Chapter 5: Perception and Attribution

Organizational Organizational Behavior, 8eBehavior, 8e

Schermerhorn, Hunt, and Schermerhorn, Hunt, and OsbornOsborn

Prepared byMichael K. McCuddyValparaiso University

John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Organizational Behavior: Chapter 5 2

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Chapter 5Perception 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?


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.



Factors influencing the perceptual process.

– Characteristics of the perceiver.

– Characteristics of the setting.

– Characteristics of the perceived.



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

perceiver’s:• Past experiences.• Needs or motives.• Personality.• Values and attitudes.



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

setting’s:• Physical context.

• Social context.

• Organizational context.



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.



Stages of the perceptual process.– Information attention and selection.

– Organization of information.

– Information interpretation.

– Information retrieval.



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 perceiver’s conscious

awareness.



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.



Information interpretation.– Uncovering the reasons behind the ways

stimuli are grouped.– People may interpret the same information

differently or make different attributions about information.



Information retrieval.– Attention and selection, organization, and

interpretation are part of memory.

– Information stored in memory must be retrieved in order to be used.



Response to the perceptual process.

– Thoughts.

– Feelings.

– Actions.


What are commonperceptual distortions?

Common perceptual distortions include:– Stereotypes or prototypes.– Halo effects.– Selective perception.– Projection.– Contrast effects.– Self-fulfilling prophecy.



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.



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.



Selective perception.– The tendency to single out those aspects of a

situation, person, or object that are consistent with one’s 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.



Projection.– The assignment of one’s 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.



Contrast effects.

– Occur when an individual is compared to other

people on the same characteristics on which

the others rank higher or lower.



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.


How can the perceptualprocess be managed?

Impression management.– A person’s 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 people’s use of impression

management.


How can the perceptualprocess 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.


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.



Internal versus external attributions of causes of behavior.– Internal causes are under the individual’s

control.

– External causes are within the person’s environment.



Factors influencing internal and external attributions.– Distinctiveness — consistency of a person’s

behavior across situations.– Consensus — likelihood of others responding

in a similar way.– Consistency — whether an individual

responds the same way across time.



Fundamental attribution error.– Applies to the evaluation of someone’s else

behavior.– Attributing success to the influence of

situational factors.– Attributing failure to the influence of personal

factors.



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.



Attributions across cultures.

– The fundamental attribution error and self-

serving bias operate differently in different

cultures.

Documents

Chapter 5: Perception and Attribution