1. What is Perception?
Perception involves the way we view the world around us. It adds, meaning to information gathered via the five senses of touch, smell, hearing, vision and taste. Perception is the primary vehicle through which we come to understand our surroundings and ourselves.

2. Perception
“ Perception is the process of receiving information about and making sense of the world around us. It involves deciding which information to notice, how to categorize this information and how to interpret it within the framework of existing knowledge.
“ A process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment.

3. What Is Perception, and Why Is It Important?
People’s behavior is based on their perception of what reality is, not on reality itself.
The world as it is perceived is the world that is behaviorally important.

4. Factors influencing Perception
Factors in the perceiver
Attitudes
Motives
Interests
Experience
Expectations
Factors in the situation
Time
Work Setting
Social Setting
Perception
Factors in the Target
Novelty
Motion
Sounds
Size
Background
Proximity
Similarity
Organizational Behavior / Perception

5. Attribution ,Stereotyping, Halo Effect, Projection Organizing
Selecting Stimuli
Perceptual Process
Receiving Stimuli
(External & Internal)
Interpreting
Attribution ,Stereotyping,
Halo Effect, Projection
Organizing
Figure Background ,
Perceptual Grouping
( similarity, proximity,
closure, continuity)
Response
Covert: Attitudes ,
Motivation,
Feeling
Overt: Behavior

6. Perceptual organization
It is the process by which we group outside stimuli into recognizable and identifiable patterns and whole objects.

7. Figure-Ground Illustration
Field-ground differentiation
The tendency to distinguish and focus on a stimulus that is classified as figure as opposed to background.

9. Figure and ground
Figure and ground

10. PERCEPTUAL GROUPING
Our tendency to group several individual stimuli into a meaningful and recognizable pattern.
It is very basic in nature and largely it seems to be inborn.
Some factors underlying grouping are
-continuity
-closure
-proximity
-similarity

12. The Vertical lines are both the same length.
                         
The center circles are both the same size.
                                               

13. 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.

14. Attribution Theory: Judging Others
Our perception and judgment of others is significantly influenced by our assumptions of the other person’s internal state.
When individuals observe behavior, they attempt to determine whether it is internally or externally caused.
Internal causes are under that person’s control
External causes are not – person forced to act in that way
Causation judged through:
Distinctiveness
Consensus - Response is the same as others to same situation.
Consistency - Responds in the same way over time.

15. Elements of Attribution Theory

16. Distinctiveness(person does not behave differently
Consensus
Do other person
Behave in the
Same manner?
Consistency
Does this person
behave
in this
manner at this
situation?
Distictiveness
Low
Distinctiveness(person does
not behave differently
in different situations)
High
Distinctiveness(person behaves
differently in
different situation.) No
Low
Consensus
Yes
High
Yes
High
Consistency No
Low
Internal
Attribution
External
Attribution

17. Kelley’s Model External Attribution High consensus
High distinctiveness
Low consistency

18. Internal Attribution
Low consensus
Low distinctiveness
High consistency

19. Errors and Biases in Attributions
Fundamental Attribution Error
The tendency to underestimate the influence of external factors and overestimate the influence of internal factors when making judgments about the behavior of others.
In general, we tend to blame the person first, not the situation.

20. Errors and Biases in Attributions (cont’d)
Self-Serving Bias
The tendency for individuals to attribute their own successes to internal factors while putting the blame for failures on external factors.
Thought: When student gets an “A” on an exam, they often say they studied hard. But when they don’t do well, how does the self serving bias come into play?

21. Frequently Used Shortcuts in Judging Others
Selective Perception
People selectively interpret what they see on the basis of their interests, background, experience, and attitudes.

22. Frequently Used Shortcuts in Judging Others
Halo Effect
Drawing a general impression about an individual on the basis of a single characteristic
Contrast Effects
Evaluation of a person’s characteristics that are affected by comparisons with other people recently encountered who rank higher or lower on the same characteristics

23. Frequently Used Shortcuts in Judging Others
Projection
Attributing one’s own characteristics to other people. We assume that others are similar to us.
Stereotyping
Judging someone on the basis of one’s perception of the group to which that person belongs.

24. Specific Applications in Organizations
Employment Interview
Perceptual biases of raters affect the accuracy of interviewers’ judgments of applicants.
Performance Expectations
Self-fulfilling prophecy (Pygmalion effect): If manager asks for high performance-----performance will be high or vice versa
Expectations become reality
Ethnic Profiling
A form of stereotyping in which a group of individuals is singled out—typically on the basis of race or ethnicity—for intensive inquiry, scrutinizing, or investigation.

25. Performance Evaluations
Appraisals are often the subjective (judgmental) perceptions of appraisers of another employee’s job performance.