perception

Perception

Meaning of perception:

I t i s su rp r i s ing tha t we rece ive some ob jec ts and re jec t o thers . I t i s equa l l y su rp r i s ing tha t an ob jec t received is understood differently by different people. Some view a painting as beautiful while others may see the same painting as ugly. The answer is perception, a strong component of human organism.

Definition:

In its simple sense perception is understood as the act of seeing what is there to be seen. But what is seen i s in f luenced by the perce iver , the ob jec t , and the env i ronment . The mean ing o f percep t ion w i l l be complete when all the three aspects are stressed. A few definitions of perception are given below:

(i) “Perception is the process of becoming aware of situations, of adding meaningful associations to sensations.”

(ii) “Perception can be defined as the process of receiving, selecting, organizing, interpreting, checking, and reacting to sensory stimuli or data.”

(iii) “Perception can be defined as a process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environments.”

(iv) “Percep t ion inc ludes a l l those p rocesses by wh ich an ind iv idua l rece ives in fo rmat ion abou t h is environment - seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting, and smelling. The study of these perceptional processes how’s tha t the i r func t ion ing i s a f fec ted by th ree c lasses o f va r iab les - the ob jec ts o r even ts be ing perceived, the environment in which perception occurs, and the individual doing the perceiving.

Nature & Importance of Perception:

We often behave on the basis of what we perceive. What we perceive may not always be true. In the darkness, we often mistake a rope for a snake and consequently, we make a hasty retreat or use a stick. No, wonder that half a glass of water is viewed as half empty by some and half full by others.

It is nothing but perception wherein one draws relevant information from the environment and attaches meaning to it. There are unique differences in the perceptions of individuals even though the perceived object or environment may be a stable one makes people behave differently.

Prepared By Mrs Neha Rathi Faculty of KKPIMS

People appraise different aspects of the environment on the basis of their individual experiences an devaluate what they experience in terms of their needs and values.A specific example would be the universal assumption made by managers that subordinates always want promotions, when, in fact, many subordinates really feel psychologically forced to accept a promotion in other words, the perceptual world of the manager is quite different from the perceptual world of the subordinate, and both may be very different from reality.

It is equally surprising that an object received is understood differently by different people. Some view a painting as beautiful while others may see the same painting as ugly. Why these phenomena? The answer is perception, a strong component of human organism.

Every person perceives the world and approaches the life problems differently. This factor is very important in understanding human behavior. We buy what we like best and what is best. It is because of perception that a particular job may appear a good job to one and bad to another.

If people behave on the basis of their perception then changing behavior in a pre determined direction could be made easier by understanding their present perception of the world.

People act as they perceive and different people perceive things differently. People’s perception is determined by their needs.

Perception is important dynamite for the manager who wants to avoid making errors when dealing with peop le and even ts in the work se t t ings . A manger ’s response to a s i tua t ion , fo r example , may be mis in te rp re ted by a subord ina te who perce ives the s i tua t ion very d i f fe ren t l y . In o rder to dea l w i th subordinates effectively, a manager must understand their perception properly.

Perceptual Process:Perception process is composed of six processes, viz., receiving, selecting, organizing, interpreting, checking, and reacting to stimuli. These processes are influenced by the perceiver and the situation.

Receiving:Perception is a process of receiving and interpreting stimuli. The perceptual process begins when stimuli are received through sensory organs.

These stimuli enter our organism through the sensory organs-vision, hearing, smell, touch, taste. We may not be able to report the existence of certain stimuli, but our behaviour reveals that we are often subject to their influence. Stimuli need not be external to us they may be internal also. External stimuli include light waves, sound


waves, mechanical energy or pressure, and chemical energy from objects that one can smell and taste. Internal stimuli include energy generated by muscles, food passing through the digestive system, and glands secreting behaviour influencing hormones.

Perceptional Selectivity (Selecting Stimuli):The p rocess o f f i l t e r ing in fo rmat ion rece ived by our senses i s ca l led se lec t ing s t imu l i o r se lec t i ve attention. Several factors influence selective attention. Two sets of factors govern the selection of stimuli: T here are

(A) External and (B) Internal.(A) External Factors Influencing Selection:The external factors influencing selection are nature, location, intensity, size, contrast, repetition, motion, and novelty and familiarity.

B- Internal factors Influencing Selection:

Internal factors influencing selection of stimuli include learning, psychological needs, age differences, interests, ambivalence, and paranoid perception. These factors relate to one self.

