Perception

What is perception?
The process by which people notice and make
sense of information from the environment
The process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment The active process of sensing reality and organizing it into meaningful views or understandings.

What is perception?
Perception is how we.

Select

Organize

Interpret

Retrieve

.information from the organization

Factors influencing Perception

Factors in the Perceiver Factors in the situation
Time Work setting Social setting Attitudes, motives, interests Experience, expectation

PERCEPTION

Factors in the target

Novelty, motion, sounds, size, background, role, status

Perceptual Process
Stimuli Observation Selection
(ext/int. factors)

Organization

Interpretation
(Perceptual errors Attributions)

Response
(Covert/Overt)

Social/ Person Perception

Making judgments about others Trying to develop explanations of why people behave in a certain way. Perceptions & judgments influenced by the assumptions we make about that persons internal state.

Attribution
Assigning to a cause or source The way in which people explain the cause for their own or others behavior Behavior Internally caused Dispositional Externally caused Situational

or

Factors for determining attribution

1. Distinctiveness: Shows different behaviors in different situations 2. Consensus: Response is the same as others to same situation 3. Consistency: Responds in the same way over time

Attribution

Errors & Biases distorting Attributions

Fundamental attribution error

Tendency to underestimate the influence of external factors and overestimate the influence of internal factors while judging others

Errors & Biases distorting Attributions

Self Serving Bias
Attribute own success to internal factors such as ability, effort while blaming failure on external factors
People tend to make attributions in line with "bad things happen to bad people" and "good things happen to good people in order to protect their self esteem & prevent feeling vulnerable.

Shortcuts in Social Perception

1. Selective Perception 2. Halo Effect 3. Stereotyping

4. Contrast Effects
5. Projection

Selective Perception
Select only a few stimuli at a given time Selective filtering of information

Tendency to selectively interpret what one sees on the basis of ones interests, background, experience and attitudes

Halo Effect
Drawing a general impression about an individual on the basis of a single characteristic

Stereotyping
Generalizing characteristics on basis of category or class to which person belongs
Common stereotypes relate to age groups, gender, regional & religious groups, economic classes, occupations, education levels....

Contrast Effects

Reaction to one person is influenced by other persons we have recently encountered

Projection

Attribute ones own characteristics to other people

Perception & Decision Making

Rational Decision making model

Model

for

making

rational

&

logical

decisions
Assumes that there is a single, best

solution that will maximize the desired

outcomes

Assumptions of Rational Decision making model

Problem clarity: The problem is clear & unambiguous. The

decision maker has complete information regarding situation. Known options: The decision maker can identify all the relevant criteria & can list all the viable alternatives. Furthermore, the decision maker is aware of all possible consequences of each alternative. Clear preferences: That the criteria & alternatives can be ranked & weighted to reflect their importance. Constant preferences: The specific decision criteria are constant & weights assigned to them are stable over time. No time or cost constraints: The rational decision maker can obtain full information about criteria & alternatives because there are no time or cost constraints. Maximum payoff: The rational decision maker will choose the alternative that yields the highest perceived value

Steps in Rational Decision making model

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Define the problem Generate all possible solutions Generate objective assessment criteria Choose the best solution Implement the chosen decision Evaluate the success of the chosen alternative 7. Modify the decisions & actions taken based on the evaluation of step 6

Limitations
Requires a great deal of time.

Requires great deal of information

It assumes rational, measurable criteria

are available & agreed upon. It assumes accurate, stable & complete knowledge of all the alternatives, preferences, goals & consequences. It assumes a rational, reasonable, non political world

Decision Making in real life

Problem selection - Visible Problems have

higher probability of being selected than important problems

Alternatives Looking for satisficing

solutions rather than optimum ones

Making choices Rely on heuristics i.e.

judgmental shortcuts

How are decisions actually made?

Intuitive decision making

Bounded Rationality

Bounded Rational Decision Making Model

Herbert Simon Bounded Rationality

Individuals

make decisions by constructing simplified models that extract the essential features from problems without capturing all their complexity The decision maker takes the decision or is assumed to choose a solution though not a perfect solution but good enough solution based on the limited capacity to handle the complexity of the situation, ambiguity & information Realistic Approach for Rational Decision Making Process

Common Errors/Biases in Decision making

Overconfidence Bias

Anchoring Bias
Confirmation Bias Availability Bias

Escalation of Commitment
Randomness Error Hindsight Bias

Ethics in Decision Making

Criteria in making choices Utilitarian approach
ethical action is the one that provides the most good or does the least harm

Rights approach
ethical action is the one that best protects & respects the moral rights of those affected

Justice
ethical actions treat all human beings equally or if unequally, then fairly based on some standard that is defensible

Creativity in Decision making