Organizational Behavior Chapter 3 PDF

Chapter 3 Perception, Attribution, and judgment of other Copyright © 2017 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 3/ Slide 1  Learning Objectives LO3.1 What Is Perception? LO3.2 The main Components of Perception. LO3.3 Basic Biases in Person Perception. LO3.4...

Chapter 3 Perception, Attribution, and judgment of other Copyright © 2017 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 3/ Slide 1  Learning Objectives LO3.1 What Is Perception? LO3.2 The main Components of Perception. LO3.3 Basic Biases in Person Perception. LO3.4 Attribution: Perceiving Causes and Motives. LO3.5 Cues that can help in attribution process. Copyright © 2017 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 3/ Slide 2 Topics - What is perception? (p. 84). - Main components of perception. (P.84- 86). - Basic biases in person perception. (p. 88- 91). - Attribution: perceiving causes and motives. (p. 91). - Cues that can help in the attribution process. (p. 91-92). Copyright © 2017 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 3/ Slide 3 1. What Is Perception? The process of interpreting the messages of our senses to provide order and meaning to the environment. Why perception is so important? Because perception leads to action (how I perceive the situation will lead to how I will act consequently. People base their actions on the interpretation of reality that their perceptual system provides, rather than on reality itself. Copyright © 2017 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 3/ Slide 4 1. What Is Perception? An employee He/she might perceives his seek salary to be employment in very low another firm Some of the most important perceptions that influence organizational behaviour are the perceptions that organizational members have of each other. Copyright © 2017 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 3/ Slide 5  2. Components of Perception Perception has three components: – A perceiver ( the person who perceives) – A target that is being perceived (anything we are trying to perceive or interpret) – The situation: refers to the environment in which the perception is occurring Each component influences the perceiver’s impression or interpretation of the target. Copyright © 2017 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 3/ Slide 6 Factors that Influence Perception Copyright © 2017 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 3/ Slide 7 The Perceiver Copyright © 2017 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 3/ Slide 8 The Perceiver The perceiver’s experience, needs, and emotions can affect his or her perceptions of a target. 1. Experience: Past experiences lead the perceiver to develop expectations that affect current perceptions.  The more experience the person has regarding the target, the easier the perception process will be. (your perception of any quiz/ exam at the first time is different than perceiving at the second time). Copyright © 2017 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 3/ Slide 9 The Perceiver 2. Motivational state (Needs): Needs unconsciously influence perceptions by causing us to perceive what we wish to perceive.  Research has demonstrated that perceivers who have been deprived of food will tend to “see” more edible things in ambiguous pictures than will wellfed observers. Copyright © 2017 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 3/ Slide 10 The Perceiver 3. Emotions: Refers to the particular emotion that an individual has at any given point of time such as anger, happiness, or fear, can influence our perceptions.  For example: you might misperceive something your friend said when you are angry (perceiving any message if you are angry or nervous is absolutely different if you are not). Copyright © 2017 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 3/ Slide 11 The Perceiver 3. Emotions:  For example, a worker who is upset about not getting a promotion might perceive the consolation provided by a co-worker as gloating condescension.  On the other hand, consider the worker who does get a promotion. She is so happy that she fails to notice how upset her co- worker is that he was not the one promoted. Copyright © 2017 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 3/ Slide 12 The Perceiver Perceptual defence: In some cases, our perceptual system serves to defend us against unpleasant emotions.  People often “see what they want to see” and “hear what they want to hear.”  Our perceptual system works to ensure we do not see or hear things that are threatening.  For example: Suppose you have a friend, and you find your friend lying to other people, you wouldn’t want to perceive him as a liar, you try to find excuses for your friend may be had to say this thing because just he in bad particular situation. Copyright © 2017 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 3/ Slide 13  The Target The target refers to anything you are going to be perceived e.g., person, car, idea, or opinion. There are factors affecting it: 1. The degree of ambiguity: – Ambiguous targets are especially susceptible to interpretation and the addition of meaning. – Perceivers have a need to resolve ambiguities. – The perceiver does not or cannot use all the information provided by the target. – Sometimes a reduction in ambiguity might not be accompanied by greater accuracy (It’s mostly based on how the perceiver interprets the information, even if there is little room for ambiguity). Chapter 3/ Slide 14 The Target Copyright © 2017 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 3/ Slide 15 The Target Copyright © 2017 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 3/ Slide 16  The Target 2. The social status: – Refers to the person’s position in society and is generally determined by factors such as income “ rich and poor”, occupation “ managers and subordinates, residence area…..etc. Chapter 3/ Slide 17  The Situation Perception occurs in some situational context, and this context can affect what is perceived. The environment in which the perception process occurred or happened there are many factors relates to the situation – The distance between the target and the perceiver – The available information about the targets – The rate of change in the situation. Copyright © 2017 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 3/ Slide 18  The Situation The most important effect that the situation can have is to add information about the target. Even if the perceiver and the target are the same, a change in situation can lead to a change in the perception of the target by the perceiver – For example: perceiving a racial joke overhead at work before and after a racial strife at the company. Copyright © 2017 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 3/ Slide 19 The Situation Copyright © 2017 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 3/ Slide 20  3. Basic Biases in Person Perception The impressions we form of others are susceptible to a number of perceptual biases: 1. Primacy and recency effects 2. Reliance on central traits 3. Implicit personality theories 4. Projection 5. Stereotyping Copyright © 2017 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 3/ Slide 21 1- Primacy and recency effects Primacy Effect: the tendency for a perceiver to rely on early cues or first impressions Primacy can have a lasting impact. Primacy is a form of selectivity and its lasting effects illustrate the operation of constancy. Recency Effect: the tendency for a perceiver to rely on recent cues or last impressions Last impressions count