The Process of Interpreting (Perceptual Errors):

Af te r the da ta have been rece ived and o rgan ized , the perce iver in te rp re ts o r ass igns mean ing to the information. In fact, perception is said to have taken place only after the data have been interpreted. Several, factors contribute towards the interpretation of data. More important amongst them are perceptual set, attribution, stereotyping, halo effect, perceptual context, perceptual defense, implicit personality theory and projection.

The Process of Checking

After data have been received and interpreted, the perceiver tends to check whether his interpretations are right or wrong. One way of checking is for the person himself or herself to indulge in introspection. He or she will put a series of questions to himself or herself and the answer will confirm whether his or her perception about an individual or object is correct or otherwise. Another way is to check the veracity about the interpretation with others.

The Process of Reacting

The last phase in the perception is the reaction. The perceiver will indulge in some action in relation to his or her perception. The action depends on whether the perception is favorable or unfavorable. It is positive when the perception is favorable and negative when the perception is unfavorable. For example, a worker responds favorably to the


motivational intentions of a manager provided his or her understanding about his or her boss is favorable. The response is negative when his perception of the manager’s behaviour is unfavorable.

FACTORS INFLUENCING PERCEPTION

A number of factors operate to shape and sometimes distort perception. These factors

can reside

i. In the perceiver.

ii. In the object or target being perceived or

iii. In the context of the situation in which the perception is made.

1. Characteristics of the Perceiver: Several characteristics of the perceiver can affect

perception. When an individual looks at a target and attempts to interpret what he or

she stands for, that interpretation is heavily influenced by personal characteristics of the

individual perceiver. The major characteristics of the perceiver influencing perception

are:

Attitudes: The perceiver's attitudes affect perception. For example, suppose Mr. X is

interviewing candidates for a very important position in his organization — a position

that requires negotiating contracts with suppliers, most of whom are male. Mr. X may

feel that women are not capable of holding their own in tough negotiations. This attitude

will doubtless affect his perceptions of the female candidates he interviews.

Moods: Moods can have a strong influence on the way we perceive someone. We think

differently when we are happy than we do when we are depressed. In addition, we

remember information that is consistent with our mood state better than information that

is inconsistent with our mood state. When in a positive mood, we form more positive

impressions of others. When in a negative mood, we tend to evaluate others

unfavourably.

Motives: Unsatisfied needs or motives stimulate individuals and may exert a strong

influence on their perceptions. For example, in an organizational context, a boss who is

insecure perceives a subordinate's efforts to do an outstanding job as a threat to his or


her own position. Personal insecurity can be translated into the perception that others

are out to "get my job", regardless of the intention of the subordinates.

Self-Concept: Another factor that can affect social perception is the perceivers' self-

concept. An individual with a positive self-concept tends to notice positive attributes in

another person. In contrast, a negative self-concept can lead a perceiver to pick out

negative traits in another person. Greater understanding of self allows us to have more

accurate perceptions of others.

Interest: The focus of our attention appears to be influenced by our interests. Because

our individual interests differ considerably, what one person notices in a situation can

differ from what others perceive. For example, the supervisor who-has just been

reprimanded by his boss for coming late is more likely to notice his colleagues coming

late tomorrow than he did last week. If you are preoccupied with a personal problem,

you may find it hard to be attentive in class.

Cognitive Structure: Cognitive structure, an individual's pattern of thinking, also affects

perception. Some people have a tendency to perceive physical traits, such as height,

weight, and appearance, more readily. Others tend to focus more on central traits, or

personality dispositions. Cognitive complexity allows a person to perceive multiple

characteristics of another person rather than attending to just a few traits.

Expectations: Finally, expectations can distort your perceptions in that you will see what

you expect to see. The research findings of the study conducted by Sheldon S Zalkind

and Timothy W Costello on some specific characteristics of the perceiver reveal

• Knowing oneself makes it easier to see others accurately.

• One's own characteristics affect the characteristics one is likely to see in others.

• People who accept themselves are more likely to be able to see favourable aspects

of other people.

• Accuracy in perceiving others is not a single skill. These four characteristics greatly

influence how a person perceives others in the environmental situation.


Characteristics of the Target

Characteristics in the target that is being observed can affect what is perceived.

Physical appearance plays a big role in our perception of others. Extremely attractive or

unattractive individuals are more likely to be noticed in a group than ordinary looking

individuals. Motion, sound, size and other attributes of a target shape the way we see it.

