Unit 2 - PERCEPTION

Introduction

It is very strange that in this dynamic world, every day we are bombarded with countless
objects, events or persons. But, we retain few stimuli and reject others. In addition to that, the
way we understand and interpret the stimuli received differs from person to person. What is
the reason for this phenomenon? The answer is perception. Perception is a psychological
factor affecting human behaviour because perception determines the way the individual
experiences the situation.

Meaning and Definition of Perception

Perception can be understood as the process through which information or stimulus is

received from the environment, then selected, organised and interpreted in order to assign
some meaning to it. The meaning is derived out of the information received from the
environment so that the information can be used for taking important decisions and actions.
The process of perception can be better explained through the definitions given below:

According to Joseph Reitz, “Perception includes all those processes by which an individual
receives information about his environment- seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling.
The study of these perceptual processes shows that their functioning is affected by three
classes of variables-the objects or events being perceived, the environment in which
perception occurs and the individual doing the perceiving.”

“Perception can be defined as a process by which individuals organise and interpret their
sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment.”

Therefore, in simple words, perception can be described as the process of seeing what is
available to be seen. But, this process is influenced by the perceiver, the object being
perceived and the situation in which perception is being formed.

Nature and Importance of Perception

Perception is basically interpretation of the sensory data which involves understanding the
stimulus received from the environment. It is determined by physiological as well as

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psychological characteristics of an individual because perception not just involves receiving
the stimulus from the sensory organs-eyes, ears, skin, nose, tongue but, it is much more than
that. Perception is formed when the stimulus received is organised in a particular fashion and
then interpreted to have an idea about what is happening in the environment. In addition to
that, perception is a subjective process because different individuals may perceive the same
environment differently on the basis of what stimulus they select from the environment, the
manner they organise and interpret the information in order to understand the situation.
Importance of perception can be understood from the following points:

a) Perception is important in understanding variations in individual behaviour. As discussed

above, every individual perceives the surroundings differently and therefore, understanding
the perception helps us find out why every individual behaves in a particular manner. This is
one of the major reasons why one individual finds one job interesting and satisfying while
another finds the same job boring and dissatisfying.

b) As perception strongly influences behaviour of an individual, we can very easily predict

the behaviour of an individual in the changed circumstances by understanding his perception
about the present environment.

c) Perception can also help in assessing various needs of the people, because their perception
is largely influenced by their needs.

Perceptual Process

From the definitions of perception discussed above it is very clear that perception is
composed of various sub-processes: receiving, selecting, organising, interpreting, checking
and reacting to stimuli. The process is influenced by perceiver, object and situation. The
process of perception is explained in the following figure:

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1 Receiving Stimuli
Human body is composed of five sensory organs viz. eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin. These
sensory organs help in sensing the environment in the form of vision, hearing, smell, touch
and taste. The sensory organs receive the stimuli from the outer environment. Anything
which we notice in the environment is stimulus e.g. noise of vehicles, smell of food, sound of
rain, sense of heat or cold etc. The stimuli which we receive serve as inputs for the process of
perception.

2 Selecting Stimuli
Many things happen in the environment simultaneously but, human mind cannot pay equal
attention to all events or things equally. Therefore, individuals filter or screen out the
irrelevant things and select the things which are relevant with their existing beliefs, values
and needs. This process of selecting relevant things from the environment for paying
attention is called perceptual selectivity. The following factors influence the process of
selecting stimuli from the environment:

2.1 External Factors: External factors influencing selection are following:

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a) Size: Size always catches the attention of an individual. Generally bigger objects are more
likely to catch attention than the smaller objects. For example: A very big animal in a zoo
will always catch more attention from the visitors than the smaller one. In addition to this, a
full page advertisement in a newspaper always stands out more than a small column
advertisement.

b) Intensity: The stimuli with high intensity are more likely to be perceived than the stimuli
with low intensity. Very bright colours, very bright lights, loud noise, strong odour are
noticed faster than light colours, dim lights, soft sound, weak odour etc.

c) Repetition: Repeated stimuli draw more attention than those which are not repeated.
Instructions which are repeated by a plant supervisor are retained in the memory of
employees for a longer period of time than those instructions which are conveyed only once.
An advertisement which is repeated more on a T.V channel or radio station catches attention
and is remembered by the viewers than the advertisement which is shown just once a day.

