceived.
Contrast: A stimulus which stands out against the
background gets more attention (Stop sign-red
with white).
Repetition: More times, more attention.
 Motion: Moving object gets more attention
than a stable one.
 Novelty and Familiarity: Novelty means
something new and fresh and familiarity
means something known and experienced.
So, the principle of novelty and familiarity
states that new objects in familiar settings
and familiar objects in new settings get more
attention.
Perceptual Selectivity
Internal Set Factors:
Learning and Perception: Learning affects
selectivity of perception, because the people
read and see what they expect to see and hear
(Turn of the the engine).
Perceptual set in workplace: In organization
life, some employees have learned to perceive
the world around them in the same way.
 Motivation and Perception: a person who has
a relatively high need for power or
achievement will be more attentive to the
relevant situation.
 Personality and Perception: Personality of the
perceiver also affects what is attended to in
confronting situations.
Perceptual Organization
 The perceptual process
organizes the incoming
information into a
meaningful whole. In
other words, the
perceivers’ mind
organizes the
information in such a
way that it can give
meaning and is
understandable.
Perceptual Organization
 Figure Ground: The
figure ground
principle means
simply that
perceived objects
stand out separable
from their
background.
Perceptual Organization
 Perceptual Grouping: It
states that there is a
tendency to group
several stimuli together
into a recognizable
pattern. When people
are presented with
stimuli they tend to
group them into closure,
proximity and similarity.
Perceptual Organization
 Impression
Management: Is the
process by which people
attempt to manage or
control the perceptions
others form of them.
There is often a tendency
that people present
themselves so as to
impress others in a
desirable way.
Social Perception
SOCIAL PERCEPTION
Social perception is a term
that defines an individual’s
ability to create an impression
or judgment of other
individuals or social groups.
Social Perception
This is formed through
observation and understanding
existing information about an
individual and drawing out
conclusions from the
information.
Wrongful social perceptions
when one person mistakes
another person's characteristics
as the cause of a negative
event, can lead to problems in
organizational behavior.