Sensing, Perception and attribution Interactive lecture III Dr Jolanta Babiak Winter semester 2017/2018

sensation stimulation of sensory receptors produces neural impulses That represent experience inside or outside the body

Perception Sensory impressions Registering, organizing and interpreting Ascribing meaning to the environment

Perception Perception – mental processes that we use to understand our environment Perceiving the physical environment is relatively objective and testable Social perception – process of gathreing selecting and interpreting information about how we view ourselves and others Information about people is often subjective and open to interpretation Closure – the process of filling in missing information to understand stimulus When we don’t have all the facts We rely on assumtions to fill in missing information Closure allows us to interpret the unclear situation based on our previous experiences

Why is social perception important? Peoples’ behavior is based on their perception of what reality is, not on reality itself Perception process requires that we select, interpret and use stimuli and cues (information) and is a subject to certain distortions Sources of these distortions are the perceiver, the object or target of the perception process, or the context of the perception process

Factors that influence perception Factors in the situation - Time - Work setting - Social setting Factors in the perceiver - Attitudes - Motives - Interests - Experience - Expectations Perception Factors in the target - Novelty - Motion - Sounds - Size - Background - Proximity - Similarity

Person Perception – making judgements about others When we observe people we try to explain their behavior; we ask ourselves: why do they behave this way? Our perception will be influenced by the assumptions we make about the target person internal state Attribution theory - explains how we judge others depending on the meaning we attribute to their behaviors We try to determine whether others’ behavior was internally or externally caused That determination depends on three fctors: 1. distinctiveness, 2. consensus, 3. consistency.

Attribution theory Judgments we make Meanings we attribute Observed behavior of another person 1. Distinctiveness 2. Consensus 3. Consistency Judgments we make Meanings we attribute We determine the source of causation of that behavior Internal vs External causes

Differences between internal vs external causation Internally caused behavior Externally caused behavior Under the control of the individual Employee is late for work: he was partying and then overslept Colleague is gaining weight: he is socializing a lot and overeating Manager is in tensed mood: he wants to evoke fear in us purposefully What the situation forced the individual to do Employee is late for work: must have run into tied up traffic due to some accident on the way Colleague is gaining weight: could have some health issues, maybe thyroid Manager is in tensed mood: he must have been under fire during yesterday’s board meeting

Three determining factors: (1) Distinctiveness Behavior is unusual External attribution Behavior is usual Internal attribution

Three determining factors: (2) Consensus High consensus: others behaved in similar fashion External attribution Low consensus: behavior stands out from among others in a similar situation Internal attribution

Three determining factors: (3) Consistency Does the person responds in the same way over time? If not… External attribution If yes Internal attribution

Attribution theory observation interpretation Attribution of cause

Most important finding: fundamental attribution error While making judgments about the behavior of other people We tend to overestimate the effects of internal factors; e.g. sales dropped recently - my sales agents are just lazy We tend to underestimate the effects of the external factors; sales dropped recently – it cannot be the innovative product introduced by the competitor

Most important finding: fundamental attribution error While making judgments about our own behavior We tend to attribute our own success to internal factors; e.g. ability, effort We tend to blame failure on the external factors; e.g. bad luck, poor performance of others

Selective perception We tend to perceive persons or objects based on characteristics that stand out We can’t assimilate and process every information that gets to us, that’s why we notice those that have salient characteristics e.g. we quickly notice people with unusual hairdo We engage in selective perception This process is not random: we choose according to our interests, background, experience and attitudes Seeing what we want to see makes us draw unwarranted conclusions: halo effect, contrast effect, stereotyping

Shortcuts in judging others: halo effect We draw a general impression about an individual on the basis of a single characteristic; here: appearance

Shortcuts in judging others: contrast effect Our reaction is influenced by other persons we have recently encountered; attention: job interviews

Shortcuts in judging others: stereotyping Less difficult to deal with unmanageable number of stimuli if we use heuristics Problem occurs when we generalize inaccurately or too much We usually stereotype based on: Gender Age Race Religion Ethnicity Weight Stereotypes operate emotionally and often below the level of conscious awareness

Bibliography Gerrig, R. J., Zimbardo, P. G. (2010). Psychology and life. New Jersey: Person education, Inc. Robbins, S. P., Judge, T. A. (2013). Organizational behavior. New Jersey: Person education, Inc. Whetten, D. A., Cameron K. S. (2011). Developing Management Skills. New Jersey: Person education, Inc