PERCEPTION AND DECISION
MAKING
Dr. Subir Verma
Professor of Organizational Behaviour
PERCEPTION
• Perception is a process by which individuals
organize and interpret their sensory impressions
to give meaning to their environment.
• People’s behaviors are based on their perception
of what reality is, not on reality itself.
• The world of Organization and its Behaviour is
the world of Perception
SOCIAL PERCEPTION
• It is the process of combining, integrating and
interpreting information about others to gain an
accurate understanding of them
• This almost automatic and continuous process
involves figuring out who a person is (traits &
characteristics ) and why do they do what they do
(behaviour)
• Attribution process is a way people judge the
underlying cause of others’ behaviour
SOCIAL IDENTITY THEORY
Who am I?
• People identify themselves in terms of their individual
characteristics and their own group memberships. They then
compare themselves to other individuals and groups to help
define who they are both to Social
themselves and Identity
others.
Personal Identity
• (my group
(my
characteristics)
I am an Indian
Who
I am an employee
I am 6 ft tall am I
of XYZ company
I am outgoing
I am student of
I am interested in
FORE
sports
Compared to
Members of Other
Other Individuals Groups
CORRESPONDENT INFERENCES :
USING ACTS TO JUDGE DISPOSITION
Disposition
ACT (what
What some Correspondent inference someone is
one does like)
Example
Observe
someone
coming Assume that person Indisciplined
late to the
class
CAUS AL ATTRIBUTION OF EXPL ANATION
OF BEHAVIOUR : ANSWERING WHY?
• Internal Cause of Behaviour: Explanation based on
action for which the individual is responsible
• External Cause of Behaviour: Explanation based on
situation over which the individual has no control
KELLY’S THEORY OF CAUSAL ATTRIBUTION
• You observe an individual complaining about the food, service and
décor in a restaurant. To answer why, you note and conclude as
follows: This person
This person also She complained
always becoz she is
No one else complains in
complains in difficult to please
complains other settings
this restaurant (Internal
(low consensus) (low
(high Attribution )
distinctiveness)
consistency)
This person does She complained
This person
Several others not complain in because the
always complains
also complain other settings restaurant is
in this restaurant
(high consensus)( (High terrible ( external
(high Consistency)
distinctiveness) attribution)
FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE PERCEPTION
(ROBBINS et al)
PERCEPTUAL BIASES
Systematic error in perceiving
others
Fundamental Attribution Error: attributing other persons to their
traits and disposition due to difficulties in identifying complex
pattern of situations that may have caused their action. Hence there
is a tendency to underestimate the influence of external factors and
overestimate the influence of internal or personal factors.
Self-serving bias: Individuals attribute their own successes to
internal factors.
Halo Effect: The more favourably someone is perceived on some
characteristics the more likely that person would be perceived
favourably on some other characteristics. The halo effect occurs
when we draw a general impression based on a single characteristic.
COMMON SHORTCUTS IN JUDGING OTHERS
Selective perception:
• Any characteristic that makes a person, object, or event stand out
will increase the probability that it will be perceived.
• Since we can’t observe everything going on around us, we engage
in selective perception i..e focus on some aspects of the
environment.
Contrast effects
• We do not evaluate a person in isolation.
• Our reaction to one person is influenced by other persons we
have recently encountered.
.
COMMON SHORTCUTS IN JUDGING OTHERS
Stereotyping: Judging someone based on one’s perception of
the group to which that person belongs. It is a mental shortcut in
which we rely on available information to organize our
perception in a coherent way
Similar to me Effect: People perceive others who are like them
favourably.
First Impression: Evidence indicates that interviewers make
perceptual judgments that are often inaccurate.
• Interviewers generally draw early impressions that become very
quickly entrenched.
• Studies indicate that most interviewers’ decisions change very little
after the first four or five minutes of the interview.
SELF FULFILLING PROPHECY
Managers Workers
Managers form behave Managers respond to how
expectations of consistently behaviour they were
workers with affects workers treated by
expectations managers
Added Good
Positive Emotional and Performance
experience and
Expectation Professional (PYGMALION
boosted
Support given EFFECT)
confidence
Emotional and Limited Poor
Negative Professional experience and Performance
Expectation Support lowered (GOLEM
withheld confidence EFFECT)
OVERCOMING BIAS IN SOCIAL
PERCEPTION
Do not overlook external causes of others
behaviour
Evaluate people based on objective facts
Avoid Making Judgments
