Organizational Behavior, 8e

Schermerhorn, Hunt, and Osborn

Prepared by Michael K. McCuddy Valparaiso University John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Chapter 5 Perception and Attribution

Study questions.
What is the perceptual process? What are common perceptual distortions? How can the perceptual process be managed? What is attribution theory?

Organizational Behavior: Chapter 5

What is the perceptual process?

Perception. The process by which people select, organize, interpret, retrieve, and respond to information. Perceptual information is gathered from:
Sight. Hearing. Touch. Taste. Smell.
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What is the perceptual process?

Factors influencing the perceptual process.
Characteristics of the perceiver. Characteristics of the setting. Characteristics of the perceived.

Organizational Behavior: Chapter 5

What is the perceptual process?

Characteristics of the perceiver.
The perceptual process is influenced by the

perceivers:
Past experiences. Needs or motives. Personality. Values and attitudes.
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What is the perceptual process?

Characteristics of the setting.
The perceptual process is influenced by the

settings:
Physical context. Social context. Organizational context.

Organizational Behavior: Chapter 5

What is the perceptual process?

Characteristics of the perceived.
The perceptual process is influenced by characteristics

of the perceived person, object, or event, such as:

Contrast. Intensity. Figure-ground separation. Size. Motion. Repetition or novelty.
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What is the perceptual process?

Stages of the perceptual process.
Information attention and selection. Organization of information. Information interpretation. Information retrieval.

Organizational Behavior: Chapter 5

What is the perceptual process?

Information attention and selection.
Selective screening.
Lets in only a tiny proportion all the information

that bombards a person.

Two types of selective screening.

Controlled processing. Screening without perceivers conscious awareness.

Organizational Behavior: Chapter 5

What is the perceptual process?

Organization of information.
Schemas.
Cognitive frameworks that represent organized knowledge

about a given concept or stimulus developed through experience.

Types of schemas.
Self schemas. Person schemas. Script schemas. Person-in-situation schemas.
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What is the perceptual process?

Information interpretation.
Uncovering the reasons behind the ways stimuli

are grouped.
People may interpret the same information

differently or make different attributions about information.

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What is the perceptual process?

Information retrieval.
Attention and selection, organization, and

interpretation are part of memory.

Information stored in memory must be

retrieved in order to be used.

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What is the perceptual process?

Response to the perceptual process.
Thoughts. Feelings. Actions.

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What are common perceptual distortions?

Common perceptual distortions include:
Stereotypes or prototypes. Halo effects. Selective perception. Projection. Contrast effects. Self-fulfilling prophecy.
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What are common perceptual distortions?

Stereotypes or prototypes.
Combines information based on the category or

class to which a person, situation, or object belongs.

Strong impact at the organization stage. Individual differences are obscured.
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What are common perceptual distortions?

Halo effects.
Occur when one attribute of a person or

situation is used to develop an overall impression of the individual or situation. Likely to occur in the organization stage. Individual differences are obscured. Important in the performance appraisal process.
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What are common perceptual distortions?

Selective perception.

The tendency to single out those aspects of a

situation, person, or object that are consistent with ones needs, values, or attitudes. Strongest impact is at the attention stage. Perception checking with other persons can help counter the adverse impact of selective perception.
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What are common perceptual distortions?

Projection.
The assignment of ones personal attributes to

other individuals. Especially likely to occur in interpretation stage. Projection can be controlled through a high degree of self-awareness and empathy.

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What are common perceptual distortions?

Contrast effects.
Occur when an individual is compared to other

people on the same characteristics on which the others rank higher or lower.

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What are common perceptual distortions?

Self-fulfilling prophecy.
The tendency to create or find in another

situation or individual that which one expected to find. Also called the Pygmalion effect. Can have either positive or negative outcomes. Managers should adopt positive and optimistic approaches to people at work.
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How can the perceptual process be managed?

Impression management.
A persons systematic attempt to behave in

ways that create and maintain desired impressions in others eyes. Successful managers:
Use impression management to enhance their own

images. Are sensitive to other peoples use of impression management.

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How can the perceptual process be managed?

Distortion management.
Managers should:
Balance automatic and controlled information

processing at the attention and selection stage.

Broaden their schemas at the organizing stage. Be attuned to attributions at the interpretation stage.

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What is attribution theory?

Attribution theory aids in perceptual

interpretation by focusing on how people attempt to:

Understand the causes of a certain event. Assess responsibility for the outcomes of the

event. Evaluate the personal qualities of the people involved in the event.
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What is attribution theory?

Internal versus external attributions of

causes of behavior.
Internal causes are under the individuals

control.
External causes are within the persons

environment.
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What is attribution theory?

Factors influencing internal and external

attributions.
Distinctiveness consistency of a persons

behavior across situations. Consensus likelihood of others responding in a similar way. Consistency whether an individual responds the same way across time.
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What is attribution theory?

Fundamental attribution error.
Applies to the evaluation of someones else

behavior.
Attributing success to the influence of

situational factors.
Attributing failure to the influence of personal

factors.
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What is attribution theory?

Self-serving bias.
Applies to the evaluation of our own behavior. Attributing success to the influence of personal

factors.
Attributing failure to the influence of

situational factors.
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What is attribution theory?

Attributions across cultures.
The fundamental attribution error and self-

serving bias operate differently in different cultures.

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