Perception

• Perception


  The process of receiving information about and making sense of the world around us. It includes determining which information to notice, as well as how to categorize and interpret it within the framework of our existing knowledge.
• Perception


  A cognitive process that enables us to interpret and understand our surroundings.
• Perception


  The process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting information or sensory impressions in order to give meaning to the environment.
• Wisdom is looking at life from God's perspective.
• Perceptual Process Model


  1. Feeling

  2. Hearing

  3. Seeing

  4. Smelling

  5. Tasting
• Perceptual Process Model


  • Selective Attention
  • Organization and Interpretation
  • Attitudes and Behavior
• Sensing


  Taking in stimuli through the sensory organs
• Filtering


  Paying attention only to stimuli of interest
• Characteristics of the Perceiver


  • Attitudes
  • Motives
  • Interests
  • Experience
  • Expectations
  • Familiarity with the other person
  • Feelings toward the other person
  • Personality
  • Gender
• Characteristics of the Other Person (Target)


  • General nature
  • Intentions
  • Appearance
  • Attractiveness
  • Personality
• Context


  • Culture
  • Time
  • Social setting
• Research indicates that supervisors perceived employees who started work earlier in the day as more conscientious and therefore as higher performers; however, supervisors who were night owls themselves were less likely to make that erroneous assumption.
• If a manager has high self-esteem and the other person is pleasant and comes from the home office, then the manager will likely perceive this other person in a positive, favorable manner.
• If the manager has low self-esteem and the other person is an arrogant salesperson, the manager will likely perceive this other person in a negative, unfavorable manner.
• Women recognize emotions more accurately than men. Both men and women are more likely to recognize a target's emotions when they are consistent with their own.
• Experiencing negative emotions such as anger and frustration is likely to make your perceptions more negative.
• "We hear what we want to hear and we see what we want to see—not because it is the truth but because it conforms to our thinking".
• A manager who has had an excellent, trusting relationship with an associate over many years may thus disregard evidence of lying or poor performance because it does not fit pre-existing conceptions of the person.
• If the individual generally has positive feelings toward a particular person, he may view the person's actions through a favorable lens and thus may interpret those actions more positively than is warranted.
• In contrast, if the individual generally has negative feelings toward a particular person, he may view the person's actions through an unfavorable lens and thus interpret those actions more negatively than is warranted.
• If the individual is happy and excited, she may perceive others as more exuberant and cheerful than they really are.
• If the individual is sad and depressed, she may perceive others as more unhappy than they really are or even as more sinister than they really are.
• In organizations, extremely good and bad performers may be noticed more than average associates. Managers must be aware of this tendency because most associates are average.
• People who have criminal records are prejudged in the workplace even when the perceiver knows that they were wrongly arrested.
• "High attractiveness has been associated with better job opportunities, higher performance ratings, and the potential for increased earnings."
• If, for example, assumed intentions are undesirable from the perceiver's point of view, the other person may be seen as threatening or hostile.
• If the first consequences are basically positive, the individual is likely to perceive the other person favorably. If, however, the results of the first interaction are negative, the individual is more likely to view the other person unfavorably.
• If your client see your office as messy, he may be more likely to think you are not conscientious and that you are more disagreeable than if your office was neat.
• If you are tired and distracted after working a long day, your perceptions are more likely to be distorted and susceptible to stereotypical judgments.
• Texting someone while eating dinner with friends is perceived differently than texting during a business meeting. Context matters!
• "Americans see an apology as an admission of wrongdoing, whereas Japanese see it as an expression of eagerness to repair a damaged relationship, even if they are not the ones at fault."
• Attribution


  Forming beliefs about the causes of behavior or events

  
• Internal factors


  • Ability
  • Motivation
• External factors


  • Resources
  • Coworker support
• Fundamental attribution error


  The tendency to see the person rather than the situation as the main cause of that person's behavior

  
• Halo effect


  Our general impression of a person, usually based on one prominent characteristic, distorts our perception of other characteristics of that person
• Primacy


  Our tendency to rely on the first information we receive about people to quickly form an opinion of them
• Recency


  Most recent information dominates perceptions
• Self-fulfilling prophecy


  Our expectations about another person cause that person to act in a way that is consistent with those expectations
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy Cycle


  1. Supervisor forms expectations

  2. Expectations affect supervisor's behavior

  3. Supervisor's behavior affects employee

  4. Employee's behavior matches expectations