d) Contrast: Principle of contrast states that stimuli which stand out against the background or
objects which contrast with their surroundings will receive more attention. An exit sign board
in a movie hall, a danger sign board on a road under construction are made with a colour
scheme which contrasts with each other like red and black, yellow and black or white and
black.

e) Movement: The principle of motion states that a moving object or thing draws more
attention than a still one. A moving vehicle among the parked vehicles will catch the attention
immediately.

f) Novelty and Familiarity: Novel objects or familiar objects always gain more attention from
the perceiver. In a crowded trade fair, a friend or a familiar face and a new face in a family
get together will be immediately noticed.

g) Nature: It refers to whether the object is visual in nature or auditory. It is a common fact
that pictures receive better attention than words, videos attract more attention than still
pictures and a rhyming phrase attracts more attention than a phrase which is presented as a
narration. Animated cartoons catch more attention from children than comic books.

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h) Location: The best location of a visual stimulus for attracting attention is directly in the
front of the eyes and in the centre of a page. When this location is not possible in a newspaper
or a magazine, a position in the upper portion of a page is more favourable than one in the
lower portion, and the left hand side receives more attention than the right hand side.

i) Colour: Colour is used to attract attention and portray realism. In a mass of black and
white, a modicum of colour catches the eye. When colour is still a novelty, as with
newspapers till recently, the addition of a cue, a single colour to an advertisement will
enhance its attention getting value.

Colour can be used to emphasise the attractive features of a product or to create a suitable
atmosphere. High technology products such as cameras are usually produced in black or
methylic finishes although some have been marketed with a less serious, more sporty image,
in bright primary colours. Some products, such as cars, come in a variety of colours, but
others such as toothpaste, are in a limited range of colours. It would be incongruous to use
black toothpaste.

In the work environment, colour can be used to enhance lighting effects, for creating pleasant
surroundings, and for putting across and reinforcing safety messages.

Colour has a psychological impact on an individual. It is well-known that some colours act as
a stimulant and others act as a depressant. A dark blue ceiling may appear to be refreshing to
begin with, but after sometime the apparent coldness may become an irritant. Table 7.1 brings
out the effects of different colours.

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2.2 Internal Factors: Internal factors influencing the process of perception are:

a) Learning: Learning is a cognitive factor which strongly influences the process of

perception. Learning creates expectancy in the individuals and then they tend to perceive
what they want to perceive. Take the following example:

Read the text given in the above figure, the individual will most likely read the last word as
‘Mac-Hinery’ instead of ‘machinery’. This is because individuals tend to be caught in a
verbal response set. Now take another example:

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In the above figure, because of prior learning, one will read the sentence as “bird in the
hand”. But, it will take a few seconds to realise that there is an extra ‘the’ in the sentence.

b) Needs: Needs also play a significant role in the process of perceptual selectivity. A thirsty
person will always be sensitive towards the sources of water and a hungry person will always
tend to see eating points everywhere. A person who has a high need for affiliation will always
join the group of his friends in leisure time and the person with high need for achievement
will tend to work hard even in leisure time to accomplish his goals.

c) Age: The people of different age groups always hold different perceptions about the
environment. For example: older senior executives always feel that young executives are not
competitive enough to take important decisions of the organisations and on the other hand
young staff always complain that older staff members are resistant to change and tend to
follow conventional methods of working in the organisation. These differences in the
perceptions of old and young employees are due to differences in their age.

d) Interest: Perception is also influenced by the interest of the person though unconsciously.
A fashion designer will notice so many details in an outfit which is hung on a statue of a shop
in just a casual look, but a routine visitor will not be able to observe the same details in the
same outfit even if he looks at it ten times more.

e) Ambivalence: Another factor of perceptual selection is ambivalence or mixed feelings

about a situation. A young man may be ambivalent about his fiancee's virtues and
shortcomings. She may be an attractive, charming, and poised woman with whom he likes to
be seen, but she may also be insecure and have a poor self-concept. When she tries to

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compensate for these feelings by taking control of the relationship, he resents it and is
anxious about the wisdom of his choice. But because of his physical attraction to her and
because he wants to remain a success in his circle by having a beautiful fiancee, he represses
the awareness of her negative qualities and selectively perceives only those that are
favourable. Only after several years of marriage, when the selective perception of courtship
has given way before the all-inclusive awareness of daily, intimate, and prolonged contact,
does he become sharply aware of what he repressed.

f) Paranoid Perception: When a person's perception is so selective that he can find little
common ground for communication with others, he is likely to be paranoid. It is the
characteristic of the emotionally disturbed person that his perceptual field differs from that of
reality and personalised interpretation. His self-concept is poor and he is very insecure, as a
result of which he behaves in an inflexible manner.

