Unit II

Perception, Learning, and Personality

 Perception

A process by which individuals select, organize and

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

The world as it is perceived is the world that is

behaviorally important.
 Perceptual Process

Has input, processes and output variables

• Inputs: objectives, events, people received by

the perceiver

• Processes: Selection, organization,

Interpretation of the sensory impressions

• Output: Emotions and behavior

 Perceptual process-processes

 Selection:
 Our five senses are continuously bombarded
with inputs.

 Selecting and screening out information

received by one of our five senses
Perceptual selection
 Processes contd..
 Organization: common methods of
organizing include
 Grouping
 Closure
 Simplification
 Processes contd.

 Closure

It is a nkown fcat that peolpe tedn to

comlpete wrods evne wehn mis-spetl.
 Processes contd.

 Interpretation: How the perceived information

is understood.

 Influenced by many factors called perceptual

errors
 Perceptual errors

 Selective Perception – a perceptual filtering process

based on interests, background, and attitude. May allow
observers to draw unwarranted conclusions from an
ambiguous situation.
 Halo Effect – drawing a general impression based on a
single characteristic.
 Contrast Effects – our reaction is influenced by others
we have recently encountered
 Stereotyping – judging someone on the basis of the
perception of the group to which they belong.
 Factors Influencing Perception

Perceiver

Situation Target

Perception
 The Perceiver
 Personal characteristics affecting perception
 Attitudes

 Motive

 Interest

 Past experiences

 Expectations
 The Target
– Target’s characteristics affecting perception: Novelty, Motives,
Sounds, Size, Proximity

• Perceivers notice those whose characteristic of physical appearance

contrast with what is considered normal
• Attractive or unattractive people are noticed:
– Physical attractiveness and job selection
• Verbal communication:
– What target speaks about, how the idea is presented, the voice tone used, or the
accent. All shape perception of the target
• Objects that are close to each other will tend to be perceived together
rather than separately
 The Situation
 The context in which we see objects or events is
important

 Elements in the surrounding environment

influence perception

 The time at which an object or event is seen can

influence your perception
Perception image
Perception Images
Perception image
Perception image
Perception image
Rational Decision-Making Model

1. Define the problem.

2. Identify the decision criteria.
3. Allocate weights to the criteria.
4. Develop the alternatives.
5. Evaluate the alternatives.
6. Select the best alternative.
 Assumptions of the Model

 Complete knowledge of the situation

 All relevant options are known in an unbiased
manner
 The decision-maker seeks the highest utility
 Bounded Rationality

Bounded rationality is constructing simplified

models that extract the essential features from
problems without capturing all their complexity
 Decision Making in Bounded Rationality

Simpler than rational decision making, composed of

three steps:

1. Limited search for criteria and alternatives – familiar

criteria and easily found alternatives
2. Limited review of alternatives – focus alternatives, similar
to those already in effect
3. Satisficing – selecting the first alternative that is “good
enough”
 Intuitive Decision Making

 An non-conscious process created

out of distilled experience
 Increases with experience
 Can be a powerful complement to
rational analysis in decision
making
 Common biases and errors

 Anchoring bias: Tendency to fix on initial

information
 Conformation bias: Seeking out information that
reaffirms our past choices
 Availability bias: Tendency to base decisions on
information readily available
 Common biases and errors contd..

 Representative bias: Assessing the likelihood of an

occurrence by trying to match it with a pre-existing
category
 Escalation of commitment: Increased commitment
to a previous decision in-spite of negative
information
 Hindsight bias: False belief that an outcome would
have been accurately predicted, after that outcome
is actually known
 Learning

• Any relatively permanent change in knowledge or

behavior that occurs as a result of practice or
experience.
• Components of learning
• Change
• Relatively permanent
• Is acquired through experience
• Reinforcement is required
 Factors influencing learning

 Physiological
 Distribution of knowledge and information
 Reward for learning
 Support for learning
 Motivation and prior experience
 Opportunities to practice
 Significance of learning

 To understand and predict behavior of people

at work
 To manage and work in diversity
 To adapt to the changing technology
 Total quality management (TQM)
 To facilitate organizational change and development
Learning theories
 Learning Theories

1.Classical conditioning-Pavlov
2. Operant conditioning-Skinner
3. Social learning-cognitive-Bandura
 Overview of the three types of learning
 Classical Conditioning: The learning of “involuntary,”
reflexive behavior, such as emotional reactions
 Operant Conditioning: The learning of voluntary,
goal-directed behavior through the direct experience of
consequences
 Social Learning: The learning of voluntary, goal-
directed behavior through observation and imitation of
others
 Classical Conditioning
A type of conditioning in which an individual responds
to some stimulus that would not ordinarily produce
such a response.

