INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES:PERCEPTION

The IndividualInterpersonal Influence and

Group Behavior

Organizational Processes

•Skills & Abilities•Perception•Personality•Attitudes•Values

Group behavior and work teamsIntergroup conflict and negotiationsOrganizational power and politicsCommunication

LeadershipCommunicationsDecision makingReward SystemJob Design

THE ORGANIZATION’S ENVIRONMENTTHE ORGANIZATION’S ENVIRONMENT

INDIVIDUALBEHAVIOR IN THE

ORGANIZATION

First law of human behavior: “People are different. What one

person considers a golden opportunity another considers a threat.”

Caveat

Perception Perception is the process by which

individuals make sense of their world. Individuals organize and interpret

information from their environments using perceptual filters personality, psychology, experience,

preferences, beliefs-based differences Objective vs. perceived realities

Perception People perceive the world uniquely Differences in perceptions can

cause problems Communication Conflict Motivation Judgment Decision Making

Object Perception

Proximity – things close together are seen as belonging together.

Object PerceptionFigure-Ground:

The figure and thebackground “switch”

Social Perception

How we gather information about the social world--about peoples’ behavior, moods, motives, and traits

Similar to object perception, but People are more dynamic than

objects We’re trying to figure out intentions,

motives, and causes of behavior

Attribution

Why did they do that?

internal causes traits skills abilities

external causes situational constraints

Internal

Stable Unstable

External

4 attributions for the cause of performance

How do we determine cause? (Kelley)

Consensus - how do others behave

Consistency - this person on other occasions

Distinctiveness - this person in other situations

Errors/Biasesin Social Perception

Selective perception notice stimuli which are salient due to

our interests, background, experiences Closure

tendency to fill in the gaps when information is missing

Assume what we don’t know is consistent with what we do know

Errors/Biasesin Social Perception

Halo Effects Impression on one dimension affects

impression of unrelated dimension Contrast Stereotyping

A person has beliefs about a class of stimulus objects and generalizes those beliefs to encounters with members of that class of objects.

Primacy/Recency effects Disproportionately high weight is given to the

first/last information obtained about a stimulus

First Impressions Influences what subsequent information we

notice and how it is interpreted “Fill-in” information consistent with first

impression Anchoring

Failure to adjust for subsequent information Confirmation Bias

Seek out information & perceive stimuli in ways that confirm expectations

Discount contradictory information Self fulfilling prophecy (2-way) Recency—availability bias

Errors/Biasesin Social Perception

Actor-observer difference (aka “the fundamental attribution error”) Actors attribute their behavior to

external causes Observer attribute actors’ behavior to

internal cause

Errors/Biasesin Social Perception

Fundamental Attribution Error The tendency to attribute others' bad

performance to internal causes & Attribute their good performance to

external causes

Errors/Biasesin Social Perception

Self-serving bias attribute successes to ourselves - internal attribute failures to the environment –

external

Performance appraisal and errors in social perception

Supervisor:

Subordinate:

Perception Implications

Guard against specific biases Stereotypes

Be aware that stereotyping can occur with very little information, remain open to new information

Recognize that stereotypes rarely apply to a specific individual

Fundamental attribution error? Primacy/recency? Halo? Confirmation?

Perception Implications