Perception and Attribution Session 4. Organizational Behavior / Perception 2.

Perception and Attribution

Session 4

Organizational Behavior / Perception

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Figure-Ground Illustration

Field-ground differentiation The tendency to distinguish

and focus on a stimulus that is classified as figure as opposed to background.

What is Perception?

Is it same as reality or different? If yes, how?

What Is Perception, and Why Is It Important?

•People’s behavior is based on their perception of what reality is, not on reality itself.

•The world as it is perceived is the world that is behaviorally important.

•People’s behavior is based on their perception of what reality is, not on reality itself.

•The world as it is perceived is the world that is behaviorally important.

Perception

A process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment.

Social Perception is a process of interpreting information about another person.

Factors ThatInfluence Perception

5–12

Person Perception: Making Judgments About Others

Kelley’s Attribution Theory

When individuals observe behavior, they attempt to determine whether it is internally or externally caused.

Attribution Theory

explains how individuals

pinpoint the causes of their

own behavior or that of others

Internal and External Attributions

Internal Attributions:Attributing events to something within the individual’s control.

External Attributions:Attributing events to something outside the individual’s control.

Informational Cues

Distinctiveness: shows different behaviors in different situations.

Consensus: response is the same as others to same situation.

Consistency: responds in the same way over time.

Customer has complained about an

employee

There are no complaints about other employees

(low consensus)

An employee has received similar complaints in a

past job (low

distinctiveness)

Complaints have been coming in

steadily (high consistency)

Internal attribution (An employee’s behavior stems mainly from internal causes)

An employee has performed poorly

on collections

Other employee s are performing

poorly on collections

(high consensus)

He/She performs poorly only on

this task (high

distinctiveness)

Most of the time an

employee handles

collections well (low

consistency)

External Attribution(An employee’s behavior

stems mainly from external causes)

Attribution Theory

5–19

Attribution Biases

Fundamental Attribution Error –Underestimating the influence of external

factors and overestimating the influence of internal /personal factors.

Self – Serving Bias –Attributing own success to internal factors and

putting blame for failure on external factors.

Cultural Aspect

Shortcuts/Barriers to Social Perception

Selective Perception Halo Effect Contrast Effect Projection Stereotyping Self fulfilling prophecy Impression Management

Frequently Used Shortcuts in Judging Others

Selective Perception

People selectively interpret what they see on the basis of their interests, background, experience, and attitudes.


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.


Projection

Attributing one’s own characteristics to other people.

Stereotyping

Judging someone on the basis of one’s perception of the group to which that person belongs.

Researchers at MIT and the University of Chicago mailed 5000 résumés to potential employers, using “white-sounding” and “black-sounding” names

Callback rates on identical résumés were substantially higher for white-sounding names than for black-sounding names

Conclusion: stereotypes and false attributions can lead to discrimination in hiring.

What’s in a Name?

Self – fulfilling Prophecy – (Pygmalion Effect)The situation in which our expectations about people affect our interaction with them in such a way that our expectations are fulfilled.

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

Specific Applications in Organizations

Employment Interview Perceptual biases of raters affect the accuracy of

interviewers’ judgments of applicants.Performance Expectations

Self-fulfilling prophecy (pygmalion effect): The lower or higher performance of employees reflects preconceived leader expectations about employee capabilities.

Ethnic Profiling A form of stereotyping in which a group of individuals is

singled out—typically on the basis of race or ethnicity—for intensive inquiry, scrutinizing, or investigation.

Specific Applications in Organizations (cont’d)

Performance Evaluations Appraisals are often the subjective (judgmental)

perceptions of appraisers of another employee’s job performance.

Employee Effort Assessment of individual effort is a subjective

judgment subject to perceptual distortion and bias.

How quickly can you spot the 2’s in the picture to the right?

The task is effortless for “synesthetes,” who perceive the 2’s as a different color from the 5’s.

Synesthesia is a rare perceptual condition in which one sensory perception triggers another—for example, music evokes colors or smells.

Synesthesia: Unusual Perception

Perception and Attribution Session 4. Organizational Behavior / Perception 2.

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