ChapterChapterChapterChapter

PERCEPTION AND LEARNING:UNDERSTANDING AND ADAPTING TO THE

WORK ENVIRONMENT

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After reading this chapter you should be able to:

1. Distinguish between the concepts of perception and social perception.

2. Explain how the attribution process works and how it helps us to understand the causes of other people’s behavior.

3. Describe the various sources of bias in social perception and how they may be overcome.

4. Understand how the process of social perception operates in the context of performance appraisals, employment interviews, and the cultivation of corporate images.

5. Define learning.6. Describe the concepts of operant

conditioning and observational learning.

7. Describe how principles of learning are involved in organizational training and innovative reward systems.

8. Compare how organizations can use reward in organizational behavior management and can use punishment most effectively when administering discipline.

Social Perception: The Process of Understanding Others (Pp. 55,56)

Perception - the process through which people select, organize, andinterpret information- active processing of sensory inputs

Social Perception - the process of combining, integrating, and interpretinginformation about others to gain an accurate understanding ofthem- various aspects, including the attribution process

The Attribution Process (Pp. 56-59)

Attribution - the process through which individuals attempt to determinethe causes behind others’ behavior

Correspondent Inferences - judgments about people’s dispositions,traits, and characteristics that correspond to what we haveobserved of their actionsChallenges in judging others accurately

- many possible causes of behavior- people sometimes disguise their true characteristics

Making accurate inferences about others- focus on behavior in situations with low demand for social

acceptability- focus on behavior for which there is only one logical

explanation

Description

(what someone does) (what someone is like)

Act Disposition Correspondent Inference

Observe someonefall off a ladder

Clumsy

Example

Assume that person is...

Figure 2.2Correspondent Inferences: Judging Dispositions

Based on Behavior

The Attribution Process (cont.)

Causal Attribution of ResponsibilityInternal causes of behavior - explanations based on actions for

which the individual is responsibleExternal causes of behavior - explanations based on situations

over which the individual has no control

Kelly’s theory of causal attribution - internal and externalattributions based on:Consensus - extent to which other people behave in the

same manner as the person who we’re judgingConsistency - extent to which the person who we’re

judging acts the same way at other timesDistinctiveness - extent to which a person behaves in the

same manner in other contexts

Several others alsocomplain

(consensus is high)

This person alwayscomplains in this

restaurant(consistency is high)

This person does not complain inother settings

(distinctiveness is high)

No one else complains(consensus is low)

This person alwayscomplains in this

restaurant(consistency is high)

This person alsocomplains inother settings

(distinctiveness is low)

S/he complainedbecause the restaurant

is terrible(external attribution)

You observe an individual complaining about the food, service,and decor in a restaurant. To answer “Why?” you note that...

S/he complainedbecause s/he is difficult

to please(internal attribution)

You conclude that...

Figure 2.3Kelly’s Theory of Causal Attribution:

A Summary

The Imperfect Nature of Social Perception (Pp. 59-65

Perceptual Biases - predispositions to misperceive others that interfere with making completely accurate judgmentsFundamental attribution error - tendency to attribute other’s actions

to internal causes while largely ignoring external factors- strong bias because it is easier to attribute actions to other’s

traits than to recognize the complexity of other’ssituation

Halo effect - tendency for overall impressions of others to affectobjective evaluations of their specific traitsPositive halo - good impression causes us to view what

the person does in favorable terms, even if wehave no knowledge about the specific behaviors- results in consistently high ratings

Negative halo - results in consistently low ratings

low

low

low

low

low

high

high

high

high

high

Characteristic 1

Characteristic 2

Characteristic 3

Characteristic 4

Characteristic N

The more favorably someone is perceived on some characteristics,

Figure 2.4The Halo Effect: A Demonstration of Positive Halo

more likely that s/he will be perceivedfavorably on another characteristic, too.

the

The Imperfect Nature of Social Perception (cont.)

Perceptual Biases (cont.)Similar-to-me-effect - tendency to perceive in a positive light others

who are believed to be similar in any of several different says- greater empathy for and better relations with others who

seem similar

First-impression error - tendency to base judgments of others onour first impression of them- error may take very subtle forms

Selective perception - tendency to focus on some aspects of theenvironment and to ignore others- narrowing of our perceptual fields

Poor Excellent Poor Excellent

Initial Performance Initial Impression

Quality of Actual Work Performed Evaluation of Work Performed

Poor Excellent

TIME

Poor Excellent

TIME

Current Performance Current Impression

Quality of Actual Work Performed Evaluation of Work Performed

Current impressionmatches initial

impression

Current Impressiondoes not matchcurrent performance

Figure 2.5First-Impression Error: A Summary

The Imperfect Nature of Social Perception (cont.)

Stereotypes: Fitting Others into Categories- beliefs that all members of specific groups share similar traits and

are prone to behave in the same way

Why do we rely on stereotypes? - minimizes cognitive work inthinking about others- leads to premature judgments about people

Dangers of using stereotypes in organizations - run the risk ofcausing miscommunication and conflict

Perceiving Others: Organizational Applications (Pp. 65-70)Performance Appraisal - process of evaluating employees on various

work-related dimensionsAn inherently biased process - process is far from objective

- ratings depend on extent to which performance is consistent with rater’s initial expectations

- ratings reflect similar-to-me bias- ratings qualified by the nature of attributions made about

performance

Cultural differences in performance evaluations - evaluationsof other’s work influenced by the nations from whichthey come

Impression Management in the Employment Interview - efforts byindividuals to improve how they appear to prospective employersSelf-promotion - asserting that one has desirable characteristics

Perceiving Others: Organizational Applications (cont.)

