CHAPTER 6
Individual Perception and Decision Making
Perception: a process by which individuals organize and interpret their
sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment.
However, what we perceive can be substantially different from objective
reality.
People’s behaviour is based on their perception of what reality is, not on
reality itself. The world as it is perceived is the world that is behaviourally
important.
A number of factors operate to shape and sometimes distort perception.
These factors can reside in the perceiver; in the object, or target, being
perceived; or in the context of the situation in which the perception is
made.
- Perceiver Your interpretation is heavily influenced by your
personal characteristics – your attitudes, personality, motives,
interests, past experiences, and expectations.
- Target Characteristics of the target also affect what we perceive.
The relationship of a target to its background also influences
perception, as does our tendency to group close things and similar
things together.
- Situation The time at which we see an object or event can
influence our attention, as can location, light, heat, or any number
of situational factors.
Attribution theory: tries to explain the ways in which we judge people
differently, depending on the meaning we attribute to a given behaviour.
It suggests that when we observe an individual’s behaviour, we attempt to
determine whether it was internally or externally caused. This depends
largely on three factors.
Internally caused behaviours: those an observer believes to be under
personal behavioural control of another individual.
Externally caused behaviours: what we imagine the situation forced
the individual to do.
1. Distinctiveness: refers to whether or not an individual displays
different behaviours in different situations. If the behaviour is
unusual, we are likely to give an external attribution.
2. Consensus If everyone who faces a similar situation responds in
the same way, we can say the behaviour shows consensus.
3. Consistency Does the person respond the same way over time.
Distinctiveness High External
Low Internal
, Individual Consensus High External
Behaviour
Low Internal
Consistency High Internal
Low External
When we make judgements about the behaviour of other people, we tend
to underestimate the influence of external factors and overestimate the
influence of internal or personal factors Fundamental attribution
error.
Individuals and organizations also tend to attribute their own successes
ton internal factors, while blaming failure on external factors. People also
tend to attribute ambiguous information as relatively flattering and accept
positive feedback while rejecting negative feedback Self-serving bias.
Any characteristic that makes a person, an object, or an event stand out
will increase the probability we will perceive it. Because we can’t observe
everything going on about us, we engage in selective perception.
Selective perception: allows us to “speed-read” others, but not without
the risk of drawing an inaccurate picture.
Halo effect: when we draw a general impression about an individual on
the basis of a single characteristic.
Contrast effect: we don’t evaluate a person in isolation. Our reaction is
influenced by other persons we have recently encountered.
Stereotyping: when we judge someone on the basis of our perception of
the group to which he belongs.
Research suggests stereotypes operate emotionally and often below the
level of conscious awareness, making them hard to challenge and change.
One problem of stereotypes is that they are widespread and often useful
generalizations, though they may not contain a shred of truth when
applied to a particular person or situation.
Decisions: choices from among two or more alternatives.
Decision making occurs as a reaction to a problem.
Problem: a discrepancy exists between the current state of affairs and
some desired state, requiring us to consider alternative courses of action.
Awareness that a problem exists and that a decision might or might not be
needed is a perceptual issue.
Every decision requires us to interpret and evaluate information.
Individual Perception and Decision Making
Perception: a process by which individuals organize and interpret their
sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment.
However, what we perceive can be substantially different from objective
reality.
People’s behaviour is based on their perception of what reality is, not on
reality itself. The world as it is perceived is the world that is behaviourally
important.
A number of factors operate to shape and sometimes distort perception.
These factors can reside in the perceiver; in the object, or target, being
perceived; or in the context of the situation in which the perception is
made.
- Perceiver Your interpretation is heavily influenced by your
personal characteristics – your attitudes, personality, motives,
interests, past experiences, and expectations.
- Target Characteristics of the target also affect what we perceive.
The relationship of a target to its background also influences
perception, as does our tendency to group close things and similar
things together.
- Situation The time at which we see an object or event can
influence our attention, as can location, light, heat, or any number
of situational factors.
Attribution theory: tries to explain the ways in which we judge people
differently, depending on the meaning we attribute to a given behaviour.
It suggests that when we observe an individual’s behaviour, we attempt to
determine whether it was internally or externally caused. This depends
largely on three factors.
Internally caused behaviours: those an observer believes to be under
personal behavioural control of another individual.
Externally caused behaviours: what we imagine the situation forced
the individual to do.
1. Distinctiveness: refers to whether or not an individual displays
different behaviours in different situations. If the behaviour is
unusual, we are likely to give an external attribution.
2. Consensus If everyone who faces a similar situation responds in
the same way, we can say the behaviour shows consensus.
3. Consistency Does the person respond the same way over time.
Distinctiveness High External
Low Internal
, Individual Consensus High External
Behaviour
Low Internal
Consistency High Internal
Low External
When we make judgements about the behaviour of other people, we tend
to underestimate the influence of external factors and overestimate the
influence of internal or personal factors Fundamental attribution
error.
Individuals and organizations also tend to attribute their own successes
ton internal factors, while blaming failure on external factors. People also
tend to attribute ambiguous information as relatively flattering and accept
positive feedback while rejecting negative feedback Self-serving bias.
Any characteristic that makes a person, an object, or an event stand out
will increase the probability we will perceive it. Because we can’t observe
everything going on about us, we engage in selective perception.
Selective perception: allows us to “speed-read” others, but not without
the risk of drawing an inaccurate picture.
Halo effect: when we draw a general impression about an individual on
the basis of a single characteristic.
Contrast effect: we don’t evaluate a person in isolation. Our reaction is
influenced by other persons we have recently encountered.
Stereotyping: when we judge someone on the basis of our perception of
the group to which he belongs.
Research suggests stereotypes operate emotionally and often below the
level of conscious awareness, making them hard to challenge and change.
One problem of stereotypes is that they are widespread and often useful
generalizations, though they may not contain a shred of truth when
applied to a particular person or situation.
Decisions: choices from among two or more alternatives.
Decision making occurs as a reaction to a problem.
Problem: a discrepancy exists between the current state of affairs and
some desired state, requiring us to consider alternative courses of action.
Awareness that a problem exists and that a decision might or might not be
needed is a perceptual issue.
Every decision requires us to interpret and evaluate information.