3 Perceptual Organisation

After receiving and selecting the stimuli from the environment, the data received must be
organised in a particular fashion so that we can extract some meaning out of it. This aspect of
organising the information into a meaningful whole is called perceptual organisation.
Perceptual organisation is completely a cognitive process and is based on the following
principles:

a) Ambiguous Figures: Ambiguous figures are figures that contain two or more different
images and therefore can be perceived in distinct ways. The classic duck-rabbit ambiguous
figure1, for instance, contains an image of a rabbit facing right and an image of a duck facing
left. People see only one of these images at a time.

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b) Figure BackGround: This principle is considered as the basic form of organising the
perceptual set. This principle simply states that the object or event or person which is being
perceived stands out from its background. See the figure given below:

In the first sight, it looks like a white vase but, if you take white as a background then you
will see two faces which are in black colour.

c) Perceptual grouping: Grouping is defined as the tendency to group the stimuli into some
meaningful patterns. Grouping includes similarity, proximity, closure and continuity.

Similarity: The principle of similarity states that objects of similar shape or colour or size
tend to be grouped together. In an organisation all white collared employees are seen as one
group. See the following figure, the signs are perceived as four rows rather than eight
columns.

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Proximity: The principle of proximity states that individuals tend to perceive the objects
placed together as one group. The employees who are working in the same department are
perceived as one group because of geographical proximity. See the following figure, eight
circles are perceived as two groups of four in the first row and four groups of two in the
second row because of the nearness of circles to each other.

Closure: The principle of closure states the tendency to perceive the object as a whole even
when some parts of it are missing. Individual’s perceptual process will fill the gaps that are
unfilled from the sensory input. The following figure demonstrates the principle of closure.
The object given below will be perceived as a circle even if some parts are missing. In an
organisation also a sincere, hard working and honest worker will be perceived as a good
performer by the managers even if he behaves in a contradictory manner sometimes.

Continuity: Principle of continuity assumes that an individual tends to perceive continuous

lines or patterns. People tend to perceive the obvious ways of performing the tasks and fail to

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think creatively. Continuity leads to inflexibility and non creative thinking on the part of
employees.

d) Perceptual Constancy: The principle of constancy states the tendency to perceive certain
characteristics of an object as remaining constant, despite the variations in the stimuli. This
principle provides a sense of stability in this dynamic world. There are several aspects of
constancy:

Shape Constancy: When an object appears to maintain its shape despite marked changes.

Size Constancy: When we tend to see the object unchanged in the size even if it moves
farther away from us. A player who is standing on the other side of the football ground will
not perceive football smaller as compared to when he looks at the same football from a closer
location.

Colour constancy: familiar objects tend to be perceived of the same colour even if they are
exposed to some changed conditions. The owner of a red car will see his car as red in the
bright sunlight as well as in the dim twilight.

4 Process of Interpreting

Perceptual interpretation is the essential part of the perceptual process. After the selection and
organisation of the information, the perceiver interprets the information in order to assign
meaning to it. Actually perception is said to be formed only when the information is
interpreted. Several factors contribute to the interpretation of the information. Most common
of them are discussed as follows:

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a) Perceptual set: Previously held beliefs or experiences about an object influence the
individual’s perception about similar objects. This phenomenon is called perceptual set. For
example, an old manager may have developed a general belief that young executives tend to
be frequently absent from the job and they are not committed to the organisations. This
previously held belief will always influence his perception whenever he will meet a new
young worker.

b) Stereotyping: Stereotyping is the tendency of judging someone on the basis of the group to
which he belongs. An individual’s perception about one person will always be influenced by
his experiences with the other members of the group to which that person belongs. Some
common examples of stereotyping are: Americans are materialistic, Japanese are
nationalistic, workers are anti-management etc.