Key Concepts
Key things
• Unconditioned stimulus
• 1927, Russian scientist Pavlov
• Unconditioned response
• Experiment with dog
• Conditioned stimulus
• Meat, Dog, Bell and salivation
• Conditioned response
Models: Pavlov’s Dog
Models: Pavlov’s Dog
Models: Pavlov’s Dog
 Operant Conditioning
A type of conditioning in which desired voluntary behavior
leads to a reward or prevents a punishment.
Argues that behavior is a function of its consequences
People learn to behave to get something they want or to
avoid something they don’t want
 Operant Conditioning

Voluntary response is strengthened or weakened,

depending on its favorable or unfavorable consequences

 Operant conditioning used widely in
organizational management

• Most behaviour in organizations is learned rather

than natural
• Employees learned all kinds of behaviour before and
after joining a company
• The kind of behaviour that employees display are
either rewarded or punished, depending on the values
and culture of the organizations
 Reinforcement/Punishment
Desired organizational behavior:
 Positive reinforcement: used to increase the frequency of the
desired behaviour among employees in organizations by
rewarding desired behavior
 Negative reinforcement: used to increase the frequency of the
desired behaviour in people by removing some negative
consequences

Undesired organizational behavior

 Punishment: creating an undesirable situation or removing
pleasant consequences to decrease an undesirable behaviour.
 Social-Learning Theory

People can learn through observation, imitation and

direct experience.

Different ways of social learning

 Behavioral Modeling
 Self-reinforcement
 Learning behavior consequences
 Social-Learning theory contd.
Behavior modeling: learning by observing others’
behaviors and modeling them
Few conditions to be met
 Learner must observe the model when the behavior is being
performed
 He/she must accurately perceive the model’s behavior
 Must remember the behavior
 Must have the skills and abilities necessary to perform the
behavior
 Must observe that the model receives rewards/punishments for
the behavior
 Social-Learning theory contd.
Self-reinforcement:
 Learning by self-reinforcement
 Without any external Pressure
Learning behavior consequences
 Learning the consequences of behavior in ways other than
direct experience
 Logically thinking through consequences

 Observing the consequences that other people experience

 Behavior Modification(OB Mod)

Five Step Problem-Solving Model

1. Identify critical behaviors(that impact a performance)
2. Develop baseline data
3. Identify behavioral consequences
4. Develop and apply intervention
5. Evaluate performance improvement
Personality
 Personality

 Is the sum of ways in which an individual reacts

and interacts with others
 Is a dynamic concept describing the growth and
development of a person’s whole psychological
system
 Personality is described in terms of measurable
traits that a person exhibits
 Personality Traits
• Personality traits are enduring characteristics that
describes an individual behavior
• Popular characteristics – shy, aggressive, submissive,
lazy, ambitious, loyal, and timid
• Efforts to isolate traits have been hindered because
there are so many of them and it is difficult to predict
behavior from such large number of traits
• Attention has been directed toward reducing these
thousand to a more manageable number of traits
Sixteen Primary Traits Contd....

