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

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

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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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.

8. 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

9. 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

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

11. 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

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

13. Attribution theory
observation
interpretation
Attribution of cause

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

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

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

19. 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

20. 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