PERCEPTION

By
Bindiya Yesodharan
Anup v Nair
Aditya GVK
Gayatri.R
Manu k Mathew
 Perception

According to S.P.Robbins” Perception may be defined as a set of

processes by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory
impressions in order to give meaning to their environment” .Perception
basically refers to the manner in which people organize, interpret and
experience ideas and use stimulus materials in the environment so that
they satisfy their needs. Perception is an important dynamite for the
manager who wants to avoid making errors when dealing with other
people and events in the work setting. This problem is made even more
complicated by the fact that different people may perceive the same
situation quite differently. A manager’s response to a situation may be
misinterpreted by a subordinate who perceives the situation quite
differently.

Nature of perception
What we know about the world around us comes from our
perception. Sensory inputs such as light, sound and pressure must be
perceived and cognitively organized into meaningful patterns before they
can be acted upon. Sensations from the outside world are altered by
previous learning, memories, expectations, beliefs, attitudes, values and
personality beyond the pure stimulus.

Perception and sensation

Perception is a complex cognitive process. Here the information is
selected, cognitively organized in a specific fashion, and then interpreted.
It is a subjective process (preference based). There are 5 well known
physical senses, namely, vision, hearing, touch, smell and taste. The 5
senses are constantly bombarded by numerous stimuli that are both
outside and inside the body. Examples of outside stimuli includes light
waves, sound waves ,mechanical energy of pressure and chemical energy
from objects that one can smell and taste. Inside stimuli include energy
generated by muscles, food passing through the digestive system etc. In
this way the person uses the senses to experience color, brightness, shape,
loudness, heat etc.
Importance of perception

Perception helps in understanding the difference between the

perceptual world and the real world: - The world as we see is not
necessarily the same as it really is. It is because what we hear is not what
is really said.
It helps understand that individuals have different degrees of readiness to
respond to objects, people, and events:- People working in an
organization differ in terms of physical charecteristics such as age,sex
etc.We buy what we like best and not what is best. It is because of
perception that same job may appear a good job to one and staggy job to
another. People act as they perceive. Different people perceive things
differently. People’s perception is determined by their needs. If people
are asked to describe the people they work with, they talk more about
their boss than their colleagues because of their continuous worry to
please the boss.
Perception is what helps individuals to use the knowledge they have in an
entirely different situation from that in which they learned it. e.g.: use of
knife

Process of perception:

Perception is the process through which people select, receive, organize

and interpret information from their environment. Through perception,
people process information input into decisions and actions. It is a way of
forming impressions about yourself, other people and daily life
experiences. Refer to figure in the slide. As shown in the figure
perceptual inputs are first received, then processed by the perceiver and
the resultant output becomes the base of the behavior. The 4 variables of
perceptual process are as under:

Perceptual Inputs-Perceived inputs are the objects, events , people etc

that are received by the receiver.

Perceptual mechanism-The received inputs are processed through the

selection, organization and interpretation.

1. selection- it is the fundamental step in perceptual process. Individual

collects bits and pieces of information not randomly, but selectively
depending on the interests, background, experience, attitudes etc. People
selectively perceive what is most important for them in a particular
situation. Selective perception involves two psychological principles-
Figure ground principle and relevancy.

2. Organization- perceived inputs are organized into meaningful pictures

to the perceiver. There are three different ways by which people organize
the perceived inputs, objects, events etc.. Example -grouping, closure and
simplification.

3. Interpretation-The most important mechanism of perception is

interpretation. It is a subjective process. In organization, interpretation
may be influenced by many factors such as halo effect, stereotyping,
attribution, impression and inference.

Outputs-through the processing mechanism, the outputs are received.

These outputs may be feelings, attitudes, actions etc.

Behavior- It is dependent on the perceived outputs. The perceiver’s

behavior in turn generates responses from the perceived and these
responses give rise to a new set of inputs.

FACTORS AFFECTING PERCEPTION

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

The factors are :

1.The perceiver
2.Objects/Targets being perceived
3.Situation in which perception takes place.

1.The perceiver:

The interpretation is heavily influenced by the personal

characteristics of an individual perceived. Personal characteristics that
affect perception include a person’s attitudes, motives, interests, past
experiences and expectations.
For instance you expect police officers to be authoritative and young
people to be lazy.

