Perception and Attribution Session 4

Organizational Behavior / Perception

Organizational Behavior / Perception

Organizational Behavior / Perception

Organizational Behavior / Perception

Organizational Behavior / Perception

Organizational Behavior / Perception

Organizational Behavior / Perception

Figure-Ground Illustration Field-ground differentiation The tendency to distinguish and focus on a stimulus that is classified as figure as opposed to background.

What is Perception? Is it same as reality or different? If yes, how?

What Is Perception, and Why Is It Important? A process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment. 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. Social Perception is a process of interpreting information about another person.

Factors That Influence Perception

Person Perception: Making Judgments About Others Kelley’s Attribution Theory When individuals observe behavior, they attempt to determine whether it is internally or externally caused.

Attribution Theory explains how individuals pinpoint the causes of their own behavior or that of others 25 25

Internal and External Attributions Internal Attributions: Attributing events to something within the individual’s control. External Attributions: Attributing events to something outside the individual’s control. 25 25

Informational Cues 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.

Customer has complained about an employee There are no complaints about other employees (low consensus) An employee has received similar complaints in a past job (low distinctiveness) Complaints have been coming in steadily (high consistency) Internal attribution (An employee’s behavior stems mainly from internal causes)

An employee has performed poorly on collections He/She performs poorly only on this task (high distinctiveness) Other employee s are performing poorly on collections (high consensus) Most of the time an employee handles collections well (low consistency) External Attribution (An employee’s behavior stems mainly from external causes)

Attribution Theory

Attribution Biases Fundamental Attribution Error – Underestimating the influence of external factors and overestimating the influence of internal /personal factors. Self – Serving Bias – Attributing own success to internal factors and putting blame for failure on external factors. Cultural Aspect

Shortcuts/Barriers to Social Perception Selective Perception Halo Effect Contrast Effect Projection Stereotyping Self fulfilling prophecy Impression Management

Frequently Used Shortcuts in Judging Others Selective Perception People selectively interpret what they see on the basis of their interests, background, experience, and attitudes.

Frequently Used Shortcuts in Judging Others Halo Effect Drawing a general impression about an individual on the basis of a single characteristic 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.

Frequently Used Shortcuts in Judging Others Projection Attributing one’s own characteristics to other people. Stereotyping Judging someone on the basis of one’s perception of the group to which that person belongs.

What’s in a Name? Researchers at MIT and the University of Chicago mailed 5000 résumés to potential employers, using “white-sounding” and “black-sounding” names Callback rates on identical résumés were substantially higher for white-sounding names than for black-sounding names Conclusion: stereotypes and false attributions can lead to discrimination in hiring. SOURCES: M. Bertrand and S. Mullainathan, “Are Emily and Greg More Employable than Lakisha and Jamal? A Field Experiment on Labor Market Discrimination,” American Economic Review, 94 (2004): 991–1013.

Self – fulfilling Prophecy – (Pygmalion Effect) The situation in which our expectations about people affect our interaction with them in such a way that our expectations are fulfilled.

Impression Management The process by which individuals try to control the impression others have of them Name dropping Appearance Self-description Flattery Favors Agreement with opinion 24 24

Specific Applications in Organizations Employment Interview Perceptual biases of raters affect the accuracy of interviewers’ judgments of applicants. Performance Expectations Self-fulfilling prophecy (pygmalion effect): The lower or higher performance of employees reflects preconceived leader expectations about employee capabilities. Ethnic Profiling A form of stereotyping in which a group of individuals is singled out—typically on the basis of race or ethnicity—for intensive inquiry, scrutinizing, or investigation.

Specific Applications in Organizations (cont’d) Performance Evaluations Appraisals are often the subjective (judgmental) perceptions of appraisers of another employee’s job performance. Employee Effort Assessment of individual effort is a subjective judgment subject to perceptual distortion and bias.

Synesthesia: Unusual Perception Synesthesia is a rare perceptual condition in which one sensory perception triggers another—for example, music evokes colors or smells. How quickly can you spot the 2’s in the picture to the right? Synesthesia: Unusual Perception Quick, find all the 2s in the box on the top. If you’re like most people, the only way for you to pick out the 2s is to methodically examine each number in the box. But for a small group of people called “synesthetes,” this task is both instantaneous and effortless. Why? Because when they look at the same box of numbers, they see a unique color code, making the 2s stand out in sharp contrast to the 5s (like the box on the bottom). Synesthesia, from the Greek words for “perception” and “together,” is a rare condition in which the perception of one sensory input creates an additional perception. So for some synesthetes, sights have sounds and sounds have tastes. For others, music evokes brilliant colors, with the shade depending on the instrument being played. One researcher, who himself has synesthesia, recalls attending a concert as a child and being convinced that the lights were dimmed so the audience could see the colors better. In his mind’s eye, violins produce bright shades of burgundy, piano music is purple, and cellos produce sounds that are a rich shade of gold. While people have described the perception of synesthesia for centuries, scientists have often written it off as a figment of imagination, an artifact of childhood memories, or even a side effect of illicit drug use. While synesthetes have known all along that these experiences were real, not until recently have scientists become convinced. A 2002 study using the box of 2s and 5s shown here provided the definitive evidence that synesthesia is a neurological phenomenon rather than the result of an overactive imagination. What can synesthesia teach us about organizational behavior? First, people see the world differently. Successful managers often surround themselves with advisors and team members who see the world from a slightly different perspective. Second, what seems impossible to one person may be child’s play to another. Not surprisingly, a large number of synesthetes enjoy creative endeavors such as composing or painting. Sometimes, the solution to a seemingly impossible task is simply to ask for help. SOURCES: T. J. Palmeri, R. Blake, R. Marois, M. A. Flanery, and W. Whetsell, Jr., “The Perceptual Reality of Synesthetic Colors,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 99 (2003): 4127–4131; V. S. Ramachandran and E. M. Hubbard, “Hearing Colors, Tasting Shapes: Color-Coded World,” Scientific American (April 14, 2003), http://www.sciam .com/article.cfm?articleID=000AB1B4-A5D0-1E8F-8EA5809EC588 0000; V. S. Ramachandran, and E. M. Hubbard, “Neural Cross Wiring and Synesthesia [Abstract],” Journal of Vision 1(3) (2001): 67a; and A. Underwood, “Real Rhapsody in Blue,” Newsweek (November 25, 2003), http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3540645/. The task is effortless for “synesthetes,” who perceive the 2’s as a different color from the 5’s.