c) Halo Effect: It is the tendency of perceiving others on the basis of a single trait which may
be good or bad, favourable or unfavourable. Sometimes, we judge the person on the basis of
one first impression. For example, a person who is just kind may also be perceived as good,
able, helpful etc. and the person who is rude may also be perceived as awful, aggressive,
unkind, harmful etc. The Halo effect is a common error committed by the managers while
evaluating their subordinates.

d) Projection: Projection is the tendency of assigning own attributes to the others. It is easy to
judge others if we assume that they are like us. It refers to projecting one's own feelings,
abilities, motives and tendencies into judgement of others. A manager who himself is
punctual assumes that all staff members of his office are punctual.

e) Implicit personality theory: When we make judgement about others, our perception is
influenced by the belief that certain human traits are associated with others. For example,
honesty is associated with hard work.

f) Selective perception: As discussed in the starting of the process, individuals have the
tendency to select certain objects from the environment which they find relevant to their
existing beliefs and values. This is because, human mind cannot assimilate everything which
it observes and hence, we select certain stimuli and screen out the other. But we don’t choose

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the stimuli randomly; we choose them according to our interests and experiences. Therefore,
selective perception offers the risk of drawing inaccurate pictures of ambiguous situations.

g) Attribution: Attribution refers to the process of assigning causes to the behaviour. People
are interested not only in observing the behaviour but also in determining its causes. Their
evaluations of and reactions to other’s behaviour may be heavily influenced by their
perception that the others are responsible for their behaviour. When we observe an
individual’s behaviour, we attempt to determine whether it is internally caused or externally
caused. Internally caused behaviours are those which we believe that are under the control of
the individual and externally caused behaviours are those which are believed to be beyond the
control of the individual. The determination that whether the behaviour is internally caused or
externally caused depends upon three factors viz. distinctiveness, consensus and consistency.

Distinctiveness refers to whether the individual displays different behaviour in different

situations. If the individual usually behaves differently in different situations, his behaviour is
externally caused. But if he behaves in a similar manner in the different situations his
behaviour is internally caused.

Consensus is when everyone behaves in the same way whenever they face the similar
situation. If there is a consensus in everyone’s behaviour, it means the behaviour is externally
caused otherwise it is internally caused.

Consistency in a person’s action refers to when an individual behaves in the same way over a
period of time. If the behaviour of a person is consistent, it is internally caused otherwise it is

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externally caused. The following figure explains the process of attributing one’s behaviour to
external factors or internal factors.

Take a look at an example, if a manager believes that faulty performance of his subordinate is
due to external factors such as faulty equipment or electricity crisis, his perception of his
subordinate’s performance will be different than if he attributes the faulty performance to the
subordinate's own ignorance and negligence. The most interesting finding from the
attribution theory of perception is that the errors or biases distort perception. There are two
possible errors in attribution:

Fundamental attribution error: When we judge behaviour of others, we tend to underestimate

the influence of external factors and overestimate the influence of internal factors.

Self serving bias: When we make judgements about our own behaviour, we tend to attribute
our success to internal factors such as skills and abilities and putting blame of failures on
external factors such as faulty equipment, material shortage etc.

h) Perceptual defence: According to the principle of perceptual defence, an individual is

likely to put up a defence when confronted with conflicting, unacceptable, or threatening
stimuli. The defence mechanisms put up by the perceiver may assume any of the four forms:
outright denial, modification of the data received, change in perception but refusal to change,
and change in perception itself. The four defence mechanisms have been culled from a study
involving college students. The students were presented with the word 'intelligent' as a
characteristic of a factory worker. This was conflicting to the notion about a worker held by
the students. The defences put up by the students were:

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(a) Some students denied that the factory workers could be intelligent - a denial mechanism.

(b) Some students said that the worker was intelligent but lacked initiative to rise above his
group (associating intelligence with some other trait - modification mechanism).

(c) A few students felt that the word intelligent conflicted with their understanding of a
worker. What they believed about the worker was that he was not too intelligent - change in
perception but refusal to change mechanism.

(d) Many of the students felt that the worker was really intelligent. But this change in change
in perception mechanism.

This principle states that individuals tend to build a defence against the stimuli which are
conflicting, threatening or unacceptable. Defence may assume the four possible forms: (a)
outright denial, (b) modification of data received, (c) change in the perception but refusal to
change and (d) change in the perception itself.

