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III. Perception, Attribution, and Learning
What is perception?
Perception
◦ The process by which
people select,
organize, interpret,
retrieve, and respond
to information from
the world around
them.
Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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Perception
The process of organizing and interpreting
information, enabling us to recognize meaningful
objects and events.
Top-Down Processing
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We perceive by filling
the gaps in what we
sense.
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Based on our
experiences and
schemas.
If you see many old men
in glasses, you are more
apt to process a picture
of an old man (even
when you may be in
error).
Figure Ground Relationship
Our first perceptual
decision is what is the
image is the figure and
what is the background.
Gestalt Psychology
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Gestalt psychologists focused on
how we GROUP objects together.
We innately look at things in groups
and not as isolated elements.
Proximity (group objects that are
close together as being part of
same group)
Similarity (objects similar in
appearance are perceived as being
part of same group)
Continuity (objects that form a
continuous form are perceived as
same group)
Closure (like top-down
processing…we fill gaps in if we can
recognize it)
Constancy
Objects change in
our eyes
constantly as we
or they move….but
we are able to
maintain content
perception
• Shape Constancy
• Size Constancy
• Brightness
Constancy
•
Perceived Motion
Stroboscopic
effect (flip book
effect)
 Phi phenomenon
 Autokinetic
Effect (if people
stare at a white
spotlight in a dark
room, it appears
to move.)

What do you see?
Factors Influencing Perception
Schemas
◦ Cognitive frameworks that represent organized
knowledge about a given concept or stimulus
developed through experience.
Self schema
◦ Contains information about a person’s own
appearance, behavior, and personality.
Person schema
◦ Refers to the way individuals sort others into
categories in terms of similar perceived
features.
Script schema
◦ a knowledge
framework that
describes the
appropriate sequence
of events in a given
situation.
Person-in-situation
schema
◦ combines schemas
built around persons
and events.
What are the common
perceptual distortions?

Stereotypes
◦ Assigns attributes to an individual that are
commonly associated with a group.
◦ Individual differences are obscured.
◦ Strong impact at the organization stage.
What are the 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.
What are the common
perceptual distortions?

Selective perception
◦ The tendency to single out for attention
those aspects of a situation, person, or object
that are consistent with one’s needs, values, or
attitudes.
What are the common
perceptual distortions?

Projection
◦ The assignment of one’s personal attributes
to other individuals.
What are the common
perceptual distortions?

Contrast effects
◦ Occur when an individual’s characteristics are
contrasted with those of others recently
encountered, who rank higher or lower on
the same characteristics.
What are the common
perceptual distortions?
Self-fulfilling
prophecy
◦ The tendency to
create or find in
another situation or
individual that which
one expected to find.
Barrier to Social Perception Impression Management
The process by which individuals try to
control the impression others have of
them
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Name dropping
Appearance
Self-description
Flattery
Favors
Agreement with opinion
Attribution Theory

explains how individuals pinpoint the
causes of their own behavior or that
of others
What is the link between
perception and attribution?
Attribution
◦ Process of creating explanations for events. Can be
classified as internal or external:
Internal attributions:
Attributing events to something within the individual’s
control.
Internal factors – Personal characteristics that cause behavior (e.g., , lack
of knowledge, ability, effort, motivation, attitude)
External attributions:
Attributing events to something outside the individual’s
control.
External factors – Environmental characteristics that cause behavior (e.g.,
task difficulty, good/bad luck, not enough training, situational factors like
technical malfunctions, weather, health)
What is the link between
perception and attribution?
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.
What is the link between
perception and attribution?

Fundamental attribution error
 “Your poor performance is caused by you!”
 In general, we tend to blame the person first, not
the situation.
What is the link between
perception and attribution?

Self-serving bias
◦ Tendency to take more personal responsibility
for success than failure.
 I got an “A” because I studied.
 I got a “D” because the exam was too hard.
What is the link between
perception and attribution?

Do not overlook the external causes of others’
behaviors. (Identify and confront your
stereotypes, your biases, your preconceived
notions.)

Evaluate people based on objective factors.

Do not rush to judgment
Cultural differences in attributions :
◦ Individualistic cultures - managers more
likely to attribute employee poor
performance to internal causes.
 Negative attributes – blame team-mates for
subordinates for performance problems.
◦ Collectivist cultures – overemphasize selfserving bias; managers blame themselves for
group’s failure.
The link between Learning,
Perception & Attribution
Social learning theory
◦ Describes how learning occurs through
interactions among people, behavior, and
environment.
Self efficacy
◦ The person’s belief that he or she can
perform adequately in a situation (selfconfidence, competence, ability).
◦ Key factor in self-control.
What is involved in learning by
reinforcement?

Reinforcement
◦ The administration of a consequence as a
result of a behavior.
◦ Appropriate use of reinforcement used can
alter the direction, level and persistence of a
behavior.
What is involved in learning by
reinforcement?
Classical conditioning
◦ A form of learning through association that
involves the manipulation of stimuli to influence
behavior.
Operant conditioning
◦ The process of controlling behavior by
manipulating, or “operating” on, its consequences.
◦ Considered ‘learning by reinforcement’.
Stimulus
◦ Something that elicits some kind of a response.
What is involved in learning by
reinforcement?

Law of effect
◦ Behavior that results in a pleasant outcome is
likely to be repeated while behavior that
results in an unpleasant outcome is not likely
to be repeated.
Your experience…

You work really hard at your job, and
are not rewarded. The “law of effect”
would suggest that you will
a. Quit
b. Keep trying to impress the right people
What is involved in learning by
reinforcement?

Organizational behavior
modification
(OB Mod)
◦ The systematic reinforcement of desirable
work behavior and the non-reinforcement or
punishment of unwanted work behavior.
What is involved in learning by
reinforcement?

Positive reinforcement
◦ Increases the frequency of a behavior through the
contingent presentation of a desirable consequence.
 Law of contingent reinforcement - only the correctly exhibited
behavior is rewarded.
 Law of immediate reinforcement – reward must be provided as
soon as possible after the behavior.

Shaping
◦ Creation of a new behavior by the positive
reinforcement of successive approximations to the
desired behavior.
What is involved in learning by
reinforcement?
Continuous reinforcement
◦ Administering a reward each time the
desired behavior occurs.
Intermittent reinforcement
◦ Rewards behavior periodically — either on
the basis of time elapsed or the number of
desired behaviors exhibited.
Extinction
◦ The withdrawal of the reinforcing
consequences for a given behavior.
What is involved in learning by
reinforcement?
Negative reinforcement
◦ The withdrawal of negative consequences to
increase the likelihood of repeating the
desired behavior in a similar setting.
Punishment
◦ The administration of negative consequences,
or the withdrawal of positive consequences,
to reduce the likelihood of repeating the
behavior in similar settings.
Team Leader
Antecedent
Team Member
Response
Team Leader
Behavior
Type of
Reinforcement
Strategy
“Do good work”
High work
quality
Praise and
rewards
Positive
Reinforcement
“Do good work”
Low work quality
Criticism and
reprimand
Punishment
“Do good work”
High work
quality
No criticism; no
reprimand
Negative
Reinforcement
“Do good work”
High error rate
Takes away break
time
Punishment
“Do good work”
Low work quality
No praise; no
rewards
Extinction