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Perception - (IV Sem)

Perception is a cognitive process that involves organizing and interpreting sensory impressions to create meaning in our environment, significantly influencing behavior and decisions in organizational behavior. It encompasses social perception, impression formation, and attribution, which are essential for understanding interactions and decision-making within organizations. Factors like distinctiveness, consensus, and consistency play a crucial role in attribution theory, while errors such as selective perception and stereotyping can distort our understanding of others.

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3 views

Perception - (IV Sem)

Perception is a cognitive process that involves organizing and interpreting sensory impressions to create meaning in our environment, significantly influencing behavior and decisions in organizational behavior. It encompasses social perception, impression formation, and attribution, which are essential for understanding interactions and decision-making within organizations. Factors like distinctiveness, consensus, and consistency play a crucial role in attribution theory, while errors such as selective perception and stereotyping can distort our understanding of others.

Uploaded by

srijan.arthal
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© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Perception

Dr Prerana Baber
What is perception?
• It is a cognitive process.
• Perception is a process by which we organize and interpret sensory
impressions to give meaning to our environment. What we perceive can be
substantially different from objective reality.
• Why is perception important in the study of organizational behavior (OB)?
People’s behavior and decisions are based on their perception of what reality
is, not on reality itself.
• It involves organism selecting, organizing, and interpreting stimulus.
• Thus perception is process of selecting, organizing and interpreting or
attaching the meaning to the events happening in the environment.
Definitions of Perception
• “It is defined as a process by which individuals organize and
interpreted their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to
their environment”
• Thus perception is an intellectual and psychological process, it
becomes a subjective process too as different people perceive same
environment and event differently.
Nature of Perception
Factors that influence perception
Social Perception
• Social perception is the process of interpreting and understanding
the behavior, intentions, and emotions of others in social interactions.
It involves forming impressions based on verbal and non-verbal cues,
cultural norms, and past experiences.
Impression Formation
It refers to the process by which individuals develop perceptions and
judgments about others in a workplace setting. It involves interpreting
behaviors, appearances, and communication to form an opinion about
someone's character, abilities, or intentions. This process plays a critical
role in interactions, relationships, and decision-making within
organizations.
Attribution
Attribution is a process by which people interpret the causes of their
own and other behavior. It is concerned with an individual’s
interpretation of events and its relation to their thinking and behavior.

Internal Attribution (Dispositional) (efforts and abilities)

External Attribution (Situational) (task difficulties, luck/chance)


Attribution Theory
It focuses on how individuals interpret and assign causes to the
behavior of others. It helps us understand why people behave in
certain ways and whether their actions are attributed to internal or
external factors.
Attribution theory suggests that when we observe an individual’s
behavior, we attempt to determine whether it was internally or
externally caused. That determination depends largely on three factors:
(1) distinctiveness,
(2) consensus,
(3) consistency.
• Distinctiveness: The extent to which you believe that the person
being observed would behave consistently when faced with different
situations. Low distinctiveness exists when the person acts in a similar
manner in response to different stimuli; high distinctiveness exists
when the person varies his or her response to different situations.
• Consensus: The extent to which you believe that the person being
observed is behaving in a manner that is consistent with the behavior
of his or her peers. High consensus exists when the person’s actions
reflect or are similar to the actions of the group; low consensus exists
when the person’s actions do not.
• Consistency: The extent to which you believe that the person being
observed behaves consistently—in a similar fashion—when
confronted on other occasions with the same or similar situations.
High consistency exists when the person repeatedly acts in the same
way when faced with similar stimuli.
Attribution Theory
Consider the example of the first female sales manager in a firm to be promoted to
an executive rank. How do you explain her promotion—luck, connections, ability,
and performance? To find out, follow the model. If she, as a sales representative,
had sold more than her (male) counterparts (low consensus in behavior),
consistently sold the primary product line in different sales territories (high
consistency), and was also able to sell different product lines (low distinctiveness),
we would more than likely attribute her promotion to her own abilities.

On the other hand, if her male counterparts were also good sales representatives
(high consensus) and her sales record on secondary products were inconsistent
(high distinctiveness), people would probably attribute her promotion to luck or
connections, regardless of her sales performance on the primary product line (high
consistency).
Errors and Biases in Perception

• Fundamental attribution error

• Self-serving bias

• Other perceptual errors


Other perceptual errors

• Selective Perception We often choose (sometimes unconsciously) the


information we take in from the environment based on our background,
motivations, and characteristics. This is called selective perception.
• Halo and Horns effect: It draws general impressions based on only one single
characteristic. The person perceives on the basis of single traits like intelligence,
punctuality, appearance, cooperativeness, etc. On the other hand, the horns
effect is when we draw a negative impression from a single characteristic.
• Contrast effect: person efficiency is evaluated by comparing the efficiency and
traits of recently faced candidates by evaluators. It is generally used in interviews
with new applicants.
• Stereotyping: Stereotyping is judging someone or the whole
community based on one’s perception of a single person.
• Projection: Projection is the tendency to see one’s own traits on
others or one’s own personal traits are assigned to others. Individuals
project their own feelings, personalities, characteristics, attitudes, or
motives on others.

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