The document discusses perception and the perception process. It defines perception as how individuals organize and interpret sensory impressions to make meaning of their environment. It then presents a model of the perception process, which includes receiving stimuli, selecting stimuli based on various external and internal factors, organizing the selected information, interpreting the organized information by assigning meaning, checking the interpretation, and reacting. Some of the key external factors that influence selection include intensity, size, contrast, repetition, motion, and novelty. Internal factors include learning, psychological needs, interests, and expectations. The document provides examples for many of these concepts.

1. Perception
ASSIGNMENT 2
Perception
Organization Behavior
Dr. D. Gopala Krishna
TITLE: A Study on Pragmatic Approaches and
Quality Initiatives for Enhancing Teachers’ Caliber
in
Post Graduate Institutes offering MBA Programme
under Bangalore University
Under the Guidance of
Dr. T.V. Raju
Director, RV Institute of Management, Bangalore
CANARA BANK SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES
BANGALORE UNIVERSITY
SUBMITTED BY
Shivananda R Koteshwar
PhD Research Scholar, 2013, REG# 350051
Shivananda
R
Koteshwar,
PhD
Research
Scholar,
Bangalore
University

2. Perception
1. Define Perception
Perception is a process by which individual organize and interpret their sensory
impressions (touch, sight, taste, smell and sound) in order to give meaning to their
environment.
Sometimes what one perceives can be completely different from objective reality.
Perceptions lead to conditioning of mind. E.g.: What is seen is influenced by
perception, environment and object
Factors in the perceiver: Attitudes, Motives, Interests, Experience, Expectations
Factors in the target: Novelty, Motion, Sounds, Size, Background, Proximity,
Similarity
Factors in the situation: Time, Work setting, Social setting
2. Explain perception process with a model
As per psychology, the process of perception is Receiving, Selecting, Organizing,
Interpreting, Checking and Reacting to stimuli. The perceiver and the situation
influence these processes.
Receiving: The perception process starts with the reception of stimuli. The stimuli are
received from the various sources. Through the five organs, we see things/objects,
hear sounds, smell, taste and touch things. In this way, the reception of stimuli is a
Shivananda
R
Koteshwar,
PhD
Research
Scholar,
Bangalore
University

3. Perception
physiological aspect of perception process. Stimuli May be external and also internal.
External – sound, video etc and Internal –digestive system, Secretion of hormones etc
Selection: People, in their everyday life cannot assimilate all what they observe or
receive from the environment at a time. Hence, they select some stimuli for further
processing to attach meaning to them while the rest is screened out. Any characteristic
that makes a person, object or event stand out will increase the probability that it will
be perceived. As it’s impossible for us to assimilate everything we see-only certain
stimuli can be taken in. Because we cannot observe everything going on about/around
us, we engage in selection perception. The process of filtering information received
by our senses is called selecting stimuli or selective attention. Selection of stimuli is
not made at random, but depending on the two types of factors, namely external
factors and internal factors (1) External Factors: The external factors influencing
selection are nature, location, intensity, size, contrast, repetition, motion, novelty and
familiarity. (2) Internal Factors: Internal factors influencing selection of stimuli
include learning, psychological needs, age differences, interests, ambivalence, and
paranoid perception.
Organizing: Having selected stimuli or data, these need to be organized in some form
so as to assign some meaning to them. Thus, organizing the bits of information into a
meaningful whole is called “organization”. There are three ways by which the
selected data i.e., inputs are organized. These are (1) Grouping, (2) Closure (3)
Simplification
Interpreting: The data collected and organized remain meaningless for the perceiver
till these are assigned meanings. Assigning meanings to data is called ‘interpretation’.
The process includes Perceptual Set, Attribution, Stereotyping, Halo Effect,
Perceptual Context, Perceptual defense, implicit personality theory and projection.
Checking: The interpreted data next goes through the process of checking. Checking
can be done either by introspection or by checking about the interpretation with the
others.
Reacting: Action is the last phase in the perceptual process. The action may be
positive or negative depending upon favorable perception held by the perceiver.
3. What factors influence the selection process? Discuss with
examples
People, in their everyday life cannot assimilate all what they observe or receive
from the environment at a time. Hence, they select some stimuli for further
processing to attach meaning to them while the rest is screened out. Any
characteristic that makes a person, object or event stand out will increase the
probability that it will be perceived. As it’s impossible for us to assimilate
everything we see-only certain stimuli can be taken in. Because we cannot
observe everything going on about/around us, we engage in selection perception.
The process of filtering information received by our senses is called selecting
stimuli or selective attention.
Shivananda
R
Koteshwar,
PhD
Research
Scholar,
Bangalore
University

