Perception and social thought

Chapter 2

Perception social thought

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OPENING CASE:

• Class Room Discussion : • Is Privatization good or bad from

employees’ perspective ? • Discuss • What is the point? • The same thing can be viewed differently.

Sensation and Perception

• Sensation - the activation of receptors in the various sense organs.

• Perception - the method by which the sensations experienced at any given moment are interpreted and organized in some meaningful fashion.

LO 7.1 What are the distinctions between sensation and perception?

Perception

• Perception is the process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impression in order to give meaning to their environment – Robbins, (1997)

LO 7.1 What are the distinctions between sensation and perception?

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What Is Perception, and Why Is It Important?

• People’s behavior is based on their perception of what reality is, not on reality itself.

• People’s behavior is based on their perception of what reality is, not on reality itself.

Perception

A process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment.

Sensory Thresholds

• Sense organs:– eyes– ears– nose– skin– taste buds

LO 7.2 What is a sensory threshold? What is sensory adaptation?

© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved.

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Factors ThatInfluence

Perception

E X H I B I T 5–1E X H I B I T 5–1

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Factors influencing perception

• The factors in perceiver – Experience – Needs, motives, personality, values and attitudes. – E.g. how do you perceive “being regular to

classes”? – It depends upon your past experience- if past

regularity paid you better off – you perceive regularity as good or otherwise.

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• Factors in perceived / object – Contrast, intensity, figure / ground/ size, motion,

repetion, novelty. Refer Gestalt psychology. – E.g. One woman amongst 5 men is noticed first – The larger objects are noticed, moving objects,

beeping device is noticed first.

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Factors affecting perception

• The situational factors• Physical, social and organiational situations •

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How to do we perceive ? / perceptual process

1. Environmental stimuli- external stimuli constantly bombards our five senses of ogans. – Feeling (skin), hearing (ear), seeing (eye),

smelling (nose) and Tasting (taste buds – tongue) 1. Selective attention : we can not give equal

attention to a all information received. Therefore, selective attention or selective perception. It further depends upon – External factors : factors affecting perception

(refer it ) – factors related to object/ perceived– Internal factors : factors related to the perceiver

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3. Perceptual organization and interpretation – Process by which people group environmental

stimuli into recognizable pattern– The information acquired may be interpreted

in different ways

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4. Behaviour and emotions.– Based on the interpretation, the perceiver

manifests noticeable overt behaviour and covert behaviour - emotions.

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What are commonperceptual 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.



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.



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.



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.



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



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.


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.


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.


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.



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.



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.



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.


Technisques for managing perception and attribution

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.

Attribution Theory

DISCUSSION and illustration

Why is this baby smiling?

• Fritz Heider argued that there are two general types of attributions that people make:

–Personal attributions

–Situational attributions

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.”

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.”

The Fundamental Attributon Error

is that we overestimate the powerof the person and underestimatethe power of the situation.

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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.

How do people make attributions?

• Kelley argued that people take three factors into account when making a personal vs. situational attribution:– Consistency: Is the baby always smiling?– Distinctiveness: Are there occasions on which the

baby doesn’t smile?– Consensus: Do all babies smile?

• 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”

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Attribution Theory

Locus of Control Attributions


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What is Locus (place) of Control?

“Extent to which an entity believes the current and anticipated circumstances, and its response to them (behavior), are within its control”.


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Common Biases and Errors

• Overconfidence Bias– Believing too much in our own decision

competencies.• Anchoring Bias

– Fixating on early, first received information.• Confirmation Bias

– Using only the facts that support our decision.• Availability Bias

– Using information that is most readily at hand.• Representative Bias

– Assessing the likelihood of an occurrence by trying to match it with a preexisting category.

Perception and social thought

Education

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