Perception Flashcards
What is perception?
- It shapes how be behave and who we are
- Everyone has different perceptions to interpret the environment with
- We perceive and are perceived by others
What is the process of perception?
- Sensory input - raw data incoming
- Selective attention as we cannot pay attention to everything
- Perceptual organisation - looking for order
- Interpretation - sense making
- Behavioural response - acting, saying, doing, engaging
Which internal factors affect our selective attention?
- Habituation - we disregard the familiar
- Sensory limits
- Personality, learning, motivation
- Individual needs
- Cultural differences and histories
Which external factors affect how we select?
Nature and characteristics of stimuli:
- Large vs small
- Moving vs fixed
- Familiar vs unfamiliar
- Repeated vs one off
What is Fritz Heider’s Attribution Theory?
It is concerned with how people explain situations and how they use information to explain the causes of situations.
What did Heider argue in Attribution Theory?
That people make either personal (dispositional) or situational attributions to explain events.
What are personal/dispositional attributions according to Heider’s (1958) theory?
When people assume the cause is due to the person they are observing. An internal attribution such as their personality.
What are situational attributions according to Heider’s (1958) theory?
When people assume the event is caused by something outside of the person they observe. An external attribution is made such as their situation.
What is the fundamental attribution error?
We overestimate the power of the person when it is someone else’s event and underestimate the power of the situation. When it is our event, we are more likely to take the situation into account.
What is selective perception as a frequently used shortcut in judging others?
When people selectively interpret what they see on the basis of their interests, background, experience and attitudes
What are contrast effects as a shortcut in judging others?
Evaluating a person’s characteristics on the basis of comparison with other people who rank higher or lower on the same characteristics
What is stereotyping as a frequently used shortcut in judging others?
Judging someone on the basis of one’s perception of the group to which the person belongs - a prevalent and often useful, sometimes inaccurate, generalisation
What is categorisation as a frequently used shortcut in judging others?
A tendency to group stimuli together based on their similarity - male/female. Filling in gaps when info is missing
What is the halo effect in categorisation?
Judging based on the perceived dominance of one characteristic e.g the way we speak
What shortcuts are used in organisations to judge candidates?
- CV
- Interview - perception affects accuracy of judgement, takes 1/10 of a second to form a judgement
- Performance expectations - self fulfilling prophecy - expectations imposed by managers impact capabilities
