1. Organizational
Behavior, 9/E
Schermerhorn, Hunt, and
Osborn
Prepared by
Michael K. McCuddy
Valparaiso University
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
2. Chapter 5 Study Questions
What is the perception process?
What are common perceptual
distortions?
How can perceptions be managed?
What is attribution theory?
Organizational Behavior: Chapter 5
2
3. Study Question 1: What is the
perception process?
Perception.
– The process by which people select, organize,
interpret, retrieve, and respond to information.
– People process information inputs into
responses involving feeling and action.
– The quality or accuracy of a person’s
perceptions has a major impact on responses.
Organizational Behavior: Chapter 5
3
4. Study Question 1: What is the perception
process?
Organizational Behavior: Chapter 5
4
5. Study Question 1: What is the
perception process?
Organizational Behavior: Chapter 5
5
6. Study Question 1: What is the
perception process?
Organizational Behavior: Chapter 5
6
7. Study Question 1: What is the
perception process?
Information attention and selection.
– Selective screening.
• Lets in only a tiny portion all the information that
is available.
– Two types of selective screening.
• Controlled processing.
• Screening without perceiver’s conscious
awareness.
Organizational Behavior: Chapter 5
7
8. Study Question 1: What is the
perception process?
Organization of information.
– Schemas.
• Cognitive frameworks that represent organized
knowledge about a given concept or stimulus
developed through experience.
– Types of schemas:
• Self schemas.
• Person schemas.
• Script schemas.
• Person-in-situation schemas.
Organizational Behavior: Chapter 5
8
9. Study Question 1: What is the
perception process?
Information interpretation.
– Uncovering the reasons behind the ways
stimuli are grouped.
– People may interpret the same information
differently or make different attributions about
information.
Organizational Behavior: Chapter 5
9
10. Study Question 1: What is the
perception process?
Information retrieval.
– Attention and selection, organization, and
interpretation are part of memory.
– Information stored in memory must be
retrieved in order to be used.
Organizational Behavior: Chapter 5
10
11. Study Question 2: What are common
perceptual distortions?
Organizational Behavior: Chapter 5
11
12. Study Question 2: What are 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.
Organizational Behavior: Chapter 5
12
13. Study Question 2: What are common
perceptual distortions?
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.
Organizational Behavior: Chapter 5
13
14. Study Question 2: What are common
perceptual distortions?
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.
Organizational Behavior: Chapter 5
14
15. Study Question 2: What are common
perceptual distortions?
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.
Organizational Behavior: Chapter 5
15
16. Study Question 2: What are common
perceptual distortions?
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
Organizational Behavior: Chapter 5
16
17. Study Question 2: What are common
perceptual distortions?
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.
Organizational Behavior: Chapter 5
17
18. Study Question 3: 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.
Organizational Behavior: Chapter 5
18
19. Study Question 3: How can
perceptions be managed?
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.
Organizational Behavior: Chapter 5
19
20. Study Question 4:What is
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.
Organizational Behavior: Chapter 5
20
21. Study Question 4:What is
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.
Organizational Behavior: Chapter 5
21
22. Study Question 4:What is
attribution theory?
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.
Organizational Behavior: Chapter 5
22
23. Study Question 4:What is
attribution theory?
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.
Organizational Behavior: Chapter 5
23
24. Study Question 4:What is
attribution theory?
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.
Organizational Behavior: Chapter 5
24
