General Outline

Attention Perception Definition Components & Characteristics Psychology & Physiology of Perception Perceptual Process Perceptual Selectivity Perceptual Organization Perceptual Differences Barriers in Social Perception Biases and Problems in Person Perception

The Phenomenon of Attention

Need to
Select information relevant to immediate goals. Process that information adequately. Make sure that we dont miss other unexpected but important information.

Information Gathering
Sensation- the reception of stimulation from the environment and the initial encoding of it into the nervous system. Perception- the process of interpreting and understanding sensory information

ONE DEFINITION
:
Attention = deciding what stimuli to focus on

WHAT IS PERCEPTION ?
Perception is the process by which individuals select, organize and interpret the input from their senses to give meaning and order to the world around them.

NEED FOR ACCURATE PERCEPTIONS

Motivation Performance Fairness Equity Ethical Action

3 COMPONENTS OF PERCEPTION
PERCEIVER TARGET OF PERCEPTION SITUATION
PERCEPTION PERCEIVER TARGET SITUATION

NEED FOR ACCURATE PERCEPTIONS

Motivation Performance Fairness Equity Ethical Action

WHATS THIS ?

PERCEIVER SOME CHARACTERISTICS

Schemas :Based on the knowledge and experiences Motivational state Mood of the perceiver
PERCEIVER SCHEMAS MOTIVATIONAL STATE MOOD

SCHEMAS THE KNOWLEDGE BASE

Depends on the abstract knowledge structures. The information about the target is processed very fast. The processing of information about a new target is consistent with the previous knowledge. Schemas are slow to change.

MOTIVATIONAL STATE OF THE PERCEIVER

Depends on the needs,valuesand desires at the time of perception Our own needs may lead to wrong perceptions Perceiver looks only at the things he is in need of at the time of perception.

MOOD OF THE PERCEIVER

How a perceiver feels at the time of perception. +ve mood=>accurate perception -ve mood=>wrong perception.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TARGET

Ambiguity

Social status

Use of impression management

AMBIGUITY OF THE TARGET

The lack of definiteness about the target. Nature of the target influences the perception. More ambiguity-More errors in perception

SOCIAL STATUS OF THE TARGET

The real or the perceived position in a society or in an organization. High status persons-perceived as credible Hiring not on merits, but on status.

IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT BY THE TARGET

Attempt to control the perceptions of others. Includes some tactics. Depends on the place and culture there.

IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT BY THE TARGET.

TACTIC Behavioral matching Self promotion Conforming to situational norms Appreciating or flattering others Being consistent. DESCRIPTION Target matches his behavior with perceiver. Target presents himself in a +ve way. Target follows the rules for behavior in the organization. Target complements or mildly flatters perceiver. Targets beliefs and behavior being consistent.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SITUATION

Information provided by the situation and

Salience

INFORMATION BY SITUATION
Perception at good times seems good Perception at the time of pressure may be wrong.

SALIENCE
The extent to which target stands out in a group of people or things. A salient person is very conspicuous. Leads to extreme evaluations Leads to stereotyping.

CAUSES OF SALIENCE
CAUSE Being Novel DESCRIPTION Anything that makes a target unique in situation Standing out by being bright,changing,moving ,sitting or standing in a prominent place etc Behaving or looking in a way that is out of the ordinary.

Being figural

Being inconsistent with other peoples expectations

. SOME ADVICES TO YOU, THE MANAGERS AND THE MANAGING DIRECTORS OF TOMORROW .

ADVICES
Be careful not to jump to conclusions about coworkers ,superiors ,and subordinates simply because that they appear to fit one of your pre existing schemas. Wait to form your opinion until you have gathered enough information to make a fair judgment.

ADVICES
Make sure your perceptions of workers are based on their skills,capabilities ,accomplishments,on the job behaviors and levels of job performance.

ADVICES
Do not allow your perception to be influenced by characteristics of a target that are unrelated to job behavior and performance. Try to treat organizational members who stand out from others the same as you treat those who do not stand out.

SENSORY EXPERIENCE
Sensations are supposed to be the raw material oh human experience and perceptions are the manufactured product-James Gibson Interacting Systems Sensory Deprivation

Perceptual Processes

What do you mean by perceptual process?

The process by which some portion of the information that exists in that environment is processed by the individual for use in decision making.

Three stages
Attention Organization Recall

Environment
Through the five senses we experience the world around us. ie, we observe reality from the environment. From the environment we get all kinds of information.

Attention
Most of the information is filtered so that some enters the system and some does not. It is a critical stage in the process because any piece of information that is ignored at this stage can never figure into our decision making process.

Organization
In the organization stage we simplify and organize incoming sensory data. One method is chunkmeans several discrete pieces of information into a single piece of information that can be processed more easily.

Recall
Recall is the process by which organized information must be stored in memory for later retrieval.

The process of perception

Environment Attention Organization Recall

Decision Frame

Reducing Perceptual Problems

1. One way to improve accuracy in perception is to increase the frequency of observations.(i.e, increase the no: of observations) 2. Obtain large number of representative observations from one source.

3. We can improve the accuracy of perception by getting observations from different people and different perspectives. 4. Gather information which are inconsistent with ones beliefs because the observers have the tendency to ignore the information which are inconsistent to their expectations. 5. To increase perceptual accuracy is to ensure the accuracy of scripts and prototypes.

6. To increase perceptual accuracy is to increase observers exposure to different social groups in an effort to help the observers develop more accurate prototypes.

THE PERCEPTUAL PROCESS

Perceptual Selectivity  Social Perception in Organization

The Process of Perceptual Selectivity

Exposure

Attention

Perception and interpretation

Retention and response

Perceptual Selectivity: seeing what we see

External Influences Physical properties Size Intensity Contrast Novelty or familiarity Dynamic properties Motion Repetition

Selective Attention to Objects or People

Personal Influences Response salience Response disposition

Social Perception in Organizations

Characteristics of the Situation Organizational role Location of event Characteristics of the Person Perceived Physical appearance Verbal communication Nonverbal communication Ascribed attributes Characteristics of the Perceiver Self-concept Cognitive structure Response salience Previous experience with individual

Perception of others

Perceptual Differences and Behavior

Managers perception Worker has a lot of freedom to make decisions Freedom Worker Is given Workers perception I am not given any freedom to make decisions

Managers behavior No concern about freedom given to worker

Workers behavior Feeling of being left out Staying home

Managers behavior Puzzled by the absence record of worker

Workers behavior Belief that no one really cares

BARRIERS TO ACCURATE SOCIAL PERCEPTION

Stereotyping Selective perception Perceptual defense

BIASES AND PROBLEMS IN PERSON PERCEPTION

Source of bias Primacy effect Contrast effect Halo effect Similar-to-me effect Harshness, leniency& average tendency Knowledge of predictor