Study Notes

Perception
Perception

Perception

People look at the world and see things differently. People use an organized framework that
they have built out of a lifetime of experience and accumulated values. This is another way in
which people insist on acting like human beings rather than rational machines. Employees see
their world differently for a variety of reasons. They may differ in their personalities, needs,
demographic factors, a past experience, or they may find themselves in different physical
settings, time periods, or social surroundings. Whatever may be the reasons, they tend to act
on the basis of their perceptions.

Perceptual process are the different stages of perception we go through. The different stages
are
 Receiving
 Selecting
 Organizing
 Interpreting

Receiving
 Receiving is the first and most important stage in the process of perception. It is the initial
stage in which a person collects all information and receives the information through the
sense organs.

Selecting
 Selecting is the second stage in the process. Here a person doesn’t receive the data
randomly but selectively. A person selects some information out of all in accordance with his
interest or needs. The selection of data is dominated by various external and internal
factors.
 External factors − The factors that influence the perception of an individual externally are
intensity, size, contrast, movement, repetition, familiarity, and novelty.
 Internal factors − The factors that influence the perception of an individual internally are
psychological requirements, learning, background, experience, self-acceptance, and
interest.

Organizing
 Keeping things in order or say in a synchronized way is organizing. In order to make sense
of the data received, it is important to organize them. We can organize the data by −
o Grouping them on the basis of their similarity, proximity, closure, continuity.
o Establishing a figure ground is the basic process in perception. Here by figure, we mean
what is kept as main focus and by ground we mean background stimuli, which are not
given attention.
o Perceptual constancy that is the tendency to stabilize perception so that contextual
changes don’t affect them.

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Perception

Interpreting
 Finally, we have the process of interpreting which means forming an idea about a particular
object depending upon the need or interest. Interpretation means that the information we
have sensed and organized, is finally given a meaning by turning it into something that can
be categorized. It includes stereotyping, halo effect etc.

Factors Influencing Perceptual Process

Perception is our sensory experience of the world around us and involves both the recognition
of environmental stimuli and action in response to these stimuli. Through the perceptual
process, we gain information about properties and elements of the environment that are critical
to our survival.
A number of factors operate to shape and sometimes distort perception.

External Factors:
 Size: Bigger size attracts the attention of the perceiver
 Intensity: A loud sound, strong odor or bright light is noticed more as compared to a soft
sound, weak odour or dimlight.
 Repetition: A repeated external stimulus is more attention getting than a single one.
Advertisers use this principle.
 Novelty and Familiarity: A novel or a familiar external situation can serve as attention
getter.
 Contrast: It is a kind of uniqueness which can be used for attention getting. Letters of bold
types, persons dressed differently than others, etc., get more attention.
 Motion: A moving object draws more attention as compared to a stationary object.
Advertisers use this principle.

Internal Factors
 Self-concept: The way a person views the world depends a great deal on the concept or
image he has about himself. The concept plays an internal role in perceptual selectivity.
 Beliefs: A person's beliefs have profound influence on his perception. Thus, a fact is
conceived not on what it is but what a person believes it to be.
 Expectations: These affect what a person perceives. A technical manager may expect
ignorance about the technical features of a product from non-technical people.
 Inner Needs: The need is a feeling of tension or discomfort, when one thinks he is missing
something. People with different needs experience different stimuli. According to Freud,
wishful thinking is the means by which the Id attempts to achieve tension reduction.

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Perceptual Errors

A perceptual error is the inability to judge humans, things or situations fairly and accurately.
Examples bias, prejudice, stereotyping, which have always caused human beings to err in
different aspects of their lives.

Perceptual error has strong impact in organisation and it hampers in proper decision-making
skill while hiring, performance appraisal, review, feedback etc.

There are many types of perceptual errors in workplace, as follows:

Confirmation Bias - Confirmation bias happens when you look for information that supports
your existing beliefs and reject data that goes against what you believe. This can lead you to
make biased decisions, because you don't factor in all the relevant information.

Anchoring - Anchoring is a cognitive bias that describes the common human tendency to rely
too heavily on the first piece of information offered (the "anchor'') when making decisions.
During decision making, anchoring occurs when individuals use an initial piece of information to
make subsequent judgments. This bias is the tendency to jump to conclusions – that is, to base
your final judgment on information gained early in the decision-making process. It is like a "first
impression" bias.

