Download INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES: PERCEPTION

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES:
PERCEPTION
THE ORGANIZATION’S ENVIRONMENT
The Individual
•Skills & Abilities
•Perception
•Personality
•Attitudes
•Values
Interpersonal
Influence and
Group Behavior
Group
behavior
and work teams
Intergroup
conflict and
negotiations
Organizational
power and
politics
Communication
INDIVIDUAL
BEHAVIOR IN THE
ORGANIZATION
Organizational
Processes
Leadership
Communications
Decision
making
Reward System
Job Design
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First law of human behavior:
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“People are different. What one person
considers a golden opportunity another
considers a threat.”
Caveat
Perception
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Perception is the process by which individuals
make sense of their world.
Individuals organize and interpret information
from their environments using perceptual
filters
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personality, psychology, experience, preferences,
beliefs-based differences
Objective vs. perceived realities
Perception
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People perceive the world uniquely
Differences in perceptions can cause
problems
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Communication
Conflict
Motivation
Judgment
Decision Making
Object Perception
Proximity – things close together are seen as belonging
together.
Object Perception
Figure-Ground:
The figure and the
background “switch”
Social Perception
How we gather information about the
social world--about peoples’ behavior,
moods, motives, and traits
Similar to object perception, but
 People are more dynamic than objects
 We’re trying to figure out intentions,
motives, and causes of behavior
Attribution
Why did they do that?
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internal causes
traits
 skills
 abilities
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external causes
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situational constraints
4 attributions for the cause
of performance
Stable
Internal
External
Unstable
How do we determine cause?
(Kelley)
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Consensus - how do others behave
Consistency - this person on other
occasions
Distinctiveness - this person in other
situations
Errors/Biases
in Social Perception
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Selective perception
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notice stimuli which are salient due to our
interests, background, experiences
Closure
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tendency to fill in the gaps when
information is missing
Assume what we don’t know is consistent
with what we do know
Errors/Biases
in Social Perception
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Halo Effects
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Contrast
Stereotyping
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Impression on one dimension affects impression of
unrelated dimension
A person has beliefs about a class of stimulus
objects and generalizes those beliefs to
encounters with members of that class of objects.
Primacy/Recency effects
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Disproportionately high weight is given to the
first/last information obtained about a stimulus
First Impressions
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Influences what subsequent information we notice
and how it is interpreted
“Fill-in” information consistent with first impression
Anchoring
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Confirmation Bias
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Failure to adjust for subsequent information
Seek out information & perceive stimuli in ways that confirm
expectations
Discount contradictory information
Self fulfilling prophecy (2-way)
Recency—availability bias
Errors/Biases
in Social Perception
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Actor-observer difference (aka “the
fundamental attribution error”)
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Actors attribute their behavior to external
causes
Observer attribute actors’ behavior to
internal cause
Errors/Biases
in Social Perception
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Fundamental Attribution Error
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The tendency to attribute others' bad
performance to internal causes &
Attribute their good performance to
external causes
Errors/Biases
in Social Perception
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Self-serving bias
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attribute successes to ourselves - internal
attribute failures to the environment – external
Performance appraisal and
errors in social perception
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Supervisor:
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Subordinate:
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Perception Implications
Guard against specific biases
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Stereotypes
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Be aware that stereotyping can occur with very
little information, remain open to new information
Recognize that stereotypes rarely apply to a
specific individual
Fundamental attribution error?
Primacy/recency?
Halo?
Confirmation?
Perception Implications