2.Objects/Targets being perceived:

 Characteristics of the target being observed can affect what is
perceived.for eg: loud people are more likely to be noticed in a group
than quiet ones.People pay more attention to a moving object than the
stationary ones.Repeated objects catch attention
(eg:advertisements),size of the object (full page advertisement in news
paper),contrast (object that stand against the back ground)etc.

3.Situation:

The context in which we see the objects is also important.

For eg:
Party gown at party by a student will not be noticed by professor
But same attired for class professor notice.
FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE PERCEPTION

PERCEPTION AND ITS APPLICATIONS

1. Employment interview :-

Different interviewer try to see different things in the same

candidate and thus arrive at different perceptions.
Early impression about the candidate weighs in the final
selection .influences the quality of labour force selected in
organization
2. Performance appraisal :- depends highly on evaluator. Promotion,
pay rises and continuation of job are obvious and common
outcomes of the employ appraisals. Performance appraisal are both
objective and subjective.
 Objective:- easily be quantified.
e.g. salesman’s performance based on how much he made by
selling during a given time . usually employee’s jobs are evaluated
in subjective term.-judgement
3. performance expectation:- new employees during selection time
acquire a set of expectation about the organization and about the
job he is expecting to achieve. There is a big difference between
expected and the actually acquired- it results in increased employee
absenteeism and turnover.
4. employee effort;- subjective, distortive.
5. employee loyalty;- subjective
e.g. an employee looking for greener pastures outside organization
may considered disloyal to organization.

MAKING JUDGEMENT ABOUT OTHERS

Frequently used shortcuts in judging others

1. Selective perception

Any characteristic that makes a person object or event stand out will increase the
probability that it will be perceived .this is because it is impossible for us assimilate
everything we see-only certain stimuli can be taken in. Because we can’t observe
everything going on about us, we engage in selective perception. Because we cant
assimilate all that we observe we take in bits and pieces but those bits and pieces are
not chosen randomly rather they are selectively chosen according o our interests ,
backgrounds, experience and attitudes. this causes the risk of drawing an inaccurate
picture about others.

Example regarding selective perception

Dearborn and Simon performed a perceptual study in which 23 business

executives read a comprehensive case describing the organization and activities of a
steel company. Of the 23 executives 6 were in sales, 5 in production, 4 in accounting,
and 8 in miscellaneous functions. Each of the manager were asked to write down the
most important problem he found in case. 83% of sales executives rated sales
important. Only 29% of the others did so. This along with other results of study, led
the researches to conclude that the participants perceived aspects of a situation that
were specifically related to the activities and goals of the unit to which they are
attached.
 This clearly shows the selective perception of the managers. The people
cannot assimilate everything they see so they-only certain stimuli can be taken in like
the things which make the people to stand out. So in the above example also the
managers made perceptions regarding their own field of study.

2. Halo effect

When we draw a general impression about an individual on the basis of a

single characteristic such as intelligence, sociability or appearance a ‘Halo Effect’ is
operating. the reality of the Halo Effect was confirmed in a classic study in which
subjects were given a list of traits such as intelligent, skilful ,practical, industrious,
determined and warm and were asked to evaluate the person to whom those traits
apply. when those traits were used , the person was judged to be wise,humorous
,popular and imaginative. when the same was modified-cold was substituted for
warm-a completely different set of perceptions was obtained clearly the subjects were
allowing a single trait to influence their overall impression of the person being judged.

Example regarding Halo effect

This hallow effect phenomenon frequently occurs when students appraise their
classroom instructor. Students may give prominence to a single trait such as
enthusiasm and evaluate and give their judgment based on that trait. Thus an
instructor may be quiet, knowledgeable, assured, and highly qualified, but if his style
lacks zeal, those students would probably give him a low rating.

3.Contrast effect

When we meet a person for the first time we don’t evaluate him/her in
isolation .our reaction to that person is influenced by other persons we have recently
encountered .this is known as Contrast effect.
An illustration of how contrast effects operate is an interview
situation in which an interviewer sees a pool of job applicants. distortions in any
given candidate’s evaluation can occur as a result of his/her place in the interview
schedule .a candidate is likely to receive a more favourable evaluation if preceded by
mediocre applicants and less favourable evaluation if preceded by strong applicants.