Overconfidence Bias - This happens when you place too much faith in your own knowledge
and opinions. You may also believe that your contribution to a decision is more valuable than it
actually is. You might combine this bias with anchoring, meaning that you act on hunches,
because you have an unrealistic view of your own decision-making ability.

Halo Effect - This is the tendency for a person's positive traits to "spill over" from one area of
their personality to another in others' perception of them. In other words, it's hard to believe that
someone you like or trust in another context could be wrong now.

Horn Effect – It is the opposite of the horn effect when someone's negative traits cloud your
judgment of them or their abilities.

Gambler's Fallacy - With the gambler's fallacy, you expect past events to influence the future.
Often, the longer the run, the stronger your belief can be that things will change the next time.
But in fact, outcomes are highly uncertain. The number of successes that you've had previously
has little or no bearing on the future.

Fundamental Attribution Error - This is the tendency to blame others when things go wrong,
instead of looking objectively at the situation. You may blame or judge someone based on a
stereotype or a perceived personality flaw. Fundamental attribution error is the tendency to
place blame on external events.

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Stereotyping bias: Stereotypes are assumptions made about a group of people (here country)
and are applied to individuals, irrespective of their personal characteristics, because of their
affiliation with a certain group. Stereotypes can be positive, negative or neutral

Groupthink - Groupthink is a psychological and sociological phenomenon in which members of

a group will conform to majority opinion to maintain group harmony rather than stating their own
opinions. Groupthink is differentiated from simple group consensus by its often illogical or poorly
thought through conclusions. Groupthink often results in an irrational or dysfunctional decision-
making outcome.

Bandwagon Bias - Bandwagon bias is a form of Groupthink . Here, the tendency is to form an
opinion or take action because others have already done so. The probability of you "hopping on
the bandwagon" increases as others adopt an idea.

Mere Exposure Effect - According to Robert Zajonc's 1968 study, the mere exposure effect, or
"familiarity principle," occurs when repeated exposure of the individual to a stimulus object
enhances his attitude toward it. In decision making, this bias can manifest itself as a preference
for opinions, people or information that one has already seen or heard before.

Hindsight Bias - hindsight bias is when someone believes that they accurately predicted the
outcome of a decision before it was made, even if they did not. Researchers Neal Roese and
Kathleen Vohs argue that hindsight bias occurs when people feel that a certain outcome was
obvious and expected, but only after the event has taken place.

Hindsight bias can be especially problematic when you want to understand why a decision went
wrong, as it can be hard to look back objectively. It can also cause problems when you need to
analyze or interpret results in business experiments, because you might view your findings as
"predictable" once your tests are complete.

Dunning-Kruger Effect - The Dunning-Kruger effect refers to people's ability to accurately

assess their own and others' competence. In general, low-skilled people tend to overestimate
their own abilities, and highly skilled people tend to underestimate theirs.

Framing effect is an example of cognitive bias, in which people react to a particular choice in
different ways depending on how it is presented

Escalation of commitment – Also known as commitment bias, it describes our tendency to

remain committed to our past behaviors, particularly those exhibited publicly, even if they do not
have desirable outcomes.
Availability Bias - Availability bias suggests that decision makers use the information that is
most readily available to them when making a decision. This comes at the expense of looking
for additional information that could lead to a further understanding of the situation. As such, a
decision is made on limited or superficial information.

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Randomness error/Randomness bias - Randomness bias is the natural tendency to see

patterns in random data. For example, a supporter of a sports team feels that the team won a
match when he wore a particular t-shirt and then continues to wear it for every match.

Representative bias is when a decision maker wrongly compares two situations because of a
perceived similarity, or, conversely, when he or she evaluates an event without comparing it to
similar situations. The decision maker believes that the situation represents all of the
characteristics of the population of which it is a part. This is similar to stereotyping.

Selective Perception - This is the tendency to see a particular situation or issue from a chosen
perspective. This is related to the team-based mentality. We see all situations or issues through
a common lens that influences our ability to understand alternative or conflicting points of view
or alternatives.

Self-Serving Bias - This is one’s tendency to attribute the positive results of a decision or
situation to one’s own actions or decision. Likewise, it causes individuals to attribute negative
consequences to factors outside of our control. This can cause an inability to accurately assess
or affect a situation through decision making.