5 Process of Checking

After the information is received, organised and interpreted, the perceiver checks whether his
interpretation of the information is right or wrong.

6 Process of Reacting

Reacting is the last stage of the perceptual process. The process ends up when the perceiver is
indulged into some action in relation to the perception. The action of perception is also called
perceptual output. The outcome of the perceptual process is the attitude, opinion, beliefs and
feelings of the perceiver regarding the perceived object or event or person. The action will be
based on whether the perception is favourable or unfavourable. If perception is positive,
action will be favourable but, if the perception is negative, action will be unfavourable.

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 Factors Influencing Perception

The definitions of perception clearly stated that perception is influenced by the factors of
perceiver, perceived and the situational factors. These factors are briefly explained as below:

a) Characteristics of perceiver: An individual’s past experiences, needs, habits, personality,

values and attitudes influence the perceptual process. For example, if a manager holds
negative beliefs and attitudes towards employee unions, he will dislike and express his
resentment for even a routine visit of union officials in the plant.

b) Characteristics of perceived: Physical attributes, appearance and behaviour of the target

also influence how they are being perceived. Physical attributes such as age, gender, height
and weight affects the way the person is being perceived. Perceivers tend to notice physical
appearance characteristics that contrast with the norm, that are intense, or that are new or
unusual. Physical attractiveness often catches the attention quickly. Interviewers rate
attractive candidates more favourably and attractive candidates are awarded higher starting
salaries.

c) Characteristics of the situation: The physical, social and organisational settings of the
situation also influence the process of perception. For example, a conversation with the boss

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held in the reception area of a dance club will be perceived differently than the conversation
held in the office with the door closed.

Perception and Organisational behaviour

In the above discussion, several examples of relevance of perception in an organisational

setting have been discussed. Perception is actually a cognitive process through which an
individual uniquely interprets the situation based on his needs, experiences and interest.
Perception is the judgement about reality not exact recording of reality. It reveals the picture
of the world which may or may not be different from reality. Recognising the difference
between perception and reality is very important in an organisational context. Let us
understand the applications of perception in organisational behaviour more briefly through
following points:

Perception in employment interview: In an employment interview, selection or rejection of

the candidate depends upon the interviewer’s perception about behaviour of the candidate.
Sometimes, a rejected applicant may deserve the selection but is rejected because he is
wrongly perceived by the interviewer. The real fact is that the interviewers usually make
judgement about the candidates on the basis of early impressions and form inaccurate
perceptions.

Performance appraisal: It is another area where perception plays a very significant role.
Performance evaluation of employees depends upon the perception of the evaluator about the
employees. Some jobs involve the performance which can be measured in quantifiable terms
such as job of salesman, production worker etc. Evaluation of such jobs can be done in
objective terms and hence do not provide the managers with greater discretion. On the other
hand, some jobs involve performance which cannot be measured in quantifiable terms.
Evaluation of such jobs is done in subjective terms and subjective measures of performance
provide relatively wider scope for managers to use their own discretion. Therefore, appraisal
of such jobs is largely influenced by perception of the evaluator about who is good or who is
bad.

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 Perception Distortion
Meaning
Perceptual distortions are incorrect understanding or abnormal interpretation of a perceptual
experience. A perceptual distortion occurs when a person's responses to stimuli vary from
how it is commonly perceived. Perceptual distortion can relate to either sensory or
psychological disorders, medication or drugs, or physical damage to the brain or sensory
organ.
The types of perceptual errors are as follows:

1) Attribution:- Explanation same as above

2) Selective Perception

➔ Since we can not observe everything going on about us, we engage in selective
perception. People selectively interpret what they see on the basis of their interests,
background experiences, and attitudes.

➔ It is the tendency not to notice and more quickly forget stimuli that cause emotional
discomfort and contradict our prior beliefs.

➔ For example, a teacher may have a favorite student because they are biased by in-group
favoritism. The teacher ignores the student’s poor attainment.

➔ People selectively interpret what they see based on their interests, backgrounds,
experiences, and attitudes.

➔ Because our attention spans are limited, we tend to categorize things by aspects that
resemble what we already know, and we save time and energy by assuming the current
situation is similar to previous experience.