• Physical appearance plays a big role in our perception of others. The perceiver will

notice the target's physical features like height, weight, estimated age, race and

gender. Perceivers tend to notice physical appearance characteristics that contrast

with the norm, that are intense, or that are new or unusual. Physical attractiveness

often colours our entire impression of another person. Interviewers rate attractive

candidates more favourably and attractive candidates are awarded higher starting

salaries.

• Verbal communication from targets also affects our perception of them. We listen to

the topics they speak about, their voice tone, and their accent and make judgements

based on this input.

• Non-verbal communication conveys a great deal of information about the target. The

perceiver deciphers eye contact, facial expressions, body movements, and posture

all in an attempt to form an impression of the target.

• The perceiver, who observes the target's behaviour, infers the intentions of the

target. For example, if our manager comes to our office doorway, we think "oh no!

He is going to give me more work to do". Or we may perceive that his intention is to

congratulate us on a recent success. In any case, the perceiver's interpretation of

the target's intentions affects the way the perceiver views the target.

• Targets are not looked at in isolation ; the relationship of a target to its background

influences perception because of our tendency to group close things and similar

things together.

• People, objects or events that are similar to each other also tend to be grouped

together. The greater the similarity, the greater the probability we will tend to

perceive them as a group.


• Objects that are close to each other will tend to be perceived together rather than

separately. As a result of physical or time proximity, we often put together objects or

events that are unrelated. For example, employees in a particular department are

seen as a group, If two employees of a department suddenly resign, we tend to

assume their departures were related when in fact, they might be totally unrelated.

The figure below summarizes the factors influencing perception.

Characteristics of the Situation

• The situation in which the interaction between the perceiver and the target takes place has

an influence on the perceiver's impression of the target. Meeting a manager in his or her

office affects your impression in a certain way that may contrast with the impression you

would have formed, had you met the manager in a restaurant. Main factors related to

situations are

• time

• location

• light

Managing the Perception Process

Successful managers understand the importance of perception as an influencing factor on behaviour and they act accordingly. They are aware of perceptual distortions and also know that perceptual differences are likely to exist in any situation. As a result, they try to make decisions and take action with a true understanding of the work situation as it is viewed by all persons concerned. A manager who is skilled in the perception process will:

1. Have a high level of self-awareness :Individual needs, experience, and expectations can all affect perceptions. The successful manager knows this and is able to identify when he or she is inappropriately distorting a situation because of such perceptual tendencies.

2. Seek information from various sources to confirm or disconfirm personal impressions of a decision situation:

The success fu l manager m in im izes the b iases o f persona l percep t ions by seek ing ou t the view points of others. These insights are used to gain additional perspective on situations and the problems or opportunities they represent.

3. Be empathetic-that is, be able to see a situation as it is perceived by other people:


Different people w i l l de f ine the same s i tua t ion somewhat d i f fe ren t l y . The success fu l manager r i ses above persona l impressions to understand problems are seen by other people.

4. Influence perceptions of other people when they are drawing incorrect or incomplete impressions of events in the work setting:

People act in terms of their perceptions. The successful manager is able to influence the perceptions of others so that work events and situations are interpreted as accurately as possible and to the advantage of all concerned.

5. Avoid common perceptual distortions that bias our views of people and situations:

These distortions include the use of stereotypes and halo effects, as well as selective perception and projection. Successful managers are self-disciplined and sufficiently self-aware so that the adverse impacts of these distortions are minimized.

6. Avoid inappropriate attributions: Everyone has a tendency to try and explain why events happened the way they did or why people behaved as they did. The successful manager is careful to establish the real reasons why things happen and avoid quick or inappropriate attributions of casualty.

7. Diversity management programmes: As firms globalize themselves, diversity management assumes greater relevance. The challenge for corporate executives is to leverage the benefits of this diversity while minimizing the perceptual and behavioral problems that tend to accompany heterogeneity. OB experts have designed diversity management programmes. Typically, these training programmes serve two purposes.

First, they communicate the value of diversity. Second, these programmes help participants become aware of their personal biases and give them more accurate information about people with different backgrounds, thus avoiding perceptual distortions.

8 Know yourself:App ly the Johar i w indow to know the rea l se l f . A power fu l way to m in im ize perceptual biases is to know and become more aware of one’s values, beliefs, and prejudice.

