1. CHAPTER 3 PERCEPTION Edited by Christine Cross and Ronan Carbery

2. Organisational Behaviour, edited by Christine Cross and Ronan Carbery ©Palgrave, Macmillan 2016 Learning Outcomes Define perception Discuss how the perceptual process works Understand the concept of selective attention in an organisational context Identify common perceptual distortions that can occur during a work activity Explain how attribution theory assists us in explaining behaviour at work

3. Organisational Behaviour, edited by Christine Cross and Ronan Carbery ©Palgrave, Macmillan 2016 What Is Perception? Our perception relates to how we ‘take in’, process and interpret a stimulus Milgram experiment – power of a person’s perception of authority How we perceive a situation does not necessarily represent a true or accurate picture of what is actually going on It is necessary to recognise that people perceive things in different ways, and a failure to acknowledge these differences may potentially cause conflict in a work environment

4. Organisational Behaviour, edited by Christine Cross and Ronan Carbery ©Palgrave, Macmillan 2016 How Perception Works Perception is an active process - we process everything that we see, smell, touch, hear and taste The process of perception - how we attend to, organise, interpret and react to stimuli Factors that influence perception include: – The perceiver – The Object or Target – Context – Culture – Language

5. Organisational Behaviour, edited by Christine Cross and Ronan Carbery ©Palgrave, Macmillan 2016 The Perceiver The Perceptual Set - a set of internal factors which influence what stimuli we select and pay attention to. This includes: – Our Personality – Our Goals and Motives – Prior Learning and Experiences – Our Emotions – Our Attitudes

6. Organisational Behaviour, edited by Christine Cross and Ronan Carbery ©Palgrave, Macmillan 2016 The Object or Target External factors also influence the way in which we perceive things These factors relate to the nature of the stimulus itself and there are a number of characteristics which the stimulus may have that can influence the level of attention that we pay to objects. These include: – Size – Intensity – Contrast – Degree of motion – Level of repetition – Novelty – Familiarity

7. Organisational Behaviour, edited by Christine Cross and Ronan Carbery ©Palgrave, Macmillan 2016 Context The context or situation in which the stimulus is observed should also be considered as it can influence what we pay attention to From a manager’s perspective, being aware of context is particularly important: – A manager might perceive that an employee has a very negative perception of his job, however, by exploring the context the manager may learn that this employee perceives he or she is not being given any opportunities to advance in the role and is therefore simply feeling disheartened

8. Organisational Behaviour, edited by Christine Cross and Ronan Carbery ©Palgrave, Macmillan 2016 Culture Our national culture can predispose us to react in different ways to certain stimuli One study (Jack et al., 2012) demonstrated how people from different cultures perceived facial expression in different ways The research found that East Asians and Western Caucasians differed in the recognition of various facial expressions which included happiness, surprise, fear, disgust, anger, and sadness

9. Organisational Behaviour, edited by Christine Cross and Ronan Carbery ©Palgrave, Macmillan 2016 Language Language and how we use it has an important impact on the way in which we perceive the world Our language enables us to recognise stimuli and to identify their role Language can also influence whether we actually perceive a stimulus or not – In Alaska they have many different word variations for snow, enabling them to perceive many different types of snow, whereas in Ireland we just have the one English word, so we don’t tend to perceive these variations

10. Organisational Behaviour, edited by Christine Cross and Ronan Carbery ©Palgrave, Macmillan 2016 The Perceptual Process

11. Organisational Behaviour, edited by Christine Cross and Ronan Carbery ©Palgrave, Macmillan 2016 The Perceptual Process Attention and selection Because our senses are constantly bombarded with stimuli, we have to find a way to choose the information that we need to attend to and filter out the information that is irrelevant, otherwise our senses would be overloaded. This process is known as selective attention There must also be certain levels of a stimulus present before our senses will register its presence People’s sensory thresholds vary with regard to the amount of sensation that needs to be present before they pay attention to it, and with the level of sensation that they are comfortable with

12. The Perceptual Process Organisation Figure-to-Ground Effect Suggests that figures are usually seen against a background; however, sometimes this is not as straightforward as it seems Do you see a vase or do you see two faces? Most people tend to attend to one part of the picture at a time, either the figure (in this case the faces), or the background (the vase), but not both at the same time Rubin’s (1915) Vase Illusion

13. Organisational Behaviour, edited by Christine Cross and Ronan Carbery ©Palgrave, Macmillan 2016 The Perceptual Process Organisation Grouping – In trying to make sense of what we perceive, we tend to group stimuli together rather than viewing them as separate entities – This is based on the Gestalt principle that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts – Wertheimer (1923) developed a number of laws to illustrate the principles underpinning these processes: Proximity: when we see things close together we tend to think of them as a group Law of Continuity: we perceive items that appear to have a continuous form as making a pattern Similarity: we tend to group elements together that have similar characteristics The Law of Closure: this law states that we tend to close off or finish any objects that we perceive as being incomplete

14. Organisational Behaviour, edited by Christine Cross and Ronan Carbery ©Palgrave, Macmillan 2016 The Perceptual Process Interpretation We use pre-existing schemas and scripts to help us interpret information – A schema is a unique mental representation of the world around us and is based on information from our memories – Cognitive scripts are like predetermined steps in our mind that we follow to help us know how to behave in a certain situation An employee who is about to do a performance review with his manager has a pre-existing schema as to what the review will involve and how he should act out in this situation The schemas and scripts that we create in our minds are unique to each of us, and our prior experiences influence how we construct them