most. Copyright © 2017 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 3/ Slide 22  2-Reliance on Central Traits People tend to organize their perceptions around central traits. Central traits are personal characteristics of a target person that are of particular interest to a perceiver. Central traits often have a very powerful influence on our perceptions of others. Copyright © 2017 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 3/ Slide 23 2- Reliance on Central Traits (continued) Physical appearance is a common central trait in work settings. – Conventionally attractive people fare better than unattractive people in terms of a variety of job-related outcomes (e.g., getting hired). Copyright © 2017 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 3/ Slide 24 3- Implicit Personality Theories Personal theories that people have about which personality characteristics go together. Perhaps you expect hardworking people to also be honest, or people of average intelligence to be friendly. If such implicit theories are inaccurate, they provide a basis for misunderstanding. e.g., The employee who assumes that her very formal boss is also insensitive might be reluctant to discuss with him a work-related problem that could be solved fairly easily. Copyright © 2017 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 3/ Slide 25  4- Projection The tendency for perceivers to attribute their own thoughts and feelings to others. People often assume that others are like themselves, even if this is completely inaccurate – For example: the chairperson who perceives committee members as feeling the same way that he feels might be surprised when a vote is taken – For example: the honest warehouse manager who perceives others as honest might find inventory disappearing. Copyright © 2017 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 3/ Slide 26  4- Projection In some cases, projection is an efficient and sensible perceptual strategy. e.g., The dishonest worker might say, “Sure I steal from the company, but so does everyone else.” Such perceptions can be used to justify the perceiver’s thievery. Copyright © 2017 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 3/ Slide 27  5- Stereotyping The tendency to generalize about people in a social category and ignore variations among them. Categories on which people might base a stereotype include race, religion, age, gender, ethnic background, social class, and occupation. Copyright © 2017 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 3/ Slide 28  5- Stereotyping (continued) There are three specific aspects to stereotyping: – We distinguish some category of people. – We assume that the individuals in this category have certain traits. – We perceive that everyone in this category possesses these traits. Copyright © 2017 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 3/ Slide 29 5- Stereotyping (continued) If many stereotypes are inaccurate, why do they persist? Even incorrect stereotypes help us process information about others quickly and efficiently Sometimes it is easier for the perceiver to rely on stereotypes than it is to discover the true nature of the target – For example: the male manager can automatically rule out a woman when he's asked to recommend one of his employees for a promotion, rather than carefully evaluating each person. Copyright © 2017 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 3/ Slide 30 4. Attribution: Perceiving Causes and Motives Attribution is the process by which we assign causes or motives to explain people’s behaviour. This is important because many rewards and punishments in organizations are based on judgments about what really caused a target person to behave in a certain way. An important goal is to determine whether some behaviour is caused by dispositional or situational factors. Copyright © 2017 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 3/ Slide 31 1- Dispositional Attributions Dispositional attributions suggest that some personality or intellectual characteristic unique to the person is responsible for the behaviour Dispositional attributions: explanations for behaviors based on an actor's personality or intellect (internal factors). Such as Intelligence, greed, friendliness, or laziness. Copyright © 2017 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 3/ Slide 32  2- Situational Attributions Situational attributions suggest that the external situation or environment in which the target person exists was responsible for the behaviour. Situational attributions: explanations for behavior based on an actor's external situation or environment Such as: Bad weather, good luck, proper tools, or poor advice. Copyright © 2017 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 3/ Slide 33 5. Attribution Cues What are the cues that can help in the attribution process? We rely on external cues and make inferences from these cues when making attributions. Three implicit questions guide our decisions as to whether we should attribute some behaviour to dispositional or situational causes. Copyright © 2017 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 3/ Slide 34 Three Attribution Questions 1.Does the person engage in the behaviour regularly and consistently? (Consistency cues). 2.Do most people engage in the behaviour, or is it unique to this person? (Consensus cues). 3.Does the person engage in the behaviour in many situations, or is it distinctive to one situation? (Distinctiveness cues). Copyright © 2017 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 3/ Slide 35 1- Consistency Cues Attribution cues that reflect how consistently a person engages in a behaviour over time (the individual engages in the behaviour regularly). High consistency behaviour leads to dispositional attributions. – For example: workers who are consistently good performers are hard workers, and workers who are consistently bad performances are lazy. Copyright © 2017 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 3/ Slide 36 1- Consistency Cues When behaviour occurs inconsistently, we begin to consider situational attributions. – For example: if a person’s performance cycles between mediocre and excellent, we might look at variations in workload to explain the cycles. Copyright © 2017 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 3/ Slide 37  2- Consensus Cues Attribution cues that reflect how a person’s behaviour compares with that of others. Low consensus behaviour leads to dispositional attributions. High consensus behaviour leads to situational attributions. Copyright © 2017 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 3/ Slide 38  3- Distinctiveness Cues Attribution cues that reflect the extent to which a person engages in some behaviour across a variety of situations. When a behavior occurs across a variety of situations (Low distinctiveness behaviour), it lacks distinctiveness, and the observer is prone to provide a dispositional attribution about its cause (which means that the behaviour is unique to that individual). When a behaviour is highly distinctive, in that it occurs in only one situation, we are likely to assume that some aspect of the situation caused the behaviour. Copyright © 2017 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 3/ Slide 39  Consistency Cues Consensus Cues Distinctiveness Cues High Dispositional Situational Situational Low Situational Dispositional Dispositional Consistency Cues Consensus Cues Distinctiveness Cues Dispositional High Low Low Situational Low High High Copyright © 2017 Pearson Canada Inc. Chapter 3/ Slide 40