BARRIERS/FREQUENTLY USED SHORTCUTS IN JUDGING OTHERS

Perceiving and interpreting what others do is burdensome. As a result, individuals

develop techniques for making, the task more manageable. These techniques are not


foolproof. Several factors lead us to form inaccurate impressions ' of others. These

barriers to perception are inaccurate impressions of others. These barriers to perception

are:

1. Selective Perception: We receive a vast amount of information. Therefore, it is

impossible for us to assimilate everything we see - only certain stimuli can be taken

note of. That is why, the boss may reprimand some employees for doing something that

— when done by another employee — goes unnoticed. Since we can't observe

everything going on about us, we engage in selective perception.

Selective perception is also our tendency to choose information that supports our

viewpoints; individuals often ignore information that makes them feel uncomfortable or

threatens their viewpoints.

Selective perception allows us to "speed-read" others, but not without the risk of

drawing an inaccurate picture. Because we see what we want to see, we can draw

unwarranted conclusions from an ambiguous situation. Our perception tends to be

influenced more by an individual's attitudes, interests, and background than by the

stimulus itself.

2. Stereotype: A stereotype is a generalization about a group of people. When we

judge someone on the basis of our perception of the group to which he or she belongs,

we are using the shortcut called stereotyping. Stereotypes reduce information about

other people to a workable level, and they are efficient for compiling and using

information. It is a means of simplifying a complex world and it permits us to maintain

consistency. It is less difficult to deal with an unmanageable number of stimuli if we use

stereotypes. Stereotypes can be accurate, and when they are accurate, they can be

useful perceptual guidelines. However, most of the time, stereotypes are inaccurate.

Attractiveness is a powerful stereotype. We assume that attractive individuals are also

warm, kind, sensitive, poised, sociable, outgoing, independent, and strong. Are

attractive people always


warm, kind, intelligent, sociable, outgoing, independent, and strong? Are attractive

people really like this? Certainly all of them are not.

In organizations, we frequently hear comments that represent stereotypes based on

gender, age, nationality, etc. From a perceptual standpoint, if people expect to see this

stereotype, that is what they will perceive, whether it's accurate or not.

3. Halo Effect: The halo error in perception is very similar to stereotyping. Whereas in

stereotyping the person is perceived according to a single category, under the halo

effect the person is perceived on the basis of one trait.

When we draw a general impression about an individual based on a single

characteristic, such as intelligence, sociability or appearance, a halo effect is operating.

The propensity for the halo effect to operate is not random. Research suggests it is

likely to be most extreme when the traits to be perceived are ambiguous in behavioural

terms, when the traits have moral overtones, and when the perceiver is judging traits

with which he or she has limited experience. Example of halo effect is the extremely

attractive secretary who is perceived by her male boss as being intelligent, and a good

performer, when, in fact, she is a poor typist.

4. First-impression error: Individuals place a good deal of importance on first

impressions. First impressions are lasting impressions. We tend to remember what we

perceive first about a person, and sometimes we are quite reluctant to change our initial

impressions. First-impression error means the tendency to form lasting opinions about

an individual based on initial perceptions. Primacy effects can be particularly dangerous

in interviews, given that we form first impressions quickly and that these impressions

may be the basis for long-term employment relationships.

5. Contrast Effect: Stimuli that contrast with the surrounding environment are more

likely to be selected for attention than stimuli that blend in. A contrasting effect can be

caused by colour, size or any other factor that is unusual (any factor that distinguishes

one stimulus from others at present). For example, a man walking down the street with

a pair of crutches is more attention grabbing than the usual variety of pedestrian. A

contrast effect is the evaluation of a person's characteristics that are affected by


comparisons with other people recently encountered that rank higher or lower on the

same characteristics. The "contrast" principle essentially states that external stimuli that

stand out against the background or which are not what are expecting, will receive their

attention. The contrast effect also explains why a male student stands out in a crowd of

female students. There is nothing unusual about the male student but, when surrounded

by females, he stands out.

An illustration of how contrast effects operate is an interview situation in which one sees

a pool of job applicants. Distortions in any given candidate's evaluation can occur as a

result of his or her place in the interview schedule. The candidate is likely to receive a

more favourable evaluation if preceded by mediocre applicants, and a less favourable

evaluation if preceded by strong applicants.

6. Projection: It is easy to judge others if we assume they are similar to us. This

tendency to attribute one's own characteristics to other people is called projection.