Corporate Image - the impressions that people have of an organization- result of impression management by organizations- strongly relates to people’s interest in seeking employment

with it

Factors contributing to corporate image- amount of information contained in recruitment ads

- longer ads typically associated with morepositive images

- annual report - official statement for stockholders

Learning: Adapting to the World Around Us (Pp. 70-75)

Learning- a relatively permanent change in behavior resulting from experience- cannot be observed directly

- must be inferred from permanent changes in behavior

Operant (Instrumental) Conditioning - learning in which people associatethe consequences of their actions with the actions themselves- behaviors with positive consequences are acquired, i.e., repeated

in the future- behaviors with negative consequences - are eliminated

Law of Effect - tendency for behaviors leading to desirableconsequences to be strengthened and for behaviors leadingto undesirable consequences to be weakened

Manager praisesemployee

Employee performsjob properly

Steps in the Operant Conditioning Process

Manager shows employee how to

do a job

Example of the Operant Conditioning Process

(conditions leading up to the behavior)

Antecedents

(activity performed)

Behavior

(results of the behavior)

Consequences

Figure 2.9The Operant Conditioning Process: An Overview

Learning: Adapting to the World Around Us (cont.)

Operant (Instrumental) Conditioning (cont.)

Reinforcement contingencies - relationships between a person’sbehavior and the consequences resulting from it

Negative reinforcement (avoidance) - process through whichpeople learn to perform acts that lead to the removalof undesired events

Punishment - decreasing undesirable behavior by following it with undesirable consequences

Extinction - process through which responses that are nolonger reinforced tend to gradually diminish in strength

Positive reinforcement - process through which people learnto perform behaviors leading to the presentation ofthe desired outcomes

Learning: Adapting to the World Around Us (cont.)

Operant (Instrumental) Conditioning (cont.)

Schedules of reinforcement - rules governing the timing andfrequency of administering reinforcementContinuous reinforcement - schedule in which all desired

behaviors are reinforcedPartial (intermittent) reinforcement - schedule in which

only some desired behaviors are reinforced- fixed interval - a fixed period of time must elapse

between reinforcements- variable interval - a variable period of time (based

on some average) must elapse betweenreinforcements

- fixed ratio - a fixed number of responses must occurbetween reinforcements

- variable ratio - a variable number of responsesbased on some average) must occurbetween reinforcements

Learning: Adapting to the World Around Us (cont.)

Observational Learning (Modeling) - people acquire new behaviors bysystematically observing the rewards and punishments given to others- knowledge acquired vicariously- behavior of a model is imitated

Steps in observational learning- pay careful attention to the model- good retention of the model’s behavior- behavioral reproduction of the model’s behavior- person motivated to learn from the model

Examples - much of what is learned about how to behave in organizations can be explained by observational learning- formal job training- absorbtion of norms and traditions

Applications of Learning in Organizations (Pp. 76-87)

Training - process of systematically teaching employees to acquire and improve job-related skills and knowledgeVarieties of training - both formal and informal

Apprenticeship programs - formal program, often used inthe skilled trades, involving both on-the-job andclassroom training, usually over a long period

Cross-cultural - systematic way of preparing employeesto live and work in another country

Executive training - systematic development of topcompany leaders, either in specific skills or ingeneral managerial skills

Corporate universities - centers devoted to handling acompany’s training needs on a full-time basis

Applications of Learning in Organizations (cont.)

Training (cont.)Keys to effective training - principles

Participation - active involvement in the learning process- greater participation is more effective

Repetition - repeatedly performing a task so that it maybe fully learned

Transfer of training - degree to which skills learnedduring training may be applied to performance ofone’s job- training is more effective to the degree that it

matches the demands and conditions on a job

Feedback - knowledge of the results of one’s behavior- 3600 feedback - collection of performance

feedback from multiple sourcesat various organizational levels

YouYou

feedback

Your Customers

YourDirectReport

YourDirectReport

feedback feedback

YourPeers

YourPeers

feedback feedback

feedback

Your Boss

Figure 2.123600 Feedback:An Overview

Applications of Learning in Organizations (cont.)

Innovative Reward Systems - based on various principles of learning

Skill-based pay - people are paid based on the number of differentskills they have learned relevant to performing one ormore jobs in the organization

Team-based rewards - employees are paid based on their team’sperformance

Organizational Behavior Management (OB Mod) - principlesPinpoint the desired behavior - specify new, desired behaviorPerform baseline audit - measure level of behavior to be changedDefine a criterion standard - performance goalChoose a reinforcer - nature of reward for desired behaviorSelectively reward desired behavior - shapingPeriodically re-evaluate the program - careful monitoring

- OB Mod has successfully stimulated a variety of behaviors in manydifferent organizations

Applications of Learning in Organizations (cont.)

Discipline - systematically administering punishment to eliminateundesirable organizational behaviorsDisciplinary practices - characteristics of discipline programs

Progressive discipline - gradually increasing the severityof punishments for employees who exhibitunacceptable job behavior

Clarify contingencies - publicize punishment rules- employees should know what behavior will not

be tolerated

Punish all instances of inappropriate behavior - doingnothing creates chronic and serious problems

Take immediate action

Applications of Learning in Organizations (cont.)

Discipline (cont.)Keys to using punishment effectively

Deliver punishment immediately after undesirablebehavior occurs

Give moderate levels of punishment - not to high or too low

Punish the undesirable behavior, not the person - be impersonal- focus on what person can do to avoid disapproval

Use punishment consistently - all the time, for all employees

Clearly communicate reasons for the punishment- identify undesirable behaviors that precipitated

the disciplinary actionDo not follow punishment with noncontingent rewards

- represents inadvertent reward for unwantedbehavior