Chapter 3: Perception, Attribution and Diversity Flashcards
Perception:
Process of interpreting our sense’s messages to provide meaning and order to the environment. People base their actions on the interpretation their perceptual system provides. It is important how members perceive each other in organizations
Components of Perception:
Perceiver, target, situation.
Perceiver:
Past experiences cause people to develop expectations (most important). Needs unconsciously influence perceptions because we perceive that we want to. Emotions influence perception
Perceptual Defense:
tendency for the perceptual system to defend us against unpleasant emotions
Target:
Ambiguous targets are subject to interpretation. Perceiver does not always use all the information provided by the target to resolve ambiguity
Situation:
Can add information to the target
Social Identity Theory:
People form perceptions of themselves based on characteristics and memberships in social categories. Sense of self is composed of personal identity and social identity
Personal Identity:
unique personal characteristics (abilities, traits, interests)
Social Identity:
perception that we belong to various social groups (race, age, gender). Categorize people to understand the social environment. Once a category is chosen we tend to perceive members of the category as portraying the categories typical attributes (“prototypes”). Define members of a category relative to members of other categories. People perceive members of their own groups as more positive than those from other groups (understanding stereotypes)
Perceptual Process:
- Unfamiliar Target
- Openness to Target Cues (open to information and the situation)
- Familiar Cues Encountered
- Target Categorized
- Cue Selectivity (perceiver searches for clues that confirm the categorization)
- Categorization Strengthened (perceiver ignores cues that counter the categorization)
Three Characteristics of Perceptual Process
Selective, constancy, consistency
Selective:
First characteristic of perceptual process. Perceivers do not use all the available cues so perceptual system can create a constant picture of the target
Constancy:
Second characteristic of perceptual process. tendency for target to be perceived the same way over time and situations
Consistency:
tendency to select, ignore or distort cues to form a homogenous picture of the target (consistency of target)
Biases in Person Perception:
- Primacy Effect
- Recency Effect
- Central Traits
- Implicit Personality Theories
- Projection
- Stereotyping
Primacy Effect
- tendency to rely on early cues and first impressions
Recency Effect:
tendency to rely on recent cues or last impressions
Central Traits:
personal characteristics of the target that are of special interest to a perceiver. Depends on the perceivers interest and the situation. Very powerful influence
Implicit Personality Theories
personal theories people have about which personality characteristics go together. Ex. people of average intelligence and most friendly
Projection:
tendency for perceivers to attribute their own thoughts and feelings to others. People assume others are like themselves
Stereotyping:
- tendency to generalize about people in a certain social category and ignore variations among them. Forms a consistent impression and assuming that have characteristics recognized by the social identity theory. People can produce stereotypes with little information. Most likely to develop when we do not have information about a particular group. Not all stereotypes are inaccurate. Stable unless a major event changes them
Reinforces Stereotypes:
Process information about others quickly and efficiently. Selective perception by look for behaviors that conform to stereotypes
Three Aspects of Stereotyping
- Distinguish a category of people
- Assume all people in that category have certain traits
- Perceive everyone in that category as possess these traits
Attribution:
process where we assign causes or motives to explain people’s behavior. Rewards and punishments are based on judgement of what caused targets to behave a certain way