Projection can distort perceptions made about others. People who engage in projection

tend to perceive others according to what they are like, rather than according to what

the person being observed is really like. When managers engage in projection, they

compromise their ability to respond to individual differences. They tend to see people as

more homogeneous than they really are.

7. Implicit Personality Theories: We tend to have our own mini-theories about how

people look and behave. These theories help us organize our perceptions and take

shortcuts instead of integrating new information all the time. Implicit-personality theory is

opinions formed about other people that are based on our own mini-theories about how

people behave. For example, we believe that girls dressed in fashionable clothes will

like modern music and girls dressed in traditional dress, like a saree, will like Indian

classical music. These implicit personality theories are barriers because they limit out

ability to take in new information: when it is available.

8. Self-Fulfilling Prophecies: Self-fulfilling prophecies are situations in which our

expectations about people affect our interaction with them in such a way that our

expectations are fulfilled. Self-fulfilling prophecy it also known as the Pygmalion effect,


named after a sculptor in Greek mythology who carved a statue of a girl that came to life

when he prayed for this boon and it was granted.

The Pygmalion effect has been observed in work organizations as well. A manager's

expectations of an individual affect both the manager's behaviour toward the individual

and the individual's response. For example, suppose a manager has an initial

impression of an employee as having the potential to move up within the organization,

Chances are that the manager will spend a great deal of time coaching and counselling

the employee, providing challenging assignments and grooming the individual for

success.

Attribution theory

Meaning of Attribution:

Attribution is an important concept for understanding perception, as it is related to

judging the causes of others' behaviour. An inaccurate attribution may lead to

inaccurate perception. Our perceptions of what is happening in the environment depend

very much on the attributions we make.

Attribution refers to the tendency one develops to explain the ways in which one judges

other people's behaviour. Very often we make attempts to understand the more lasting

causes behind others' actions by interpreting their traits, motives and intentions through

the attribution process. Simply stated Attribution is the complex process in which we

observe others' behaviour a nd try to infer causes behind it from various areas.

ATTRIBUTION THEORY:

Attribution-theory has been proposed to develop explanations of the ways in which we

judge people differently, depending on what meaning we attribute to a given behaviour.

Attribution is a perceptual process. The way we explain success of failure - whether our

own or that of another person - affects our feelings and our subsequent behaviour.

Harold Kelley extended artribution theory by trying to identify the antecedents of internal

and external attributions.


Causes of behaviour:

The theory suggests that when we observe an individual's behaviour, we attempt to

determine whether it was internally or externally caused.

i) Internal attributions: Attributions can be made to an internal source of responsibility.

That means something within the individual's control. For example, suppose you

perform well in your MBA examination, you might say you did well because you are

smart or because you studied hard. If you attribute your success to ability or effort, you

are citing an internal source. Examples of the internal attributions are personal attributes

such as ability, skills, amount of effort, fatigue.

ii) External Attributions: Attributions can be made to an external source of

responsibility. That means something outside the individuals' control. For example,

suppose you perform well in your MBA examination you might say the examination was

easy or that you had good luck. In this case, you are attributing your performance to

sources beyond your control or external attributions.

Kelley proposed that individuals make attributions based on information gathered in the

form of three informational cues. Examples of the external attributions are

organisational rules and policies, the manner of superiors, the weather.

Factors influencing internal and external causes:

1. Distinctiveness: Distinctiveness is the degree to which the person displays different

behaviour in different situations. What we want to know is, if this behaviour is unusual or

not. If the employee who arrives late today also the one coworker say regularly. What

we want to know is whether this behaviour is unusual. If it is, the observer is likely to

give the behaviour an external attribution. If this action is not unusual, it will probably be

judged as internal.

2. Consensus: Consensus is the extent to which peers in the same situation behave

the same way. In other words, if everyone who is faced with a similar situation responds


in the same way, we can say the behaviour shows consensus. If everybody in the same

circumstance behaves in the same way, you would be given an external attribution,

whereas if a single employee behaves in a particular way, your conclusion would be

internal.

E.g. The behaviour of our tardy employee meets this criterion if all employees who took

the same route to work were also late. From an attribution perspective if consensus is

high, you would probably give an external attribution to the employee’s tardiness, where

as if other employees’ who took the same route made it to work on time, you would

attribute his lateness to an internal cause.

The figure below summarizes the key elements in attribution theory.


perception

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