Perception and Learning PDF

Perception and learning A. What is Perception  Perception is a complex cognitive process that yields a unique picture of the world that may be different from the reality. It is a process by which individuals organise and interpret sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment....

Perception and learning A. What is Perception  Perception is a complex cognitive process that yields a unique picture of the world that may be different from the reality. It is a process by which individuals organise and interpret sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment.  Cognition is the act of knowing an item of information. It provides input into a person’s thinking and perception. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 1 Perception and learning A. What is Perception  Cognitive process involves collection of information from many sources and through different sensory organs, supple this information to cognitive mediators and arrange it in sequential order.  Sources include physical, social, cultural, environmental and internal factors.  Sensory organs include eyes, nose, ears, mouth and skin. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 2 Perception and learning Stimuli Stimuli is the enabling or disabling factor to act or not to act within an individual. They are of 2 types:  External stimuli: Include weather, light, sound, smell, sight, etc.  Internal stimuli: Include internal comfort or discomfort caused by physiological functioning. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 3 Perception and learning B. Perceptual Process Elements in Perception: - Involvement of an individual - Process - Receiving, selecting, and organizing sensory stimuli and data - Yield a picture of the environment - Picture varies form reality and my be opposite of environment Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 4 Perception and learning B. Perceptual Process The perceptual process model: - The information we receive from the environment like objects, events and people are the perceptual inputs. - These inputs are transformed through the perceptual mechanism like selection, organization and interpretation as output. - The transformation mechanism is called throughput. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 5 Perception and learning B. Perceptual Process The perceptual process model: - The output is perception. - The perception may be opinions, feelings, values, attitudes, conclusions, etc. - These influence decisions and behaviour. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 6 Perception and learning B. Perceptual Process Perceptual inputs Selection Organizing Interpretation Perceptual Output Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 7 Perception and learning C. Perceptual Inputs The perceptual inputs include: 1. Internal environment: - Individual values, beliefs and norms - Psychological background - Sociological background - Economic background - Physiological state Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 8 Perception and learning C. Perceptual Inputs The perceptual inputs include: 2. External environment: - Socio-cultural environment - Physical environment - Technological environment - Political environment - Economic environment - International environment - Natural environment Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 9 Perception and learning D. Perceptual Selection Perceptual selectivity is based on the principle that though people are confronted by numerous stimuli, different people select different stimuli. Perceptual selectivity is based on stimuli form External environment and influenced by and Internal environmental factors. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 10 Perception and learning D. Perceptual Selection External environment factors: 1. Intensity: Principle states that people select pay more attention to strong intensities such as strong odour, bright light, loud noise. 2. Size: The perceptual selectivity is based on the principle that ‘larger the object, more likely it will be perceived’. People get attracted to larger objects. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 11 Perception and learning D. Perceptual Selection 3. Contrast: The principle states that stimuli which stands out against the background or which is not what people are expecting will receive more attention. 4. Repetition: The principle states that a repeated stimuli is more attention-getting than a single one. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 12 Perception and learning D. Perceptual Selection 5. Motion: The principle states that Moving objects receive more attention of the people in the field of vision than stationary objects do. 6. Novelty and familiarity: Principle states that a novel or unfamiliar stimuli draws more attention. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 13 Perception and learning D. Perceptual Selection Internal environment factors: Individual’s physiological and psychological makeup influence their learning, motivation and personality. These in turn influence perceptual selectivity. 1. Learning: The learning ability of a person influences perception. As the person learns more his perception also changes. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 14 Perception and learning D. Perceptual Selection Internal environment factors: 2. Motivation: The state of motivation influences perception. As a person goes from one level to another of Maslow’s hierarchy, his perception changes. 3. Personality: Personality difference such as age, gender, educational level, background, culture, values, etc. lead to difference in perception. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 15 Perception and learning D. Perceptual Selection Perceptual set:  Professional Experience and knowledge: This plays a vital role in developing perceptual set. It also helps in attracting the attention of perceiver.  Paranoid perception: the person who is a victim of a situation or event cannot perceive the events like others who are not party to it. perceptual field of a emotionally disturbed person differs. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 16 Perception and learning E. Perceptual Organization After selecting inputs we have to organize the inputs in a logical and sequential manner. We organize information and data based on Figure-Ground principle. It states that the perceived object or person or event stands out distinct from its background and occupies cognitive space of the individual. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 17 Perception and learning E. Perceptual Organization Perceptual grouping:  It is the tendency to join or club individual stimuli together into responsible and meaningful patterns.  If we perceive objects or people with similar characteristics, we tend to group them together. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 18 Perception and learning E. Perceptual Organization Factors of Perceptual grouping:  Similarity: Principle of similarity states that we perceive the objects of stimuli as one group or a common group, if there is greater similarity of stimuli among them.  Closure: the principle of closure states that people link or connect information, data and knowledge to make meaning for the whole. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 19 Perception and learning E. Perceptual Organization Factors of Perceptual grouping:  Continuity: The principle of continuity says that we tend to perceive continuous lines or patterns.  Proximity: The principle of proximity indicates that a group of stimuli which are close together will be perceived as a whole pattern of parts belonging together. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 20 Perception and learning E. Perceptual Organization Social Identity Theory:  Social identity is determined by complex combination of various factors like gender, demographics, social status, income, race, organization, etc.  Social identity is distinguished by the uncommon factor in the group.  We adopt different personal and social identity depending upon the situation. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 21 Perception and learning E. Perceptual Organization Social Identity Theory:  It is based on the idea that how we perceive the world depends on how we define ourselves in terms of membership in various groups.  Individual identity dominates when unique accomplishments of an individual are distinctive. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 22 Perception and learning E. Perceptual Organization Social Identity Theory:  It explains how we perceive ourselves and others in a social setting.  It explains how and why we categorize others into homogenous social categories based on certain traits.  People perceive themselves favorable based on certain traits and others less favorable. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 23 Perception and learning E. Perceptual Organization Perceptual Context:  Structure and culture of a group forms the perceptual context on how they are viewed.  Organizational culture, structure, mission, objectives, are the context in which employees and customers perceive the company’s activities, policies and objectives. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 24 Perception and learning E. Perceptual Organization Perceptual Defence:  People sometimes build a defence (block or refusal) against stimuli or situational events in the context that they are personally or culturally unacceptable or threatening.  Perceptual defence is closely related to perceptual context. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 25 Perception and learning F. Interpretation  Perceiver after selecting and organizing the stimuli or information has to interpret them to make a sensible meaning.  Perceiver uses his assumptions of people, objects and situations.  He uses his judgemental skills, distorts information adds own subjective feelings, opinions and emotions to draw meaning. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 26 Perception and learning F. Interpretation  Perceiver draws meaning through interpretation.  Perceiver sometimes tries to fabricate the meaning based on his biases.  Bias and lack of seriousness of perceiver tend to distort the stimuli or information.  Our perceptions are based on cognitive preferences that may not reflect the reality. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 27 Perception and learning F. Interpretation Factors affecting Interpretation: 1. Characteristics of the Perceiver: They influence his though process which affects the perceptual process.  Needs and motive: • Perceiver is influenced by needs and motives in perceiving objects. • Different needs project different perceptions. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 28 Perception and learning F. Interpretation Factors affecting Interpretation:  Self-concept: • Self-concept explains how we perceive ourselves and others. • People who perceive themselves as high achievers feel that can perform well and attain anything. They perceive others are encouraging and opportunistic. • Vice versa is true for low achievers. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 29 Perception and learning F. Interpretation Factors affecting Interpretation:  Past experience: • It provides knowledge and sets the mind to do things in a certain way. • It builds relationships with several people and institutions. • Past experience moulds the way we perceive present situations. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 30 Perception and learning F. Interpretation Factors affecting Interpretation:  Current Psychological and Emotional state: • A person in a positive emotional state perceives situations positively and accepts people and things in the right way. • A person in a negative emotional state finds faults and negative aspects in all situations. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 31 Perception and learning F. Interpretation Factors affecting Interpretation: 2. Characteristics of the Situation: • People behave differently in different situations based on demand of the situation. • In case of emergency, people interpret data based on what is important to act immediately. • In routine situations people consider more information and look at long term aspects. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 32 Perception and learning G. Perceptual Output  Information selected from external environment through stimuli is organized and interpreted by one cognitive process.  This interpretation turns into perceptual output or perception.  Perception is in various forms like attitude, opinion, view, feeling, etc. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 33 Perception and learning H. Individual Behaviour  Perception formed from the earlier process is exhibited as human behaviour.  