Example of contrast effects

An illustration of how contrast effects operate in an interview situation in

which one sees a pool of job applicants. Distortion in any given candidates evaluation
can occur as a result his or her place in the interview schedule. A candidate is more
likely to receive a more favourable evaluation if preceded by mediocre applicants and
less favourable evaluation if preceded by strong applicants.

4.Projection

Its easy to judge others if we assume they are similar to us. this tendency to
attribute once own characteristics to other people is called projection. this can distort
perceptions mage about others. people who engage in projection tend to perceive
others according to what they themselves 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 homogenous than they really are.

Example of projection

If a manager want challenge and responsibility in his job, he assumes that

others want the same. Or if he is honest and trustworthy he take it for granted that
other people are equally honest and trustworthy. That means ere the manager try to
see people as more homogeneous than they really are.

5.stereotypic

When we judge some on the on the basis of our perception of the group to
which he or she belongs we are using the shortcut called stereotypic. We rely on
generalizations everyday because they help us make decisions fast and as accurately
as possible, it is the means of simplifying a complex world and it permits us tom
maintain consistency .it is less difficult to deal with an unmanageable number of
stimuli if we use stereotypes.
One of the problems of stereotypes is that they are widespread and often
useful, despite the fact that they may not contain a shred of truth when applied to
particular person or situation. so we constantly have to check ourselves to make sure
we are not unfairly or inaccurately applying a stereotype in our evaluations and
decisions.
E.g.: of common stereotypes
Muslims are terrorist.
Older workers cant learn new skills.
Me aren’t interested in child care.
Overweight people lack discipline.

These as generalizations which are made about entire group and which are not true.
these are stereotypes.

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. Basically the theory suggests that when we observe individuals behaviour,
we attempt to determine whether it was internally or externally caused. That
determination however depends largely on three factors
1. Distinctiveness
2. Consensus
3. Consistency
 Internally caused behaviours are those that are believed to be under the
personal control of the individual. Externally caused behaviour is seen as resulting
from outside cause; that is the person is seen as having been forced into the behaviour
by the situation. For e.g. if an employee is late for work you might attribute his
lateness to his partying late and the oversleeping. This would be an internal
attribution. But if you attribute his arriving late to an automobile accident that tied up
traffic on the road, then you would be making an external attribution.

Internal and external behaviours are caused by three determining factors

1. Distinctiveness: - distinctiveness refers to whether an individual displays

different behaviours in different situations. What we want to know is whether
the behaviour is unusual. If it is, the behaviour can be attributed to external
causes. If not it is an internal attribute.

2. Consensus: - if everyone who faces a similar situation responds in the same

way, we can say that the behaviour shows consensus. If the consensus is high
you would be expected to give an external attribution, whereas if the
consensus is low, it would be an internal attribution.

3. Consistency: - an observer looks for consistency in a person’s actions,

whether the person responds in the same way over time. Coming in 10 min
late for work is not perceived in the same way for the employee who hasn’t
been late for several months, as it is for the employee who has been late 2 or 3
times a week. The more consistent the behaviour, the more the observer is
inclined to attribute it to internal cause.

Errors and biases in attributions

Errors and biases in attribution theory distorts attribution. This consists of

fundamental attribution errors and self serving bias.

Fundamental attribution errors:

The tendency to underestimate the influence of external factors and overestimate

the influence of internal factors when making judgments about the behaviour of
others. For example
There is more tendency for a sales manager to attribute the poor performance of
her sales agents to laziness rather than to the innovative product line introduced in
the market.

Self-serving bias

There is also a tendency for individuals to attribute their own success to

internal factors such as ability or effort while putting the blame for failure of external
factors such as bad luck and unproductive co-workers. For example
During the high-tech stock market rally between 1996 and early 2000, investors
were quick to brag about their expertise and take credits for their investing smarts.
However, when that market imploded in the spring of 2000 and eventually declined
more than 70%, most of those same investors were looking for external sources to
blame
i)the investment analysts who kept hyping technology stocks because they had a
vested interest in pumping up their prices,
ii)their brokers being too aggressive,
iii)the federal Reserve for not cutting rates fast enough.