0. Perception and Individual Decision Making5
Perception and Individual Decision Making
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1. What is Perception?
Comes from the Latin word Percepio meaning receiving and collecting.
How one takes possession of things and apprehends them within the mind
A process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment.
People’s behavior is based on their perception of what reality is, not on reality itself.
Two people see the same thing but perceive it differently.Eg-Computerization.
Perception is deeply related to behavior and implication in OB
Essentially difficult to find the same perception of two or more people. Hence challenge for managers.
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2. Factors effecting perception
Our perceptions are influenced by the way our bodies and minds are structured to receive and interpret the stimuli from the external environment. Perceptions also reflect our emotions, needs and expectations.
Past experiences, emotion, learning and motivation.
Eg- All muslims are looked upon with a perception of a symbol of terrorism. This is a perception on the basis of experience.
On the basis of motivation levels. Eg- IMPOSSIBLE, IAMNOWHEREINYOURHEART.
Factors influencing perception can lie in the perceiver, situation and the target.

3. Factors that Influence Perception
See E X H I B I T 5-1
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4. Factors in the perceiver
Attitude- As in the case of computerization in organizations.
Motives and interests- An employee who has a motive of getting a promotion will view an upcoming project with a different perception
Experience- Past experiences go a long way in creating a perception in the minds of the perceiver.
Expectations- What a person expects from his external environment at a particular point of time also effects the formation of perception.

5. Factors in the target
When we look at a target we perceive it in relation to its surrounding environment not in isolation.
Relationship of a target to its background also influences our perception. Eg- Extremely attractive or unattractive people catch attention.
Loud people are more noticeable as compared to silent people.
Objects which are spatially closer to the perceiver leave a different impression and perception.

6. Attribution Theory
Proposed by Freitz Heider. Has been proposed to develop explanations of the ways in which we judge people differently.
We judge people depending on what meaning we give to their behavior. We tend to develop explanations for how people behave.
Attribution process is the perceptual process of deciding whether an observed behavior or event is caused largely by internal or external factors.
Theory is based on causal explanations. Whenever we observe people we attempt to determine that their behavior was caused due to internal or external factors.
External attribution- Behavior caused due to external factors outside the control of the individual. Eg- Employee coming late due to accident, lack of resources, luck
Internal attribution-These factors are within the control of the individual.
Determination of internal or external attribution further depends on three factors- Distinctiveness, Consensus and consistency.

7. Contd..
Distinctiveness- Refers to the past experiences with the same individual. Whether the individual has displayed different behaviors( low distinctiveness) in different situations.
Consensus- If anyone faced with the same situation gives the same response that shows consensus. Higher consensus denotes higher external attribution.
Consistency- Refers to the same behavior in the same situations in past by the individual.Higher consistency denotes higher internal attribution.

8. Elements of Attribution Theory
See E X H I B I T 5-2
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9. 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
We tend to attribute other’s success to external factors and failures to internal factors.
Self-Serving Bias
The tendency for individuals to attribute their own successes to internal factors while putting the blame for failures on external factors
We tend to attribute our success to internal and failures to external factors.
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10. Frequently Used Shortcuts in Judging Others
Judging others is a tedious job. Hence people develop techniques to judge others.
Selective Perception
Any characteristic that makes a person object or event stand out will increase the probability that it would be perceived.
People selectively interpret what they see on the basis of their interests, background, experience, and attitudes since its impossible to assimilate everything. We take in bits and pieces. We see what we want to see.
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 Eg- Interview.
We don’t evaluate people in isolation.
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11. Another Shortcut: Stereotyping
Projection- Its easy to judge others if we assume that they are similar to us. Tendency to attribute one’s own characteristics to other people. People tend to perceive others according to what they themselves are. When managers engage in projection they compromise their ability to respond to individual differences.
Profiling or Stereo typing, social identity concept
When we judge someone on the basis of the group to which he or she belongs. Group could be religion, caste, gender.
A form of stereotyping in which members of a group are singled out for intense scrutiny based on a single, often racial, traits.
© 2009 Prentice-Hall Inc. All rights reserved.