4. Perception
Selection of stimuli is not made at random, but depending on the two types of
factors, namely external factors and internal factors
a. External Factors: The external factors influencing selection are nature,
location, intensity, size, contrast, repetition, motion, novelty and
familiarity
b. Internal Factors: Internal factors influencing selection of stimuli include
learning, psychological needs, age differences, interests, ambivalence, and
paranoid perception.
Nature: Visual or Audio: visual information is more easily remembered
overall and hence better selected because vision, has more reference points in
the memory.
E.g.: For recognition, people have an amazing ability to store complex
visual information and to recognize and discriminate old from new
pictures at retention intervals of days.
Location: Based on what stimuli you get where the object is located leads to
higher acceptance.
E.g.: A billboard in Bangalore will
carry
much
higher
billboard
rental
rates
than the suburbs as number
of
consumers
who
will
have
an
opportunity
to
see
the
billboard
will
be
much
more
Intensity: Higher intensity are perceived more than the objects with low
intensity
E.g.: A loud noise, strong odor or bright light or bright colors will be
more readily perceived than soft sound, weak odor or dim light. It is
because of this advantage that advertisers employ intensity to draw the
consumers' attention.
Size: The size of the object or stimulus has a greater impact on the perception
process because the size influences attention and recognition in a more
effective manner.
E.g.: A Great Dane dog which is tall attracts the attention. At the same
time a pocket dog also attracts attention because of its size. However,
generally the larger the object the more likely it will be perceived.
Contrast: This states that the external stimuli that stand out against the
background or which people are not expecting. Contrast effect can distort
perceptions. We don’t evaluate a person in isolation. Our reaction to one
person is influenced by other persons we have already encountered.
E.g.: In the interview situation when an interviewer sees a pool of job
applicants, distortions in any given candidate’s evaluation can occur as
a result of his/her place in the interview schedule. A candidate is
likely to receive a more favorable evaluation if preceded by mediocre
Shivananda
R
Koteshwar,
PhD
Research
Scholar,
Bangalore
University

5. Perception
applicants and a less favorable evaluation if preceded by strong
applicant.
Repetition: Repeated stimuli have more impact on performances than a single
statement. Repetition has the advantage of being attention catching
E.g.: Repetition is a frequently employed advertising tactic. It is not
uncommon to see an ad or a shortened version of it repeated within the
context of a single television program. The reason for repeating an ad
maybe to in-crease its persuasive impact, to increase the recall of the
information contained in it, or to enhance brand name recall.
Motion: The factor of motion implies that the individuals attend to changing
objects in their field of vision than to static objects
E.g.: Advertisers involve signs, which include moving objects in their
campaigns. At an unconscious level the animals in the jungles make
use of this principle. A tiger lying in wait is motionless until his prey is
nearer him and then jumps at an appropriate moment
Novelty & Familiarity: A novel object in the familiar situation or a familiar
object in a novel situation tends to attract attention.
E.g.: a
white
person
or
a
black
person
in
India
catches
attention
faster.
Job
rotation
is
another
example
of
this
principle.
Recent
research
indicates
that
job
rotation
not
only
increased
attention
but
also
employees'
acquisition
of
new
skills.
Learning: People tend to perceive what they want to perceive
Usually people will miss the double “THE” in the above sentence.
We tend to see what we want to see
Psychological Needs: Habits die-hard and therefore individuals perceive
objects, situations and conditions differently according to their habits
E.g.: A Hindu will bow and do Namaskar when he sees a temple while
walking on road, because of his well-established habit. These are
several instances in life settings where individuals tend to react with
the right response to the wrong signals. Thus a retired soldier may
throw himself on the ground when he hears a sudden burst of car tire.
Shivananda
R
Koteshwar,
PhD
Research
Scholar,
Bangalore
University

6. Perception
Age differences: Age has a direct influence on the perception process. The
age of the individual has an impact on the perception process
E.g.: In China, if you have an older colleague working with you on the
team, as per the culture, the older colleague will always be given an
opportunity to present his point of view and he/she will be given that
stature only based on their age and their experience that comes with
age
Ambivalence: Person having mixed feelings about the situation affects the
selection process
E.g.: A survey was conducted across people of different political
parties, religions, races, and a host of other demographic categories
feel about a government role in guaranteeing heath insurance and the
Affordable Care Act. The results may be troubling the democrats. The
survey results declared that 37% of respondents felt that individuals
should take responsibility of their own insurance, while 40% of them
felt that government should take the responsibility of the insurance.
This ambivalence has an effect on the government to decide the right
policy in-line with people’s expectations.
Paranoid Perception: The person is so selective that he can find little
common ground for communication with others i.e. emotionally disturbed
person perceptual field differs from that of most other persons.
E.g.: A person with a working model of anxious/preoccupied
attachment feels that in order to get close to someone and have their
needs met; they need to be with the partner all the time and get
reassurance. To support this perception of reality, they choose
someone who is isolated and hard to connect with. The person with a
working model of dismissive/avoidant attachment has the tendency to
be distant, because their model is that the way to get your needs met is
to act like you don’t have any. He or she then chooses someone who is
more possessive or overly demanding of attention. In a sense, they set
themselves up by finding partners that confirm their models.
Shivananda
R
Koteshwar,
PhD
Research
Scholar,
Bangalore
University