3rd-Week

PERCEPTION
&
Perceptual Process

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WhatIsPerception, andWhyIsIt

Important?

••People’s
People’s behavior
behavior isis
based
based on on their
their
perception
perception of of what
what
reality
reality is,is, not
not onon
reality
reality itself.
itself.
••The
The world
world as as itit isis
perceived
perceived isis the the worldworld
that
that isis behaviorally
behaviorally
important.
important.
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 Factors That
Influence Perception
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 Person Perception: Making
Judgments About Others

Distinctiveness:
Distinctiveness:shows
showsdifferent
differentbehaviors
behaviorsinindifferent
differentsituations.
situations.
Consensus:
Consensus:response
responseisisthe
thesame
sameasasothers
otherstotosame
samesituation.
situation.
Consistency:
Consistency:responds
respondsininthe
thesame
sameway
wayover
overtime.
time.

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Attribution Theory

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Errors and Biases
in Attributions

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7
8
Self fulfilling prophecy

Occur when our expectations about another person

cause that person to act in a way that is consistent with
those expectation
Supervisor forms
Expectation about
employee.

Employee behavior
Expectation effect
become consistent
supervisor's behavior
with supervisor's
towards employee
expectation.

Supervisor's behavior
effects employee abilities
& self-efficiency
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Frequently Used Shortcuts in
Judging Others

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 Perception process diagram

Environmental STIMULI

Feeling Hearing Seeing Smelling Tasting

Selective Attention

Perceptual organization
And interpretation

Emotion & Behavior

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The Perceptual Process
 The perceptual process can be defined as the process of:

1. Receiving Stimuli
2. Selecting Stimuli
3. Organizing
4. Interpreting
5. Checking
6. Reacting

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1-The Process of Receiving Stimuli

 The first process of perception is the reception of stimuli or

data from various sources.
 Most data is received through the 5 organs (seeing, hearing,
touching, smelling and tasting) and so learns about the
various aspects of things.

Example: While taking a round of the shop floor, a supervisor

may become aware of some trouble from smelling
something strange and may then draw attention of a
worker to something burning due to a small electrical
fire.

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2-The Process of Selecting Stimuli

 After receiving the stimuli or data, only some are

selected for our attention.

 It is not possible to pay attention to all stimuli

received.

 Two sets of factors govern the selection of stimuli:

internal and external

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Factors Influencing selecting

External Internal
Factors Factors

Physiological
Intensity need

Size Background

Contrast Experience

Movement Personality

Familiarity Self acceptance

Novality
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 External Factors Influencing
Selection

1. Intensity---
Generally, stimuli which are higher in intensity are
perceived more readily than those which are low in
intensity. Advertisements make good use of this factor.
Example: at night brighter lights are more attractive,
during a strike workers attract attention of managers by
shouting slogans.
2. Size---
Generally larger objects attract more attention because
they are perceived faster. Example: larger ads are
perceived more easily than smaller ones.

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3. Contrast—
Usually things which differ from the familiar attract
attention quickly. Example: if one is familiar with a
particular sound, a sudden change in it will attract
attention, suppose a worker who is different from others
workers stands out.
4. Movement---
Things which are in motion attract more attention than
those which are stationary. Example: short video ads on
TV or cinema

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5. Familiarity—
Things which are familiar attract attention, particularly when
they are not expected in a particular context. Example: In an
organization people notice those from the same background
more, as well as pay more attention to them, than people
from a different background.
6. Novelty—
This is contradictory to the factor of familiarity. However,
things which are new also attract attention. Example: a
worker notices a strange or new sound in a machine
immediately, taking it as a clue that something may be
wrong with it.

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 Internal Factors influencing Selection

1. Psychological need
Sometimes things which do not exist are “seen” because of psychological
need. When people are deprived of a particular need, they perceived the
concern objects more frequently. Example: a thirsty person will keep on
seeing water. In an organization who has a high need for establishing good
relationships with others may quickly identify those who are friendly and
may be attracted to such people. Similarly, a person who has a high need
to control people may be attracted to those who respond to such a need by
being docile and may therefore selectively notice such people.
2. Background
One’s background also influences one’s selection of objects. People from
a particular background look for people from a background. Example: a
person educated in a management training institute may attend more to a
person who has been through a similar education.

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3. Experience
Similar to background is the factor of experience. Experience prepares a
person to look for people, objects and phenomena similar to his/her earlier
personal experience. Example?

4. Personality
Personality also influences perception. An introvert may be attracted to
people either similar to or quite dissimilar to him or her. General attitudes
and beliefs also influence perception. Example?

