Lesson 5 - Perception

Question 1

What is perception?

Answer 1

A process where individuals organize and interpret their sensory (hear, touch, see) impressions to give meaning to their environment

• how we interpret our surroundings

Question 2

What are perception, attitude & personality important (they all connect)?:

Answer 2

• Personality and attitude affect how we perceive the world
• Perception and attitude affect how happy people are in their work
• Managers want happy employees because people who are happy in their jobs are often more productive
• Optimistic people usually perform better due to their positive attitude and they affect and inspire others to do the same

Question 3

What influences perception?

Answer 3

• The perceiver:
  a) When an individual looks at a target and try to interpret what he or she sees that interpretation is influenced by personal characteristics (attitudes, interest, past experiences)
• The target:
  a) Characteristics of what we’re observing alter our perceptions (loud people, bad attitudes are more likely to be noticed)
• The situation:
  a) The context in which we see objects or events is also important because our environment influences our perception

Question 4

What does perception have to do with distortion?

Answer 4

Perceptions are influenced by values, cultural background and other circumstances of the moment and can lead to distortion

Question 5

What is selective perception?

Answer 5

The characteristics that makes people, objects or events stand out so that we don’t have to observe everything going on around us

Question 6

What is the halo effect?

Answer 6

when we draw a general impression about someone based on one characteristics such as intelligence, sociability or appearance

Question 7

What is negative halo effect?

Answer 7

one aspect of someone’s appearance/character is seen as bad, people immediately think that everything about them is bad → if you make one mistake, your whole life is based on it

Question 8

What is managerial implications?

Answer 8

1. Hiring - interviews make hiring decisions based on their impression of how an applicant fits the perceived requirements of a job
2. Performance appraisal - faulty perceptions about what constitutes good versus poor performance can lead to inaccurate performance appraisals, which erode work motivation, commitment, and loyalty
3. Communication - social perception is a screening process that can distort communication, both coming and going

Question 9

What is managing the perception process?

Answer 9

1. Seek information from various sources to confirm or rebut your impression of a situation → like background checks
2. By empathetic - try to see a situation as perceived by others
3. Avoid the common perceptual distortions - avoid stereotyping, halo effect and selective perception
4. Avoid inappropriate attributions - don’t be too hasty, try establish real reasons why things happened