15. Organisational Behaviour, edited by Christine Cross and Ronan Carbery ©Palgrave, Macmillan 2016 The Perceptual Process Reaction The final stage in the process of perception is where our interpretation of a stimulus elicits a reaction Our response may manifest itself as an internal reaction, such as feeling a particular emotion, or as an external behaviour, or as a combination of both – For example, an employee who perceives that she is likely to receive a promotion may worry about the extra responsibility that she will be asked to take on, or she might go and talk to another employee who has previously carried out the role to learn more about the role, or she could do both The perceptions and reactions of an individual in a given situation can be influenced by their personality, past experiences, social context etc.

16. Organisational Behaviour, edited by Christine Cross and Ronan Carbery ©Palgrave, Macmillan 2016 Perceptual Distortions Perceptual distortions are the errors that people make in their perception of others and events. They occur when people misinterpret the information they have received Perceptual distortions are common and vary in the types that occur Common perceptual errors include: – Contrast Effect – Horns/ Halo Effect – Stereotyping – Prejudice – Projection – Similarity to Me Bias – Self-fulfilling Prophesy

17. Organisational Behaviour, edited by Christine Cross and Ronan Carbery ©Palgrave, Macmillan 2016 Perceptual Distortions Contrast Effect – People tend to compare individuals against each other, as opposed to assessing them independently on their own merits Horns/ Halo Effect – People tend to focus on either one positive or negative aspect of an individual and use that characteristic to evaluate the person as a whole Stereotyping – People tend to assign a set of characteristics to a group of people or to an individual

18. Organisational Behaviour, edited by Christine Cross and Ronan Carbery ©Palgrave, Macmillan 2016 Perceptual Distortions Prejudice – People hold a negative or positive impression of members of a group which has no foundation – For example, the Nazis held extremist views of the Jewish people which were not based on facts but instead were based on hatred Projection – People perceive that others are feeling or thinking in a similar way to ourselves. We project what we are thinking onto another person and we assume that we are ‘on the same wavelength’

19. Organisational Behaviour, edited by Christine Cross and Ronan Carbery ©Palgrave, Macmillan 2016 Perceptual Distortions ‘Similarity to Me’ Bias – People tend to show a preference for those who are most similar to ourselves Self-fulfilling Prophesy – This is based on a premise that because we make a prophesy, it is more likely to happen – From a perception perspective, this means that when an individual has stated something, they will do all that they can to make it come true, so that they can validate whatever they have said will happen

20. Organisational Behaviour, edited by Christine Cross and Ronan Carbery ©Palgrave, Macmillan 2016 Perceptual Defense and Confirmation Bias Perceptual defense – Where an individual discounts any information that might threaten their existing perception of a stimulus – An example of this might be if a manager perceives a particular employee to be very diligent but they forget to do something, the manager would downplay this in order to preserve their opinion about that person Confirmation bias – Where we actively see out information to support our initial hypothesis, even when all the evidence suggests that this hypothesis is incorrect

21. Organisational Behaviour, edited by Christine Cross and Ronan Carbery ©Palgrave, Macmillan 2016 Attribution Theory Attribution theory explores how people form explanations regarding how they themselves, and other people, behave in the way that they do Kelley (1973) suggested that there are three variables which influence the explanations that people make about the behaviour of others – Consensus: refers to whether the person’s behaviour is similar to that of other people in similar situations – Consistency: refers to how often the person behaved in a particular way in the past – Distinctiveness: refers to how often the individual behaves in the same way across different situations

22. Organisational Behaviour, edited by Christine Cross and Ronan Carbery ©Palgrave, Macmillan 2016 Patterns of Attribution Elements Scenario one: Low Consensus, High Consistency, Low Distinctiveness = Internal Factors Scenario two: High Consensus, Low Consistency, High Distinctiveness = External Factors

23. Organisational Behaviour, edited by Christine Cross and Ronan Carbery ©Palgrave, Macmillan 2016 Fundamental Attribution Error The fundamental attribution error – Where individuals tend to attribute external factors to the causes of their own behaviour, and internal factors to the causes of the behaviour of others – For example, if we performed poorly on a performance evaluation we are more likely to attribute the reason for this to a poor evaluator, or to a difficult work environment (external factors) – When others perform poorly we are more likely to attribute the reason for their poor performance to a lack of a positive work ethic, or work apathy (internal factors)

24. Organisational Behaviour, edited by Christine Cross and Ronan Carbery ©Palgrave, Macmillan 2016 Summary Can you explain the concept of perception? Why is an understanding of perception important to the study of organisational behaviour? There are a number of stages in the process of perception. Can you explain each of the four main phases of perception? What we pay attention to is influenced by a set of internal elements known as our perceptual set. Can you describe the factors that make up our perceptual set?

25. Organisational Behaviour, edited by Christine Cross and Ronan Carbery ©Palgrave, Macmillan 2016 Summary What are schemas and scripts, and how are they connected to perception? What are the most common perceptual errors that people make? Can you give some examples of perceptual errors that might occur in a work context? Based on attribution theory, what is the fundamental attribution error?