➔ In addition to seeing things the way we expect, we are also prone to seeing things the way
we wish they were. People tend to think of themselves as above average in intelligence
because they are highly skilled drivers.

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➔ This is because we like to believe flattering things about ourselves. We fail to see how our
current beliefs conflict with the facts we gather. People who firmly hold onto a specific belief
allow it to affect how they see a situation.

➔ When a meeting is called to discuss options for a controversial work issue, employees who
strongly support one side of the issue may view the meeting in a fundamentally different way.

3) Halo Effect

➔ It refers to the tendency of judging a person entirely on the basis of a single trait that may
be favorable or unfavorable. Here, a single trait dominates other characteristics of the
individual.

➔ It helps to judge others quickly. Among other errors of perception, halo error has the
most profound/deep impact and implication on an individual’s perception and behavior.

➔ They are not always inaccurate, although, they probably are more often wrong than right.
We are influenced by the halo effect when we believe a single characteristic is associated
with a number of other desirable qualities.

➔ Those who are deemed to be attractive are also generally rated as smart, those with warm
dispositions are deemed to be sociable and funny, and those with intelligence are regarded as
more able leaders.

➔ An individual is evaluated favourably or unfavourably merely on the basis of his or her

individual attributes. In our organisation, we usually see this type of error at the time of
employee selection and when evaluating employee performance.

➔ Such impression effects distort managers who limit their evaluation of employees to a
single characteristic. People start judging based on their impressions even before knowing
any of the important features.

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➔ Often, incorrect decisions are made when initial impressions are assumed to have more
significance and importance in the decision-making process than later impressions.

➔ As a result, judgmental biases are produced. According to the concept of “first

impressions are lasting,” this type of bias arises.

➔ Initially, we have intuitive impressions. The workings of our subconscious have detected
something about the person that triggers an emotional reaction leading to feelings of liking or
disliking.

➔ When an initial impression is perceived to be more relevant and important than a later
impression in rendering a decision, it is known as a primary influence.

➔ The constant message mothers give to their children is to make a good first impression,
and evidence shows that first impressions often last a lifetime. First impressions, however,
can also be misleading.

➔ The presence of certain attributes (such as attractiveness or high energy levels) can lead us
to believe that people possessing such positive qualities must also possess other positive
traits.

➔ When decision-makers consider both situations and people, the primary effect can occur.
The first presentation can carry more weight than subsequent presentations when we are
exposed to opposing views on a controversial issue.

➔ The interviewers tend to make an initial impression of a candidate’s resume after

inspecting a few bits of information.

➔ It is more common to treat candidates with favourable first impressions and stronger halo
expectations pleasantly and tap for confirming information in interviews, instead of treating
everyone equally.

4) Stereotyping (Generalizing/Grouping)

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➔ In order to simplify matters, we often tend to classify people and events into
already-known general categories or groups.

➔ We put people into a convenient category on the basis of some characteristics (usually
ethnic occupational, sexual, etc.) is known as stereotyping. It helps to simplify the
complexity. It avoids individual differences and gives a wrong judgement.

For e.g: Indians are quick-tempered, Fat men are Jolly/happy, Americans are ambitious,
Chinese are mysterious and Japanese are industrious, etc. The above examples are not always
true. They are true in general, not in particular.

➔ Stereotyping refers to judging someone based on how one perceives the group that they
belong to. Stereotyping bias is also called availability bias. This bias is determined by how
information is stored and assessed in our minds.

➔ We will perceive information as representative or typical of the class to which it can be

assigned, regression to the mean happens when we ignore the fact that the next time we
encounter an extreme event, and availability occurs when we can recall a memory more
easily because it is vivid or easy to recall, assuming that the information is more typical.

5) Contrast Effect

➔ When we compare something to something else, the contrast effect distorts our perception
of it, intensifying their differences.

➔ An explicit or implicit comparison can occur simultaneously or at different times, and it

can encompass a variety of traits, from physical traits such as color and taste to abstract
qualities such as price and attractiveness.

➔ It is another perceptual error that is very common in our workplace. We don’t evaluate a
person in isolation. Contrast effect or error occurs when we evaluate a person’s characteristics
that are affected by comparisons with other people recently encountered who rank higher or
lower on the same.