SN Primary Personality Traits

1 Reserved Vs Outgoing
2 Less Intelligent Vs More Intelligent
3 Affected by Vs Emotionally Stable
Feelings
4 Submissive Vs Dominant
5 Serious Vs Happy-Go-Lucky
6 Expedient Vs Conscientious
7 Timid Vs Venturesome
8 Tough-Minded Vs Sensitive
 Sixteen Primary Traits

SN Primary Personality Traits

9 Trusting Vs Suspicious
10 Practical Vs Imaginative
11 Forthright Vs Shrewd
12 Self-Assured Vs Apprehensive
13 Conservative Vs Experimenting
14 Group-Dependant Vs Self-Sufficient
15 Uncontrolled Vs Controlled
16 Relaxed Vs Tense
 The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

• MBTI is a personality test that taps four characteristics and

classifies people into one of 16 personality types
• It is a 100-question personality test that asks people how they
usually feel or act in particular situations
• Respondents are classified as
– Extrovert or Introvert (E or I)
– Sensing or Intuitive (S or N): S types are practical and prefer routine
and order. N types rely on unconscious processes
– Thinking or Feeling (T or F)
– Perceiving or Judging (P or J): P types are flexible and spontaneous. J
types want control and prefer order and structure
 The Big Five Model
1. Extraversion
 A personality dimension describing someone who is sociable, talkative,
and assertive
 They tend to be friendly, outgoing, and maintain relationships
2. Agreeableness
 A personality dimension that describes someone who is good-natured,
cooperative, and trusting
 They value harmony more than their own say and are cooperative
3. Conscientiousness
 A personality dimension that describes someone who is responsible,
dependable, persistent, and achievement oriented
 These persons pursues fewer goals, in a purposeful way
4. Emotional Stability
 A personality dimension that characterizes someone as calm,
enthusiastic, secure (positive) versus tense, nervous, depressed, and
insecure (negative)
5. Openness to Experience
 A personality dimension that characterizes someone in terms of
imaginativeness, artistic sensitivity, and intellectualism
 They are fascinated by novelty and innovation
Determinants of Personality

• HEREDITY
• ENVIRONMENT
• SITUATION
 Heredity

• Physical stature, facial attractiveness, gender, temperament,

muscle composition, and reflexes, energy level, biological
rhythms
• Biological, psychological, and inherent psychological makeup

• Personality characters are not completely dictated by heredity,

as they are not fixed from birth to adulthood
 Environment

• Culture exert pressure on personality formation

• Early conditioning, the family norms, friends, social groups

• Environment in which a person is raised

• Heredity sets the parameter or outer limits, but an individual

adjusts to the demands and requirements of the environment
 Situation

• It influences the effects of heredity and environment

on personality
• Personality although stable changes in different
situations
• Situations – church, employment interview
constrain behavior than in picnic situation
 Major personality attributes influencing
organizational behavior

1. Locus of Control
 The degree to which people believe they are masters of their
own fate
 A person’s perception of the source of her or his fate
 Internals
 Externals
 2. Machiavellianism
• Degree to which an individual is pragmatic,
maintains emotional distance, and believes that
ends can justify means
• High-Machs:
– manipulate more, win more, are persuaded less, and
persuade others more
• Low-Machs :
– value loyalty and friendship.
– are more emotional and less willing to lie to succeed
 3. Self-Esteem

• It is individuals’ degree of liking or disliking of

themselves
• High SE individuals:
– believe that they possess the ability they need in order to succeed at
work
– take more risk in job selection and are more likely to choose
unconventional jobs
• Low SE individuals:
– are more susceptible to external influences
– are dependant on the receipt of positive evaluations from others
 4. Self-Monitoring

• A personality trait that measures an individual’s

ability to adjust her or his behavior to external,
situational factors

• Individuals high in self-monitoring:

– show considerably adaptability in adjusting their behavior to
external situational factors
• Low self-monitors:
– tend to display their true dispositions and attitudes in every
situation
– have a high behavioral consistency in who they are and what they
do
 5. Risk Taking

 It is the propensity to assume or avoid risk

 High risk-taking managers are more rapid in
decision-making and use less information to make
a decision
 Personality Type
Type A
 Characterized by time urgency and impatience
 Associated with ambition and the successful
acquisition of material goods
 Operate under moderate or high level of stress and
subject themselves to time-pressure and are fast
workers
 They emphasize quantity over quality and are not
very innovative
 Personality type contd..

Type B:

• Much more easy going

• Laxed about time pressure
• Less competitive
• More Philosophical
• Feel no need to display or discuss either their achievements or
accomplishments