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Session 5-6

This document discusses human perception and factors that influence it. It covers several key points: 1) Perception is how people interpret and make sense of their environment, not objective reality. People's behaviors are based on their perceptions. 2) Attribution theory examines how people explain the behaviors of others as either internally or externally caused. Common errors include overestimating internal causes of others' behaviors. 3) Impression management refers to how people try to control how others perceive them through behaviors, self-promotion, flattery and other tactics. 4) Awareness of perceptual biases and improving self-awareness through feedback can help reduce errors in judgment and perception of others.

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KANIKA GORAYA
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36 views

Session 5-6

This document discusses human perception and factors that influence it. It covers several key points: 1) Perception is how people interpret and make sense of their environment, not objective reality. People's behaviors are based on their perceptions. 2) Attribution theory examines how people explain the behaviors of others as either internally or externally caused. Common errors include overestimating internal causes of others' behaviors. 3) Impression management refers to how people try to control how others perceive them through behaviors, self-promotion, flattery and other tactics. 4) Awareness of perceptual biases and improving self-awareness through feedback can help reduce errors in judgment and perception of others.

Uploaded by

KANIKA GORAYA
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Human Behavior in Organizations

Session 5
Perception 

• Perception is a process by which individuals organize and


interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to
their environment.

• It is important to the study of OB because people’s behaviors are


based on their perception of what reality is, not on reality itself.

6-2
Performance Appraisals: Contrasting Views
Factors That Influence Perception

6-4
Attribution Theory

• Attribution theory suggests that when we observe an


individual’s behavior, we attempt to determine whether it
was internally or externally caused.
– Internally caused – those that are believed to be under
the personal control of the individual.

– Externally caused – resulting from outside causes.

6-5
Attribution Theory

• Factors influencing internal and external causation :

Distinctiveness:
Distinctiveness:shows
showsdifferent
differentbehaviors
behaviorsinindifferent
differentsituations.
situations.
Consensus:
Consensus:response
responseisisthe
thesame
sameasasothers
otherstotosame
samesituation.
situation.
Consistency:
Consistency:responds
respondsininthe
thesame
sameway
wayover
overtime.
time.

6-6
6-7
Errors and Biases in Attributions

• Fundamental attribution error


– We have a tendency to underestimate the influence of external
factors and overestimate the influence of internal or personal
factors when making judgments about the behavior of others.
• Self-serving bias

– The tendency for individuals to attribute their own successes to


internal factors while putting the blame for failures on external
factors.
6-8
Common Shortcuts in Judging Others

– Selective perception
• The tendency to selectively interpret what one sees on the
basis of one’s interests, background, experience, and
attitudes.
• Since we can’t observe everything going on around us, we
engage in selective perception.
Projection
• The tendency to attribute one’s own characteristics to other
people
6-9
Common Shortcuts in Judging Others

• Halo effect

• The halo effect occurs when we draw a general


impression on the basis of a single characteristic.
• Contrast effects
– We do not evaluate a person in isolation.

– Our reaction to one person is influenced by other


persons we have recently encountered.

6-10
Common Shortcuts in Judging Others
• Stereotyping
– Judging someone on the basis of our perception of the
group to which he or she belongs.
• We have to monitor ourselves to make sure we’re not
unfairly applying a stereotype in our evaluations and
decisions.

6-11
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy Cycle
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy Effect is Strongest:

• At the beginning of the relationship (e.g. employee


joins the team)

• When several people have similar expectations about


the person

• When the employee has low rather than high past


achievement
Other Perceptual Errors

• False-consensus effect (similar-to me effect)


– Overestimate the extent to which others have beliefs and
characteristics similar to our own
• Primacy effect

– First impressions
• Recency effect

– Most recent information dominates perceptions


Impression Management

The process by which individuals try to control the impression


others have of them
– Name dropping

– Appearance

– Self-description

– Flattery
– Favors

– Agreement with opinion


Impression Management Tactics

The target of perception matches A subordinate tries to imitate her boss’s


Behavioral
his or her behavior to that of the behavior by being modest and soft-spoken
Matching perceiver. because her boss is modest and soft-spoken.

The target tries to present herself A worker reminds his boss about his past
Self-
or himself in as positive a light as accomplishments and associates with co-
Promotion possible. workers who are evaluated highly.

Appreciating The target compliments the per- A coworker compliments a manager on his
ceiver. This tactic works best when excellent handling of a troublesome employee.
or Flattering
flattery is not extreme and when it
Others involves a dimension important
to the perceiver.
Applications of Shortcuts in Organizations

– Employment Interview
• Evidence indicates that interviewers make perceptual
judgments that are often inaccurate.
Interviewers generally draw early impressions that
become very quickly entrenched.
Studies indicate that most interviewers’ decisions
change very little after the first four or five minutes
of the interview.
6-17
Applications of Shortcuts in Organizations

• Performance Evaluation
– An employee’s performance appraisal is very much
dependent upon the perceptual process.
• Many jobs are evaluated in subjective terms.

• Subjective measures are problematic because of


selective perception, contrast effects, halo effects,
and so on.

6-18
Strategies to Improve Perceptions

• Awareness of perceptual biases


– Knowing perceptual biases exist – e.g. diversity awareness training
– Become more mindful of our thoughts and actions

• Improving self-awareness
– Become more aware of our beliefs, values, and attitudes
– Better understand biases in our own decisions and behavior
– Applying Johari Window

• Meaningful interaction
– Contact hypothesis – the more we interact with someone, the less
prejudiced or perceptually biased we will be
Know Yourself
(Johari Window)
• Objective is to increase size of open area so that both you
and colleagues are aware of your perceptual limitations:
– Disclosure – tell others about yourself (reduces hidden
area)
– Feedback – receive feedback about your behavior
(reduces blind area)

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