Perceptions and Attributes Flashcards
What is Perception?
Process used to organize and interpret sensory impressions to give meaning to the environment.
Why Do We Care About Perception?
Perception drives all of our behavior
BUT our perception is often biased/flawed
Perception is not the same as reality
People’s behavior is based on their perception of what reality is, not on reality itself.
Employee perception of organization:
influences behaviour, attribute, performance (perception of climate, trust, organziational support)
What influences perception: factors -
The context: time, work setting, social setting
The perciver: attitudes, motives, experiences, expectations, interests, social identity
The target: size, background, proximity, similarity, motion
Perceptual Biases/Errors
- selective perception
- primacy effects
- recency effects
- halo/horn effect
- projection
- conformation biases/ errors
Selective Perception
Tendency to “see things” based on our own frame of reference
Brain takes the things that seem important - can be different per person
Primacy Effects
Tendency to rely on first impressions or cues
Recency Effects
Tendency to rely on last impressions or recent cues
Halo/Horn effect
Form a general characteristic based on one thing (appearance)
- having a positive impression in one area, which leads to a positively influenced feelings in another area
Projection
Tendency to attribute one’s own thoughts and feelings to others
Conformation Biases/ Errors
Tendency to only seek out confirmatory information, not disconfirming information
- Information that confirms what you have already decided
Implicit Bias
nonconscious (implicit) thought
Allows us to quickly make sense of our environment
occurs automatically and unintentionally, affects our behaviour and judgment
Efficient
Saves time… saves resources…
We couldn’t function if everything was conscious
Stereotypes
an overly-generalized belief about a category of people
- Basically, very broad concepts that we associate with a group
- Stereotypes are often wrong.
Some Consequences of Stereotyping
Can result in unfairness for individuals
Fewer opportunities
Unfair allocation of resources (e.g., money)
Can negatively affect how we treat individuals (may lead to self-fulfilling prophecies), etc.
Some Consequences of Stereotyping: Can result in decreased organizational performance
Interferes with accurate selection/hiring decisions
Interferes with accurate assessment of performance
Interferes with performance management
Can decrease diversity , etc.
Social Identity Theory
Individuals form perceptions of themselves based on both personal attributes/dispositions and group memberships
Attribution Theory
When individuals observe behavior, they attempt to determine whether it is internally or externally caused (i.e., is it dispositional or situational).
Disposition
internal
Situational
external
Distinctiveness
Does individual act the same way in other situations?
Consensus
Does individual act the same as others in same situation?
Consistency
Does the individual act the same way over time?
Fundamental Attribution Error
Tendency to underestimate the influence of external factors and overestimate the influence of internal factors when making judgments about others.