CHAPTER 6
6.1 - What is perception?
Perception = a process by which individuals organise and interpret their
sensory impressions to give meaning to their environment
– Important in OB because people’s behaviour is based on their perception
of what reality is (not reality itself)
– “The world as it is perceived is the world that is behaviourally important
Factors that influence perception:
. Perceiver
When you look at a target, your interpretation of what you see is influenced
3
by personal characteristics (attitudes, personality, motives, interests, past
experiences, expectations)
We hear what we want to hear / see what we want to see e.g. supervisors
see people who work earlier in the day as higher performers
. Target
The characteristics of the target affect what we perceive - the relationship
2 of a target to its background influences perception + our tendency to group
close / similar things together
e.g. when people with criminal records are prejudiced even when it is known
they were wrongly arrested
. Context
The time, location, light, hear, situational factors of when we see an object or
1 event can influence our attention
, 6.2 - Person Perception: making judgments about others
Many perceptions are formed by first impressions and small cues that have
little supporting evidence
Attribution theory:
= an attempt to explain the ways we judge people differently, depending on
the meaning we attribute to a behaviour, such as determining whether an
individual’s behaviour is internally or externally caused
– Also tries to explain what we do as a result of our attributions e.g.
supervisors exploiting employees if they judge them as being
“passionate about their work”
Determining whether a behaviour was internally or externally caused
depends on three factors: (1) distinctiveness - whether an individual
displays different behaviours in different situations / if their behaviour is
unusual (2) consensus - if everyone who faces a similar situation responds
in the same way (3) consistency - if a person responds the same way over
time
– Internally caused behaviours are those an observer believes to be under
the personal behavioural control of another individual
6.1 - What is perception?
Perception = a process by which individuals organise and interpret their
sensory impressions to give meaning to their environment
– Important in OB because people’s behaviour is based on their perception
of what reality is (not reality itself)
– “The world as it is perceived is the world that is behaviourally important
Factors that influence perception:
. Perceiver
When you look at a target, your interpretation of what you see is influenced
3
by personal characteristics (attitudes, personality, motives, interests, past
experiences, expectations)
We hear what we want to hear / see what we want to see e.g. supervisors
see people who work earlier in the day as higher performers
. Target
The characteristics of the target affect what we perceive - the relationship
2 of a target to its background influences perception + our tendency to group
close / similar things together
e.g. when people with criminal records are prejudiced even when it is known
they were wrongly arrested
. Context
The time, location, light, hear, situational factors of when we see an object or
1 event can influence our attention
, 6.2 - Person Perception: making judgments about others
Many perceptions are formed by first impressions and small cues that have
little supporting evidence
Attribution theory:
= an attempt to explain the ways we judge people differently, depending on
the meaning we attribute to a behaviour, such as determining whether an
individual’s behaviour is internally or externally caused
– Also tries to explain what we do as a result of our attributions e.g.
supervisors exploiting employees if they judge them as being
“passionate about their work”
Determining whether a behaviour was internally or externally caused
depends on three factors: (1) distinctiveness - whether an individual
displays different behaviours in different situations / if their behaviour is
unusual (2) consensus - if everyone who faces a similar situation responds
in the same way (3) consistency - if a person responds the same way over
time
– Internally caused behaviours are those an observer believes to be under
the personal behavioural control of another individual
