Perceptions

1. PERCEPTION

2. WHAT IS PERCEPTION?
• The process by which individual assigns
meaning to environment in which he
lives which may be far away from
reality
• Two individual may see the same
situation but may perceive it differently
• It is significant for OB to understand
perception of individuals to understand
their behavior

3. • Sensation Vs Perception
– Sensation deals with the basic behavior of individuals
caused by his physiological functions
– Perception is a complex concept in which we take the raw
data thru senses then refines, modifies or completely
change it through our cognitive process

4. How we perceive ourselves?
• Self concept- refers to individuals self belief
and self evaluations, “who am I?” it has three
characteristics:-
– Complexity- how many distinct roles and /or
identities people perceive about themselves
– Consistency- how compatible are self concepts
with different roles and individual values
– Clarity-to what extent person defines himself and
provide same description of himself across times

5. Processes which influence self concept
• Self enhancement- person perceive himself above
average
• Self verification- people convey their self concept to
co-workers so that they can provide the feedback that
reinforces their self concept
• Self evaluation-almost everyone strives to have
positive self concept. Can be defined through:-
– Self esteem
– Self efficacy
– Locus of control
• The social self- some acheivement differentiates you
from others in the group

6. FACTORS INFLUENCING PERCEPTION
FACTORS IN TARGET
Novelty Motion
Sounds Proximity
Background Size
Similarity
PERCEPTION
FACTORS IN SITUATION
Time
Work setting
Social setting
FACTORS IN PERCEIVER
Attitude Experience
Motives Expectation
Interest

7. SOCIAL PERCEPTION
• It deals with as how an individual perceives other
individuals.
• The following characteristics influence the perception of
individual
– The individual well understands his own personality
– Personal characteristics of individual
– Individual with high self-esteem will find favorable aspects
– Multi skill of individuals
– Status of individual being perceived
– Visible personality traits of individual being perceived

8. Attribution Theory
People are motivated to understand
the causes of behavior. Attribution
theory seeks to explain how and why
people make these causal attributions.
Attributions - are the reasons we we give
for our own and others behaviors.

9. Why is this baby smiling?

10. • Fritz Heider argued that there are two general
types of attributions that people make:
–Personal /dispositional
attributions
–Situational attributions

11. Personal attributions
• Explanations in terms of personal
characteristics. For example:
–“The baby must be a happy baby.”
• Other examples:
–“He scored well on the exam because
he is smart.”
–“She tripped because she is clumsy.”

12. Situational attributions
• Explanations in terms of situational factors.
For example:
–“Someone must have just played with the
baby .”
• Other examples:
–“He scored well because it was an easy
test.”
–“She tripped because a squirrel ran in front
of her.”

13. The Fundamental Attributon Error
is that we overestimate the power
of the person and underestimate
the power of the situation.
The availability heuristic
partly explains why this error occurs.

14. Why do people make the fundamental
attribution error?
• The situation is not salient when people make
attributions for the behavior of others, but the
situation is salient when making attributions
for one’s own behavior.
• Thus, people are more inclined to take the
situation into account when explaining their
own behavior.

15. Self-serving bias
• People do not make objective situational /
personal attributions for their own behavior,
though.
• They tend to attribute their successes to
dispositional factors, and their failures to
situational factors.
• For example: “I did well on the test because I am
smart,” or “I did poor on the test because I didn’t
get enough sleep.

16. How do people make attributions?
• Kelley argued that people take three factors into
account when making a personal vs. situational
attribution:
– Consistency: “how often did the person act this way in the
past” Is the baby always smiling? If frequently then high
consistency if seldom then low
– Distinctiveness: “how often does the person acts this way
in other settings” Are there occasions on which the baby
doesn’t smile? If frequently then low distinctiveness if
seldom then high distinctiveness
– Consensus: “how often do other people act this way in
similar situation” Do all babies smile? If frequently then
consensus is high and if seldom then low consensus.

17. • If consistency is high, and distinctiveness /
consensus are low, then a personal attribution is
more likely:
– “The baby is always smiling, never displays other
emotions (like crying), and this is not typical of babies
in general. Therefore, this baby must have a happy
disposition.”
• If consistency is high, and distinctiveness /
consensus are also high, then a situational
attribution is more likely.
– “The baby is always smiling when tickled, but displays
different emotions in other circumstances. Smiling
when tickled is typical of all babies. Therefore, this
baby is smiling because it was tickled”

18. THEORIES OF MAKING JUDGMENTS
AND THEIR SHORTCOMINGS
• Attribution theory- (Errors- Fundamental attribution error, self serving bias)
INDIVIDUAL
BEHAVIOR
DISTINCTIVENESS
EXTERNAL
INTERNAL
CONSENSUS
EXTERNAL
INTERNAL
CONSISTENCY
EXTERNAL
INTERNAL
OBSERVATION ATTRIBUTION OF CAUSEINTERPRETATION

19. OTHER SHORTCUTS WHILE JUDGING
• Selective perception- not possible to observe everything, select
observations according to our interest
• Hallo effect- only prominent trait is considered
• Contrast effect- when compared with other
• Projection/false consensus effect- when own traits are
projected
• Stereotyping – when judged according to the group he/she belongs
• Primacy effect- when judged on the basis of first information
• Recency effect- when most recent information dominates
our perception

20. SPECIFIC APPLICATION IN
ORGANIZATION
• Employment interview- Ist impression is generally the last
impression
• Performance expectations- individuals behavior is judged
as per self expectations, example of survey of Israeli army trainers.
• Ethnic profiling- judged according to color, race, caste etc.
• Performance evaluation- where targets can not be
quantified the appraisal is done on the basis of subjective measures.
• Employee effort- sometimes the appraisal is done on the basis
of individual efforts and it is a subjective judgment

21. How one can develop perceptual skills
• Perceiving oneself accurately
• Enhancing self concept
• Having positive attitude
• Being empathic
• Communicating more openly
• Avoiding common perceptual distortions
• Developing a global mindset

22. Johari window-developed by Joseph Luft & Harry Ingram
known to self unknown to self
Known to self
Unknown to
others
Increase open area by disclosing your hidden area to them and
taking feedback for blind area to reduce perceptual biases.
Open area Blind area
Hidden area unknown area