Organizational Behavior:

Perception

Food SurveyRecently a world-wide survey was conducted by the UN.

The only question asked was... : "Would you please give your honest opinion about solutions to the food shortage in the rest of the world?"

The survey was a huge failure because...: 1. In Africa they didn't know what "food" means. 2. In Eastern Europe they didn't know what "honest" means. 3. In Western Europe they didn't know what "shortage"

means. 4. In China they didn't know what "opinion" means. 5. In the Middle East they didn't know what "solution"

means. 6. In South America they didn't know what "please" means. 7. In the USA they didn't know what "the rest of the world"

means

Perceptual Process Model

Selective AttentionSelective Attention

Organization andOrganization andInterpretationInterpretation

Environmental StimuliEnvironmental Stimuli

Feeling Hearing Seeing Smelling TastingFeeling Hearing Seeing Smelling Tasting

Emotions andEmotions andBehaviorBehavior

Perception: Perception: A Social Information Processing ModelA Social Information Processing Model

Competingenvironmental

stimuli:* People* Events* Objects

Interpretationand

categorization

Stage 1Stage 1Selective Attention/

Comprehension

Stage 2Stage 2Encoding

and Simplificatio

n

A

C

F

A

B

C

D

E

F

MemoryJudgments

anddecisions

Stage Stage 33

Storage and

Retention

Stage Stage 44

Retrievaland

Response

C

Social Information ProcessingSocial Information ProcessingModel of PerceptionModel of Perception

Stage 1: Selective Attention/ComprehensionStage 1: Selective Attention/Comprehension- Attention is the process of becoming aware of something or someone- People pay attention to salient stimuli

Stage 2: Encoding and SimplificationStage 2: Encoding and Simplification- Encoding is the process of interpreting environmental stimuli by using information contained in cognitive categories- The same information can be interpreted differently by people due to individual differences

•Stage 3: Storage and RetentionStage 3: Storage and Retention- Encoded information or stimuli is sent to long- term memory- Long-term memory is composed of three compartments containing categories of information about events, semantic materials, and people

•Stage 4: Retrieval and ResponseStage 4: Retrieval and Response- Information is retrieved from memory when people make judgments and decisions

Factors That Influence Perception

Characteristics of the PerceiverValues and attitudesMotivesInterestsExperienceExpectations

Perception

Characteristics of the TargetStructural beautyNovelty and FamiliarityMotion and ChangeRepetitionIntensitySoundsSizeContrast and BackgroundProximity

Perceptual contextTimeWork settingSocial setting

Attribution Process

• Internal Attribution– Perception that outcomes are due to

motivation/ability rather than situation or fate

• External Attribution– Perception that outcomes are due to situation or

fate rather than the person

Attribution Errors

• Fundamental Attribution Error– Attributing behavior of other people to internal

factors (their motivation/ability)

• Self-Serving Bias– Attributing our successes to internal factors and

our failures to external factors

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy Cycle

SupervisorSupervisorformsforms

expectationsexpectations

ExpectationsExpectationsaffect supervisor’saffect supervisor’s

behaviorbehavior

Supervisor’sSupervisor’sbehavior affectsbehavior affects

employeeemployee

Employee’sEmployee’sbehavior matchesbehavior matches

expectationsexpectations

Identity: Who Am I?

• Social Identity•Organizational Identity•Personal Identity

Perceptual Biases and Errors in Decision Making

1.1. StereotypeStereotype : A stereotype is an individual’s set of beliefs about the : A stereotype is an individual’s set of beliefs about the characteristics of a group of people.characteristics of a group of people.

2.2. Halo:Halo: A rater forms an overall impression about an object and then uses the impression to bias ratings about the object.

3.3. LeniencyLeniency:: A personal characteristic that leads an individual to consistently evaluate other people or objects in an extremely positive fashion.

4.4. Central Tendency:Central Tendency: The tendency to avoid all extreme judgments and rate people and objects as average or neutral.

5.5. Recency EffectsRecency Effects:: The tendency to remember recent information. Most recent information dominates perceptions, If the recent information is negative, the person or object is evaluated negatively.

6.6. Contrast EffectsContrast Effects:: The tendency to evaluate people or objects by comparing them with characteristics of recently observed people or objects.

7.7. PrimacyPrimacy: : First impressions8.8. ProjectionProjection: : Believing other people are similar to you

The Stereotyping Process

Professors areabsent-minded

Our instructoris a professor

Our instructor isabsent-minded

Assign category’s traitsAssign category’s traitsto the personto the person

Assign person to categoryAssign person to categorybased on observable infobased on observable info

Develop categoriesDevelop categoriesand assign traitsand assign traits

Improving Perceptual Accuracy

ImprovingImprovingPerceptualPerceptualAccuracyAccuracy

DiversityDiversityInitiativesInitiatives

EmpathizeEmpathizeWith OthersWith Others

PostponePostponeImpressionImpressionFormationFormation

KnowKnowYourselfYourself

CompareComparePerceptionsPerceptionsWith OthersWith Others