The behaviour is action to which denotes the person’s attitude, opinion, view or feeling.  Therefore human behaviour is affected by the inputs, the process and the output. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 34 Perception and learning I. Barriers to Perceptual Accuracy  Human nature cannot be objective regarding their judgments where environment is involved.  A number of factors, objects and situations hinder our judgment.  We can perceive accurately if these hindering factors or barriers are eliminated or controlled. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 35 Perception and learning I. Barriers to Perceptual Accuracy The barriers include: 1. Stereotyping 2. Halo effect 3. Selective perception 4. Attribution 5. Distortions 6. Projections 7. Similar-to-me effect 8. First impression error 9. Self-fulfilling prophecies Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 36 Perception and learning I. Barriers to Perceptual Accuracy 1. Stereotyping  People have certain pressure-established categories with certain characteristics and attributes into which people are classified.  Stereotypes could be based on age, gender, religion, country, occupation, profession, etc. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 37 Perception and learning I. Barriers to Perceptual Accuracy 2. Halo effect:  It is the tendency of perceiving on the basis of a single characteristic or trait.  It is likely to related to own self-image.  Halo effects may be positive or negative.  They act as screen blocking objectivity of perceiver. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 38 Perception and learning I. Barriers to Perceptual Accuracy 3. Selective perception:  It means to single out certain aspects of the environment due to defence mechanisms and other human limitations.  It is due to reinforcement of values and beliefs.  It hinders multi-dimensional and comprehensive view. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 39 Perception and learning I. Barriers to Perceptual Accuracy 4. Attribution:  It is the way of explaining internal and external causes for own or other’s behaviour.  People attribute certain factors responsible for occurrence of an event or outcome.  Factors may be internal or external. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 40 Perception and learning I. Barriers to Perceptual Accuracy 4. Attribution: Types of Attributions:  Dispositional attributions: Refers to internal factors for one’s own or other’s behaviour. Include intelligence, personality traits, ability, motivation, etc.  Situational attributions: Refers to external factors. Includes availability of resources, education, etc. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 41 Perception and learning I. Barriers to Perceptual Accuracy 4. Attribution: Kelly’s model suggests factors on which people focus while making casual attributions:  Consistency cues: If a person behaves in the same way in different situations that behaviour is viewed as consistently similar. The reasons are internally generated. Varying behaviour from poor to excellent may be viewed as outcome of external factors. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 42 Perception and learning I. Barriers to Perceptual Accuracy 4. Attribution: Kelly’s model:  Consensus cues: Consensus is behaving in the same fashion as others behave in the same situation under the same circumstances. When a person behaves differently than expected it is usually due to internal factors. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 43 Perception and learning I. Barriers to Perceptual Accuracy 4. Attribution: Kelly’s model:  Distinctiveness cues: Distinctiveness refers to the extent to which the same person behaves in the same way in different circumstances. In order to do so person must have commitment, intelligence, adaptability, etc. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 44 Perception and learning I. Barriers to Perceptual Accuracy 4. Attribution: Fundamental Attribution Error: We tend to measure behaviour of other people through their internal characteristics rather than external environmental factors. The Fundamental Attribution error is the tendency to underestimate the impact of external causes and overestimate the impact of internal causes on behaviour. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 45 Perception and learning I. Barriers to Perceptual Accuracy 5. Distortions:  People distort what they see sometimes or they avoid seeing the reality.  This happens when people do not like the situation or the situation is contrary to their expectations or against accepted social values. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 46 Perception and learning I. Barriers to Perceptual Accuracy 6. Projection:  Projection takes place when people assign their personal attributes to others.  They expect others to behave like themselves in similar situations.  Punctual people assign punctuality to others. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 47 Perception and learning I. Barriers to Perceptual Accuracy 7. Similar-to-me effect:  People tend to perceive others similar to them when others have one or few characteristics similar to them.  These characteristics include work habits, values, beliefs, intelligence, skills, demographic factors, etc. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 48 Perception and learning I. Barriers to Perceptual Accuracy 8. First impression error/ Primacy effect:  We form first impression or opinion about others when we meet and interact with them the first time.  First impression perception may be positive or negative.  Impulsive behaviour of people makes them draw conclusions which may not be the reality. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 49 Perception and learning I. Barriers to Perceptual Accuracy 9. Self-fulfilling prophecies:  Self-fulling prophecy is behaving towards others in consistency with expectations about them.  Pygmalion effect-Positive and high expectations would result in high job performance.  Golem effect – Negative view of potential and low expectation will result in low performance. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 50 Perception and learning I. Barriers to Perceptual Accuracy 9. Self-fulfilling prophecies: General case:  Managers form expectations of subordinates  Managers behave consistently with expectations  Managers behaviour affect subordinates  Subordinates respond to how they are treated by managers. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 51 Perception and learning I. Barriers to Perceptual Accuracy 9. Self-fulfilling prophecies: Pygmalion effect:  Managers form positive expectations of subordinates  Manages give emotional and professional support  Managers add experience and boost confidence  Subordinates show high performance. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 52 Perception and learning I. Barriers to Perceptual Accuracy 9. Self-fulfilling prophecies: Golem effect:  Managers form negative expectations of subordinates  Manages withhold emotional and professional support  Managers do no add experience and boost confidence  Subordinates show low performance. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 53 Perception and learning I. Barriers to Perceptual Accuracy 10. Other Perceptual errors:  Recency effect: people normally remember recent events. They perceive things based on recent remembrances and ignore the total information.  Projection bias: some people believe that others also view and behave in the same manner as them. Thus they defend their beliefs, behaviour and actions and leads to bias. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 54 Perception and learning I. Barriers to Perceptual Accuracy How to Perceive Accurately:  Know oneself more accurately  Assess and know others more exactly  Be empathetic  Have positive attitude  Enhance self-concept  Take efforts to reduce perceptual barriers  Have open communication Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 55 Perception and learning I. Barriers to Perceptual Accuracy How to Perceive Accurately:  Avoid attributions  Develop multi-dimensional point of view  Get complete information  Avoid distortions and bias  Control internal factors  Make rational decisions Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 56 Perception and learning J. Perception: Organizational Applications  Perception in organizational setting directly or indirectly affects employee performance, customer service, product design and quality, financial performance, corporate image, etc.  Perception can produce positive or negative results.  Mainly perception affects performance appraisal, impression management an corporate image. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 57 Perception and learning J. Perception: Organizational Applications 1. Perception and Performance Appraisal:  Performance Appraisal is a method of evaluating the behaviour of employees at work.  It includes qualitative and quantitaive aspects of job performance.  Performance is measured in terms of results and not efforts. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 58 Perception and learning J. Perception: Organizational Applications 1. Perception and Performance Appraisal: Features of Performance Appraisal:  It is the systematic description of job relevant accomplishments and failures.  Purpose is to find how well the employee is perfoming and establish a plan of improvement.  They are arranged periodically according to a definite plan. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 59 Perception and learning J. Perception: Organizational Applications 1. Perception and Performance Appraisal:  Perception affects measurement and comparison with standards.  Superior’s expectations rather than actual performance standards influence the appraisal.  Perceiver’s characteristics affect Performance Appraisal in form of rating biases. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 60 Perception and learning J. Perception: Organizational Applications 1. Perception and Performance Appraisal: Perceiver’s biases include:  Halo effect: Perceiver depends excessively on rating of one trait rather than all traits.  Error of Central tendency: Perceiver plays safe by rating all employees around the middle point of scale and avoids rating at extremes. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 61 Perception and learning J. Perception: Organizational Applications 1. Perception and Performance Appraisal: Perceiver’s biases include:  Leniency and Strictness: Perceiver has tendency to consistently assign higher or lower rates.  Personal prejudice: If Perceiver dislikes someone he may give him lower rates.  Recency effect: Perceiver remembers recent actions of employeeand rates him on basis of that. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 62 Perception and learning J. Perception: Organizational Applications 2. Impression Management:  The purpose is to regulate or monitor what others perceive of us.  Employees present themselves in an acceptable manner to their superiors.  This helps in higher rating in performance appraisal or consideration for promotions and salary hike. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 63 Perception and learning J. Perception: Organizational Applications 2. Impression Management:  Impression Management strategies include enhancing positive behavioural outcomes and reducing negative behavioural outcomes.  Employees hide weaknesses, dissociate with troublemakers, apologize for their mistakes, associate with positive impression makers. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 64 Perception and learning J. Perception: Organizational Applications 2. Impression Management: Impression Management Techniques used by Job Interviewees:  Self-image: Dressing and speaking well.  Self-promotion: Describing oneself in a positive manner.  Personal stories: describing past events to make oneself look good. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 65 Perception and learning J. Perception: Organizational Applications 2. Impression Management: Impression Management Techniques used by Job Interviewees:  Opinion Conformity Entitlements: Expressing beliefs that are assumed to be held by the target.  Other enhancements: Making statements that flatter, praise or compliment interviewer. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 66 Perception and learning J. Perception: Organizational Applications 3. Corporate Image:  Organizations also create a positive image to impress the stakeholders.  They use annual reports, advertising, campaigns, publish achievements to impress the prospective share holders and customers.  They create employer brand to attract, utilize and retain talent. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 67 Perception and learning K. Learning  Learning is a change in knowledge or observable behaviour that results from practice or experience. People acquire new competencies, skills, knowledge, values, beliefs, etc.  All learning may not result in performance.  Performance needs motivation to use the learned knowledge and competency. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 68 Perception and learning K. Learning Characteristics of Learning Process:  Learning is a continuous process.  People learn through experience.  Learning occurs step by step  Repetition is required to improve skills  Opportunity must be create for person to exhibit his abilities and knowledge acquired through learning. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 69 Perception and learning K. Learning Climate for Learning:  Conducive climate is required to hold attention and interest of learner.  Climate consists of working conditions, relationship with teacher, freedom, social interaction, etc.  Conducive climate requires an ideal physical and psychological environment. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 70 Perception and learning K. Learning Learning Problems: They include:  Lack of knowledge, skill, aptitude and attitude.  Existence of anti-learning factors  Psychological problems  Unwilling to change  Absence of motivation  Lack of interest of results  Inability to convert learning to operation Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 71 Perception and learning K. Learning Principles of Training: They include:  Motivation: It enhances effectiveness. Training must be related to desires of trainee such as better pay, recognition, promotion, etc.  Progress information: Provision of right information applicable to trainee enhances learning. Training should be simplified without excess information and wrong information. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 72 Perception and learning K. Learning Principles of Training: They include:  Reinforcement: effectiveness of trainee in learning should be reinforced by rewards and punishments.  Practice: Trainee must actively participate in training programs. Continuous training practice in various forms must be provided for every element of the job for better learning. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 73 Perception and learning K. Learning Principles of Training: They include:  Full vs. Part: If the job is complex it should be broken down into parts. Training should be done for parts and then the whole job together.  Individual differences: during group training, the trainer must adjust the program to the individual abilities and aptitudes. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 74 Perception and learning K. Learning Characteristics of Learning:  Learning involves change  Change must be relatively permanent  Change in knowledge should bring change in values and attitudes and overall behaviour.  Learning is based on experience. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 75 Perception and learning K. Learning Behaviouralistic Theories: 1. Classical Conditioning:  Classical behaviourists believe that stimulus elicits a response.  Pavlov conducted experiments with dogs. He gave them meat with ringing a bell. He slowly changed the stimulus for salivating from meat to bell.  He conditioned dogs to salivate in response to a ringing bell. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 76 Perception and learning K. Learning Behaviouralistic Theories: 1. Operant Conditioning:  Operant behaviourists believe that learning occurs as consequence of behaviour ie. Response to achieve stimulus.  Employees work more hours to get more salary.  Reinforcement strengthens a behaviour. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 77 Perception and learning K. Learning Cognitive Theories:  Tolman believed that learning is the association between the cue and expectancy.  He conducted experiment with rats where they ran through a maze to reach food.  Employees learn that they can achieve their expectations by working productively. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 78 Perception and learning K. Learning Social Learning Theories:  Social learning takes place through reciprocal interaction between people, behaviour and environment.  Learning occurs through self-control, modelling and symbolic processes.  People learn from various role models.  Model influences individual through processes such as attention, retention, motor reproduction and reinforcement. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 79 Perception and learning K. Learning Principles of Learning:  Law of effect: Responses accompanied by satisfaction are more likely to occur again than those accompanied by discomfort.  Reinforcement is act of rewarding. It encourages learning. It may positive or negative. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 80 Perception and learning K. Learning Reinforcement and Behaviour Modifications: 1. Positive Reinforcement:  It strengthens the behaviour and repeats the same behaviour with desirable consequences.  Contingent Reinforcement indicates that the reward will be delivered only when desirable behaviour is exhibited.  Rewards can be given continuously or at different schedules. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 81 Perception and learning K. Learning Reinforcement and Behaviour Modifications: 2. Negative Reinforcement:  It strengthens the behaviour and repeats the same behaviour but by termination or withdrawal of undesirable consequences.  It is also called avoidance as negative consequence is avoided when undesirable behaviour is withdrawn. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 82 Perception and learning K. Learning Reinforcement and Behaviour Modifications: 3. Punishment:  It is undesirable but sometimes inevitable.  It may produce unintended results  It may not change behaviour permanently.  It may offset effects of positive reinforces.  Administrator of punishment is viewed as villain. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 83 Perception and learning K. Learning Reinforcement and Behaviour Modifications: 4. Extinction:  It is an attempt to weaken undesirable behaviour by attaching no consequence to it or ignoring it.  Sometimes employees do not respond to positive and negative reinforcements and punishments. Hence extinction is the only alternative.  It works better with positive reinforces. Chapter five Organizational Behaviour 84