Perception Perception is the process of receiving information about and making sense of the world around us. It entails deciding which information to notice, how to categorize this information and how to interpret it within the framework of our existing knowledge

Perception Steps of perceptual process: Selective Attention: It means the process of filtering information received by our senses. It is influenced by factors like-size, intensity, motion, repetition, novelty of the target

Perception Selective attention depends on more than the object and context. It is also affected by characteristics of the perceiver- his values, attitudes, emotions and beliefs- as also by our expectations

Perception It is advisable to have Splatter vision- i.e. taking every thing in as a whole while focusing on nothing. When you start focusing too soon on some facts only you tend to lose the general or larger picture.

Perception Perceptual organization: After selecting the stimuli we try to organize the same into categories. Organizing is done on the basis of principles like (a) –we make assumptions about people based on their similarities and proximity to others. (b) when we think we see trends in otherwise ambiguous information. © Closure –meaning such as filling in the missing links to make sense of the whole.

Perception Perceptual grouping helps us to make sense of the work place but it can also inhibit creativity and open mindedness. It is also influenced by what is known as mental models- which are nothing but our broad assumptions and beliefs. They block our recognition of new opportunities. Mental blocks are developed from several years of experience and reinforcement and it is a challenging task to break them. One way to do so is to keep questioning the basis of their assumptions

Perception Social Identity: The perceptual process is an interactive dynamic between our self perception and perception of others. Every one engages in social categorization because it helps to make sense of where we fit within the social world. And by doing this we gain social identity.

Perception Personal Identity: It refers to something about you as an individual without reference to a larger group. Social identity on the other hand, defines you in terms of characteristics of the group. People adopt degrees of personal and social identity depending on the situation. Social identity is a complex combination of many memberships arranged in a hierarchy of importance.

Perception Stereotyping: is a process of assigning traits to people based on their membership in a particular category. Stereo typing occurs because of 3 reasons: 1 – categorizing process, 2- we have strong need to understand and anticipate how others will behave, 3- it enhances our self perception and identity. We generally tend to give +ive stance to our trait while downplaying that of others.

Perception Stereotyping may become the basis of prejudice and intentional or unintentional discrimination. Prejudice is defined as the unfounded negative emotions and attitudes towards people belonging to a particular stereotyped group.

Perception How to minimize stereotyping bias: Diversity awareness training Meaningful interaction Decision making accountability

Perception Attribution process: the process of assigning credit or blame to yourself or the situation is called the attribution process. Internal factors originate from within a person such as the individual’s ability or motivation while external factors originate from the environment like lack of resources, other people or just luck.

Perception Three rules of attribution: Consistency- how often did the person act this way in the past? Distinctiveness-How often does the person act in this manner in other situations? Consensus-How often do other people act in this way in similar situations?

Perception Fundamental Attribution Error: This refers to the tendency to attribute the behaviour of other people more to internal than to external factors. If an employee is late for work , observers are more likely to conclude that the person is lazy than to think that external factors may have caused this behaviour. Fundamental attribution error occurs where there is limited info., about the situational factors affecting other people.

Perception Self Serving Bias : It is an attribution error- it is a tendency to attribute our favourable outcomes to to internal factors while our failures to external factors. Simply put we take credit for our successes and blame others or the situation for our mistakes.

Perception Self fulfilling Prophecy: occurs when our expectations about another person causes that person to act in a way that is consistent with these expectations. In other words our perceptions can change reality. Primacy effect, recency effect, Halo effect, projection bias are other perceptual errors Biases are overcome through empathy and Jo-Hari window.

Learning Learning is a relatively permanent change in behaviour ( or behavioural tendency) that occurs as a result of a person’s interaction with the environment. It occurs when a learner behaves differently e.g. we can that you’ve ‘learnt’ computer kills when you operate the key board and windows more quickly than before.

Learning Learning through reinforcement results in behaviour modification. This is also called operant conditioning or reinforcement theory. It takes the extreme view that learning is completely dependent on the environment. Our experience with the environment teaches us to alter our behaviour so that we maximize the positive consequences and minimize the negative ones. It involves the A-B-C of behaviour modification where A is for antecedents i.e what happens before the behaviour, B is for actual behaviour and C is for consequences what happens after behaviour.

STRESS Stress is an adaptive response to a situation that is perceived as threatening to the person’s wellbeing. It is a person’s reaction to a situation and not the situation itself. Stress has both physiological and psychological dimensions. Psychologically, people perceive a situation and interpret it as challenging and threatening. This cognitive appraisal leads to a set of physiological responses such as high blood pressure, sweaty hands and faster heart beat.

STRESS Distress and Eustress: We often hear about negative consequences of modern living. People are stressed from overwork, job insecurity, information overload and increasing pace of life. These event produce distress- the degree of physiological, psychological and behavioural deviation from healthy functioning.

STRESS There is also a positive side of stress called eustress that refers to the healthy and positive constructive outcome of stressful events and the stress responses. Eustress is the stress experienced in moderation, enough to activate and motivate people so that they can achieve goals, change their environment and succeed in life’s challenges.

General Adaptation Syndrome Alarm : under this stage, the perception of a threatening or challenging situation causes the brain to send a bio-chemical message to various parts of the body, resulting in increased respiration rate, blood pressure, heart beat, muscle tension and other physiological responses. The individual’s energy level and coping effectiveness decreases in response to the initial shock. Extreme shock may lead to partial or total incapacity or even death. Alarm reaction alerts the person to the environmental conditions and prepares him for resistance stage.

General Adaptation Syndrome In this stage, the person’s ability to cope with the environmental demands rises above normal state because the body has activated various biochemical psychological and behavioral mechanisms. E.g there is higher level of adrenalin flowing in our body.

General Adaptation Syndrome Exhaustion: People have a limited capacity of resistance and if the source of stress persists, they will eventually move into the exhaustion stage as this capacity diminishes.

Stress Individual differences are responsible for different out comes of same stress situations. This is because –a: Each of us perceive the same situation differently; b: People have different threshold levels of resistance to a stressor; c: People adopt different coping strategies; d: There are different types of work behaviour patterns type a and b as also different workaholics.

stress Managing strategies: Remove the stressor Withdraw from the stressor Change stress perceptions Control stress consequences Receive social support