5. Self-acceptance
Some studies have shown that those who have high self-acceptance
perceive things more accurately than those with low self-acceptance.

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3-The Organizing Process

In order to make sense of he data

received, it is necessary to organize
them. There are two main
dimensions to the organization of
stimuli:

Grouping Figure-ground

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Grouping

Similarity

Proximity

Closure

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Grouping

 The various stimuli are grouped together using several

factors:
a. Similarity
Stimuli which are similar are put together. All workers,
for example, are perceived in the same category by
managers and similarly all managers are perceived as
one category by managers.

b. Proximity
Objects which are close to each other are also grouped
together. People or things which are in the same place
would thus be grouped together.

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c. Closure
 There is a tendency in all of us to complete incomplete things.
 When three lines shown, the tendency to perceive these not as three
separate lines but as a triangle.
 This tendency to see things in a complete form may even make a person
perceive characteristics that do not exist.
Example: when looking at a person one may find several characteristics which
indicate that the person is lazy and irresponsible. However, one may assume
several other things without checking whether the person behaves differently
on those matters from the way an irresponsible or lazy person would behave.

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 Figure-ground

 It is one of the most interesting and basic processes in perception.

 In perceiving stimuli or phenomena, the tendency to keep certain phenomena in
focus and other stimuli or phenomena in the background.

Example: during a lecture, the various stimuli received by people attending are
grouped into two. Certain stimuli are not in the focus of people’s attention like
chirping of the birds outside, certain noises made by people walking outside, the
noise of the fan etc. All these become background and not much attention is paid to
them. What remains in focus is what the lecturer is saying.
 The stimuli is thus organized in two groups, figure (what the speaker is saying) and
ground ( background stimuli, which are not in the focus of attention)
 Thus perception may change if certain stimuli are changed from figure to ground.

Example: if a student is listening to a lecture may pay more attention to the noise outside
the room to make it the figure and what the lecturer is saying may become the ground.

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4-The Process of
Interpreting
o Perceptual data or stimuli are interpreted by the perceiver through
the perceptual act of beliefs, attitudes and opinions and perpetual
defense.
o Perceptual set of beliefs, attitudes and opinions.
o Previously held beliefs pertinent to perception can influence
individual perception. These general opinions or attitudes a person
has, constitute the perceptual set.
Example:
` A manager may have developed a general belief that workers are
lazy, shirk work and want to get all the advantages from an
organization without giving their best to it. In such a case, he or she
already has a mental or perceptual set. When he or she meets a
group of workers, this manager will tend to interpret their behavior
according to the mental set. Another manager, having different
beliefs, attitudes and opinions, may have a different interpretation
of the same phenomena.

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2. The Perceptual Defense
Perceptual defense is used by the perceiver to deal with the conflicting
messages and data. If the data a person receives threaten beliefs
already held, the recipient uses perceptual defense to deal with this
phenomena
Example:
If a manager gets data from a union on strike, showing that it
is taking positive steps in the direction of resolving conflicts or
is doing something useful for the organization, the manager
may find such data in conflict with a preconceived opinion
that the union by an large negative in its approach.

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5-The Process of Checking

 After the data have been received and interpreted, the

perceiver takes steps to check whether his or her
interpretations are right or wrong.
 The process of checking may be so fast that the person is not
even aware of it.
 Alternatively data or impressions are checked by asking other
people about their perceptions.

Example:
A manager who has perceived a certain characteristic in a
subordinate on a few occasions may check with other
managers who worked with that subordinate previously to find
out whether this perception is endorsed by them

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7-The Process of Reacting

 It is the last phase.

 When people do something in reaction to their perception
 For example a manager may act on the basis of the
favorable or unfavorable perceptions he or she has
formed.
 The cycle of perception is not complete unless it leads to
some action.
 The action may be covert or overt.
 Covert action implies the formation of opinions or
attitudes and overt action is s definite action in response
to perception.

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 One phenomena to covert action is “impression
formation”, in which perceiver forms an impression about
an object or person.
 A manager has to form impressions most of the time,
being required to make quick judgments.
Example:
While interviewing people a ,manager has to form a
quick impression of the interviewees to take a decision.

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 Specific Applications in
Organizations

 Employment Interview
 Perceptual biases affect the accuracy of interviewers’ judgments
of applicants.

 Performance Expectations
 The lower or higher performance of employees reflects
preconceived leader expectations about employee capabilities.

 Performance Evaluations
 Appraisals are subjective perceptions of performance.

 Employee Effort
 Assessment of individual effort is a subjective judgment subject
to perceptual distortion and bias.

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 Snap Judgment Exercise
B C
A
G
I
H

F D
J

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