Perception is the process by which individuals select, organize and interpret their sensory impressions to give meaning to their environment. It involves receiving sensory input, filtering information, and interpreting stimuli. There are several factors that influence perception, including culture, gender, age, and prior experiences. Perception is learned and subjective, so no two people perceive the world in exactly the same way. Attribution theory seeks to understand how people assign causes to behaviors they observe in others or themselves. When making attributions, observers consider factors like distinctiveness, consensus, and consistency. Perception and attribution impact many aspects of organizational behavior, such as employee hiring, performance reviews, and impression management.

4. Perception

5. DEFINITION
A process by which individuals select, organize and
interpret their sensory impression in order to give meaning to
their environment.

6.  Receive and
make sense
 Filter

7. Perceiving the World
Seeing
Hearing
Feeling
Smelling
Tasting

8. Chapter 6
Perception and Attribution
1. Sensation
– An individual’s ability to
detect stimuli in the
immediate environment.
2. Selection
– The process a person
uses to eliminate some
of the stimuli that have
been sensed and to
retain others for further
processing.
3. Organization
– The process of placing selected
perceptual stimuli into a
framework for “storage.”
4. Translation
– The stage of the perceptual
process at which stimuli are
interpreted and given meaning.

9. Chapter 6
Perception and Attribution
Perceptions - Creating Our World
Stimuli
See
Hear
Feel
Conscious /
unconscious mind
Beliefs
Knowledge
Habit
Taught
FILTERS

10. Chapter 6
Perception and Attribution
Attractive or Ugly Woman?
An Ambiguous Figure — a
duck or a rabbit
An Ambiguous Figure — a
kneeling woman or a man’s
face

11. Chapter 6
Perception and Attribution

12.  Social
perception is
directly
concerned
with how one
individual
perceives
other
individuals :
how we get to

13.  Employee’s perception is
thought of as “filter”
 Perception is largely
learned and no one has
same learning experience
 Every employee has unique
filter

14. Learning Principle (tend to perceive what they want )

15. Principle of Similarity
Principle of Proximity (tendency to
perceive stimulai which are near one
another as belonging together)
The Principle of
Closure

16.  Selective Perception
People selectively interpret what they see on
the basis of their interests, background,
experience and attitude.
16

17. OBJECT vs BACKGROUND

18. Figure-Ground Perception
 In most visual scenes, we pick out objects and
figures, standing out against a background.
 Some art muddles this ability by giving us two equal
choices about what is figure and what is “ground”:

19.  Culture
 Gender
 Age
 Education
 Language
 Political Viewpoint
 Socio-economic

20.  Halo Effect
When we draw a general impression about an
individual on the basis of a single characteristic, such
as intelligence, sociability or appearance.
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21.  Projection
Attributing one’s own characteristics to other people.
e.g. If you want challenge and responsibility, you assume …... Or, you
are honest and trustworthy , ……
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22.  Stereotyping
Judging someone on the basis of one’s perception of the
group to which that person belongs.
Common Stereotypes may be based on-
Nationality
Occupation
Age
Physical Attributes
Education
Social Status
Gender
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23. Attribution:
 Individual assigns causes to the
behaviour

24. Attribution Theory:
 Fritz Heider and H. H. Kelly
 Observe behaviour and then attribute causes
 Behaviour is caused internally ( by forces within the
person e.g., ability) or externally ( by the forces in
the person’s environment; e.g., task)

25. 25
FACTORS OF THE ATTRIBUTION
THEORY
 Distinctiveness
 Consensus
 Consistency

26. Distinctiveness
It is the degree to which a person behaves similarly
in different situations
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27.  Consensus
If everyone who is faced with a similar situation
responds in the same way, we can say the behavior
shows consensus.
e.g. If all the employees who took the same route to
work were also late.
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28.  Consistency
Finally, an observer looks for consistency in a
person’s actions. Does the person respond the
same way over time ?
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29. The Attribution Process
Rules of Attribution

30. Perception and OB
 Helps understand the difference between perceived
world and real world
 Plays decisive role in employee hiring
 Key role in performance appraisal
 Helps determine loyalty of employees
 Treating employees under Theory Y
 Key role in impression management