2. 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.
Perception
A process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment.

3. Perception What is Perception? Why is it Important?
How we view and interpret the events and situations in the world about us.
Why is it Important?
Because people’s behavior is based on their perception of what reality is, not on reality itself.

4. What is the perceptual process?
Stages of the perceptual process.
1- Picking up some external stimuli
2- Screening, when we only acknowledge the stimuli we choose to acknowledge
3- Some interpretation and categorization of these stimuli, possibly based on previous experience or on our upbringing. 4

5. Example You hear that your team has lost a game.
You screen this information in a negative manner, assuming something is wrong with the team rather than it has just had a bad day or was unlucky.
You interpret this information on the basis of previous experience and decide it is a further example of bad team management.

6. Factors That Influence Perception

7. Selective Perception
Selectively interpret the target basing on own interests, background, experience, and attitudes.
Halo effect
The perceiver’s pick upon a particular attribute of the perceived to determine their overall perception.

8. Contrast Effects Projection
The perceiver’s perceptions of others distort the perceiver’s perception of a target.
Projection
Attribute own characteristics to others. (take homogeneity for granted)
Stereotyping
Judge someone on the basis of the perception of the group to which they belong instead of their own characteristics.

9. Person Perception: Making Judgments About Others
Attribution Theory
When individuals observe behavior, they attempt to determine whether it is internally or externally caused.
Distinctiveness: shows different behaviors in different situations.
Consensus: response is the same as others to same situation.
Consistency: responds in the same way over time.

10. Attribution Theory

11. Errors and Biases in Attributions
The tendency to underestimate the influence of external factors and overestimate the influence of internal factors when making judgments about the behavior of others.

12. 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.

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

14. 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.

15. Frequently Used Shortcuts in Judging Others
Projection
Attributing one’s own characteristics to other people.
Stereotyping
Judging someone on the basis of one’s perception of the group to which that person belongs.

16. 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): The lower or higher performance of employees reflects preconceived leader expectations about employee capabilities.
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.

17. Specific Applications in Organizations (cont’d)
Performance Evaluations
Appraisals are often the subjective (judgmental) perceptions of appraisers of another employee’s job performance.
Employee Effort
Assessment of individual effort is a subjective judgment subject to perceptual distortion and bias.

18. The Link Between Perceptions and Individual Decision Making
Problem A perceived discrepancy between the current state of affairs and a desired state.
Perception of the decision maker
Decisions Choices made from among alternatives developed from data perceived as relevant.
Outcomes

19. Decision Making
Definition: The process by which members of an organization choose a specific course of action to respond to both problems and opportunities.
The Decision-Making Process
Rational Model of Decision Making
Bounded Rationality
Implicit Favorite Model
Intuitive Model

20. Rational Model of Decision Making
Assumptions: the decision maker has all the necessary information and will choose the best possible solution or response.
Steps:
1.Ascertain the need for decision-disparity
2. Identify the decision criteria
3.Allocate weight to the criteria Develop,evaluate the alternatives
5.Select the best

21. Assumptions of the Rational Model
Problem clarity.
Known options.
Clear preferences.
Constant preferences.
No time or cost constraints.
People choose maximum payoff.

22. Bounded Rationality
Bounded Rationality: People’s ability to reason is constrained by the limitations of the human mind itself. If a problem is too complicated people simplify it and use satisficing
Satisficing: Searching for and choosing the first acceptable response or solution, not necessarily the best possible one.

23. Intuitive Model
an unconscious process created out of distilled experience.
intuition is often based on accumulated experiences which allow one to recognize patterns.
Main problem: since the criteria are not open to examination, intuition is often strongly influenced by perceptual biases.

24. Intuitive Decision Making most common under conditions of
High uncertainty levels
Little precedent
Hard to predictable variables
Limited facts
Unclear sense of direction
Analytical data is of little use
Several plausible alternatives
Time constraints