Perception

Workshop on
Soft Skills and
Personality
Development

Lecture No.1
 “You become what you think”

“If everyone perceived everything the

same way, things would be a lot simpler”
- Moorhead & Griffin
What
What Language
Language IsIs Written
Written on
on This
This Stone
Stone Found
Found by
by
Archaeologists?
Archaeologists?

TOTI
EMUL
ESTO
The
The Language
Language isis English:
English: To
To Tie
Tie Mules
Mules To
To

TOTI
EMUL
ESTO
What
What do
do you
you see?
see?
What
What do
do you
you see
see now?
now?
What
What colour
colour comes
comes to
to mind?
mind?
 Why
Why We
We Study
Study Perceptions?
Perceptions?
 To better understand
 We don’t see reality. We interpret it.
 The attribution process guides our behaviour,
 What
What isis Perception?
Perception?
 A process by which individuals organize and interpret their
sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their
environment.
 “Perception is an important mediating cognitive process
through which persons make interpretations of the stimulus
or situation they are forced with.”
 Why it is 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.
 What we perceive can be differentiated from objective
reality.
 MEANING
MEANING
 Perceptions differ from person to person.
 Each individual perceives the same situation
differently.
 Group perceptions can influence one’s perception.
 Individuals organize and interpret things based on
their past experiences and the important values
they consider important.
 Employees tend to behave and act on certain
things on the basis of their perception.
 NATURE
NATURE OF
OF PERCEPTION
PERCEPTION
1)Perception is the process by which an individual gives
meaning to the environment.

2)It is a cognitive and psychological process. The

manner in which a person perceives the environment
affects his behaviour. There can be no behaviour
without perception and perception lies at the base of
every human action.

3)People’s action, emotions, thoughts and feelings are

triggered by their perceptions of their surroundings.

4)Though perception has been defined in a variety of

ways, it basically refers to the manner in which a person
experiences the world.
4)Perception is an almost automatic process and works
in much the same way within each individual, yet
typically yields different perceptions.

5)Perception is a process that operates constantly

between us and reality.

6)Since perception is subjective process, different

people may perceive the same environment
differently. So, perception is like beauty, that lies in the
eyes of the beholder.

7)Perception is a unique interpretation of the situation,

not an exact recording of the situation.
 PERCEPTUAL
PERCEPTUAL PROCESS…
PROCESS…
Perceptual Perceptual
Perceptual throughputs
inputs Outputs

Stimuli Actions
Receiving->Selecting->Organising->Interpreting

Simplified process of perception

 Perceptual inputs – Objects, Events and people.
All those things in the setting where events occur or
contribute to the occurrence of events can be
termed as Perceptual inputs.

 Perceptual Mechanism -involves three elements viz.

selection of stimuli, organization of stimuli and
interpretation of stimuli.

 Perceptual outputs –Attitudes, Opinions, Feelings &

Values.

 The result is the “ BEHAVIOUR”

Factors
Factors That
That Influence
Influence Perception
Perception
 Attribution
Attribution Theory:
Theory: Judging
Judging Others
Others
 Our perception and judgment of others is significantly
influenced by our assumptions of the other person’s
internal state.
– When individuals observe behavior, they attempt to
determine whether it is internally or externally caused.
• Internal causes are under that person’s control
• External causes are not – person forced to act in that way
 Causation judged through:
– 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.
 Errors
Errors and
and Biases
Biases in
in Attributions
Attributions
 Fundamental Attribution Error
– The tendency to underestimate the influence of
external factors and overestimate the influence of
internal factors when making judgments about the
behavior of others
– We blame people first, not the situation

 Self-Serving Bias
– The tendency for individuals to attribute their own
successes to internal factors while putting the
blame for failures on external factors
– It is “our” success but “their” failure
 Frequently
Frequently Used
Used Shortcuts
Shortcuts in
in Judging
Judging Others
Others
 Selective Perception
– People selectively interpret what they see on the basis of
their interests, background, experience, and attitudes
 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.
 Halo Effect
– Drawing a general impression about an individual on the
basis of a single characteristic or trait.
– Whatever the trait is, it may override all other traits in
forming the perception of the person.
– It’s opposite is “Horns effect” where a person is degraded
because of single negative trait.
 Stereotyping
Stereotyping
It is the tendency to perceive another person or judging someone
(hence social perception) on the basis of one’s perception of the
group, class or category to which that person belongs.
 More often a person is put into stereotype because the
perceiver knows only the overall category to which the person
belongs.
 But because each individual is unique, the real traits of the
person will generally be different from those stereotyped.
 Stereotyping greatly influence social perception in today’s
organizations.
 Profiling
– A form of stereotyping in which members of a group are
singled out for intense scrutiny based on a single, often racial,
trait.
Measuring stereotypes:

Several ways of measuring stereotypes

For example:

(1) By measuring the straight forward attribution of

characteristics to nominated groups
e.g.
Men are…...?, Blacks are...?, Jews are ...?,
Whites are...?, Doctors are...?, Women are...?

(2)
By identifying the salient characteristics attributed
to groups (relative to other groups).
e.g. Football players?, Car salespeople?, Actors?
Stereotyping:
Stereotypes involve generalizations about the
"typical" characteristics of members of the groups.
Prejudice:
A pre-formed opinion, an unfavorable one, based on
insufficient knowledge, irrational feelings, or
inaccurate stereotypes. Attitude toward the members
of some group based solely on their membership in
that group (can be positive or negative).
Discrimination:
Actual positive or negative actions toward the objects
of prejudice. unfair treatment of one person or group,
usually because of prejudice about race, ethnicity, age,
religion, or gender
Thanks to Allah