perception & personality

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PERCEPTION AND PERSONALITY IN ORGANIZATIONS

FOUNDATIONS OF INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOUR

“ WE DON’T SEE THINGS AS THEY ARE, WE SEE THINGS AS WE ARE.”

PERCEPTION

“ The study of perception is concerned with identifying the process through which we interpret and organize sensory information to produce our conscious experience of objects and object relationship.”

“ Perception is the process of receiving information about and making sense of the world around us. It involves deciding which information to notice, how to categorize this information and how to interpret it within the framework of existing knowledge.

PERCEPTION

“ A process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment ”.

Selective AttentionSelective Attention

PERCEPTUAL PROCESS MODEL

Feeling Hearing Seeing Smelling TastingFeeling Hearing Seeing Smelling Tasting

Environmental StimuliEnvironmental Stimuli

THE PERCEPTUAL PROCESS

1. SensationAn individual’s ability

to detect stimuli in the immediate environment.

2. SelectionThe process a person

uses to eliminate some of the stimuli that have been sensed and to retain others for further processing.

3. Organization The process of placing

selected perceptual stimuli into a framework for “storage.”

4. Interpretation The stage of the

perceptual process at which stimuli are interpreted and given meaning.

SELECTIVE ATTENTION

Characteristics of the object size, intensity, motion, repetition, novelty

Perceptual context

Characteristics of the perceiver attitudes perceptual defense expectations -- condition us to expect events

Factors in the perceiver• Attitudes• Motives• Interests• Experience• Expectations

Perception

Factors in the Target• Motion• Novelty• Sounds• Size• Background• Proximity• Similarity

Factors in the situation• Time• Work Setting• Social Setting

FIGURE-GROUND ILLUSTRATION

Field-ground differentiation The tendency to distinguish

and focus on a stimulus that is classified as figure as opposed to background.

PERCEPTUAL GROUPINGPERCEPTUAL GROUPING

Our tendency to group several individual stimuli into a meaningful and recognizable pattern.

It is very basic in nature and largely it seems to be inborn.

Some factors underlying grouping are-continuity -closure-proximity -similarity

ATTRIBUTION THEORY

IS THE CAUSE OF THE BEHAVIOR SEEN AS INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL? WE LOOK FOR THREE TYPES OF INFORMATION TO DECIDE:

DISTINCTIVENESS : Is this person’s performance different on other tasks and in other situations?

CONSISTENCY : Over time, is there a change in behavior or results on this task by this person?

CONSENSUS : Do others perform or behave similarly when in a similar position?

“YES” answers lead to EXTERNAL attributions (Environmental causes)

“NO” answers lead to INTERNAL attributions (Personal causes)

ATTRIBUTION THEORY

When individuals observe behavior, they attempt to determine

whether it is internally or externally caused.

observation Attribution of cause

Consistency

Consensus

Distictinctiveness

Individual behavior

Internal

External

Internal

External

Internal

ExternalH

L

H

L

H

L

H –high L- Low

Interpretation

External

Attribution

20

Distinctiveness Does this person

behave in this manner

in other situation

YesHigh

ConsistencyNo

LowConsistency

NoLow

Consensus

YesHigh

Consensus

YESLow

DistinctivenessNO

HighDistinctiveness

ConsensusDo other person Behave in the Same manner?

ConsistencyDoes this person

behave in this same

manner at other times ?

Internal Attribution

PERCEPTUAL ERRORS & ATTRIBUTIONS

STEREOTYPES : Based on appearance HALO (HORN) EFFECTS : One outstanding

characteristic noted CONTRAST EFFECT : Ordering RECENCY EFFECT : Limited recall PROJECTION : “Similar to me” Error SKEWING ERRORS : Central tendency, leniency,

strictness bias SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY : People respond the

way you “expected” they would SELECTIVE PERCEPTION (MIND SETS) : Filtering,

selection,

ATTRIBUTION ERRORS

THE FUNDAMENTAL ATTRIBUTION ERROR

the cause of poor performance (by others) is due to personal factors (lazy…didn’t try very hard)

SELF-SERVING BIAS

the cause of poor performance (by myself) is due to situational factors (poor support), not because of a lack of effort

ImprovingImprovingPerceptualPerceptualAccuracyAccuracy

DiversityDiversityManagementManagement

EmpathizeEmpathizeWith OthersWith Others

PostponePostponeImpressionImpressionFormationFormation

KnowKnowYourselfYourself

CompareComparePerceptionsPerceptionsWith OthersWith Others

IMPROVING PERCEPTUAL ACCURACY

Known to Self Unknown to Self

Knownto Others

Unknownto Others

OpenOpenAreaArea BlindBlind

AreaArea

UnknownUnknownAreaArea

HiddenHiddenAreaArea

KNOW YOURSELF (JOHARI WINDOW)

OpenOpenAreaArea

BlindBlindAreaArea

HiddenHiddenAreaArea

UnknownUnknownAreaArea

DisclosureDisclosure

FeedbackFeedback

DEFINING PERSONALITY

Relatively stable pattern of behaviours and

consistent internal states that explain a person's

behavioural tendencies

Sum total of ways in which an individual reacts

and interacts with others and environment

DETERMINANTS OF PERSONALITY

Outgoing, talkative

Courteous, empathic

Caring, dependable

Poised, secure

Sensitive, flexible

BIG FIVE PERSONALITY DIMENSIONS

ExtraversionExtraversion

AgreeablenessAgreeableness

Courtesy of Thompson Doyle Hennessey & Everest

MYERS-BRIGGS TYPE INDICATOR

Extroversion versus introversion

Sensing versus intuition

Thinking versus feeling

Judging versus perceiving

LOCUS OF CONTROL AND SELF-MONITORING Locus of control

Internals believe in their effort and ability Externals believe events are mainly due to

external causes

Self-monitoring personality Sensitivity to situational cues, and ability to

adapt your behaviour to that situation

PERSONALITY TRAITS