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This type of error is very commonly found when managers go through employment
interviews, performance appraisal, etc.

6) Projection

➔ This is also a very common type of perceptual error. Projection refers to the tendency of
people to see their own traits in other people. It means that, when people make judgments
about others, they project their own characteristics into others.

➔ As the saying goes, ‘to an honest man, everybody is honest’ and vice versa. When people
assume they are similar to us, it is easy to judge them. We assume, for instance, that others
want the same in their jobs if we want challenge and responsibility.

➔ People tend to attribute their own characteristics to other people if they project their own
characteristics onto them. A manager’s involvement in a project compromises their ability to
adapt to individual differences.

➔ Managers tend to see people as more homogeneous than they actually are. Presentation
effects occur when the information we receive influences how we make decisions.

➔ In working toward a final decision, we often start with an initial value and adjust as we
progress. The human mind has a limited capacity for processing short-term information.

➔ Human minds are limited in their short-term information processing capacity, so

decision-makers tend to concentrate on the most important aspects of a situation to make
decisions.

➔ Even the most outrageously extreme anchors can unknowingly sway our judgments,
according to research.

7) Impression

➔ There is a popular saying that ‘the first impression is the last impression’. We frequently
form the impression of others at first sight. Even before knowing any of their personality
traits, they start having impressions and perceive thereby.

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➔ This sometimes leads to perceptual distortion. This error may create biases while
performing a performance appraisal.

8) Perceptual Set: Previously-held beliefs about objects influence an individual's perception

of similar objects. This is called a perceptual set. For example, a manager may have
developed general beliefs and attitudes that workers are lazy and shirkers, and that they want
whatever is possible from the organisation without giving their best to it. His or her
subsequent perceptions will be influenced by this set when he or she meets a group of
workers. The manager tends to interpret the behaviour of the workers according to his mental
set.

9) Self-fulfilling Prophecy: Self-fulfilling prophecy can be traced back to Greek mythology.

According to mythology, Pygmalion was a sculptor who hated women yet fell in love with an
ivory statue he carved of a beautiful woman. He became so infatuated with the statue that he
prayed to the goddess Aphrodite to bring her to life. The goddess heard his prayer, granted
his wish, and the statue came to life. The essence of self-fulfilling prophecy or Pygmalion
effect as it is often called, is that people's expectations or beliefs determine their behaviour
and performance, thus, serving to make their expectations come true.
Another dimension of self-fulfilling prophecy is that it occurs when our expectations about
another person cause that person to act in a way that is consistent with those expectations. In
other words, our perceptions can influence reality. If a supervisor believes a new employee
will not be able to perform the job, this expectation influences the supervisor's behaviour
towards the employee and without realising it, may cause the new hire to perform the job
poorly.
Consequently, the supervisor's perception, even if originally incorrect, is confirmed. It is for
this reason that employees are more likely to be victims of negative self-fulfilling prophecy
than benefactors of positive self-fulfilling prophecy. To block negative self-fulfilling
prophecy, firms need to fight negative stereotypes and avoid first impressions.
A Model of the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

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10) Illusions: Perception often provides false interpretation of sensory information. Such
cases are known as illusions, a term used by psychologists to refer to incorrect perceptions.
There are two types of illusions: those due to physical processes and those due to cognitive
processes.

Illusions due to distortion of physical conditions include mirages, in which an individual

perceives objects which are nonexistent, for example, water on a dry road.

Cognitive processes result in many illusions but the more common are shape illusions which
often result in unsettling consequences. Consider a real world example involving the
Poggendorf illusion (See Fig.). In this, a line disappears at an angle behind a solid figure,
reappearing the other side at what seems to be the incorrect position. It is reported that in
1965 two aeroplanes were about to arrive in New York city and because of the Poggendorf
illusion, they perceived that they were on a collision course. Both pilots changed their path to
correct for what they perceived as an error and thus collided. The result was four deaths and
49 injuries — all because of an illusion.

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Incorrect perceptions of the world around them may lead to problems for personnel. Budding
managers who flame out do so because they fail to read situations properly and act
accordingly. They develop poor working relationships, are too authoritarian, or have conflicts
with upper management. As a result, their careers come to a screeching halt. This could have
been avoided had they been able to correctly perceive what they should be doing and had the
emotional maturity and ability to make the necessary changes.

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