This chapter discusses key concepts related to perception and attribution. It defines perception as how people select, organize and respond to information. Perception involves observation, selection, organization, interpretation and response. Common perceptual errors include stereotyping, halo effect, and projection. The chapter also defines attribution as how people understand the causes of behaviors. Attributions can be internal or external. Frequent attribution errors include the fundamental attribution error and self-serving bias.

1. Chapter 5
Understanding Perceptions and Attributions
q The Perceptual Process* (esp. Figure 3.1, p. 68)
q Perceptual Selection*
q Person Perception*
q Perceptual Errors*
q Attributions: Perceived Causes of Behavior*
q Exercise: Truth or Consequences?
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2. Perception
q Definition: The process by which people select,
organize, interpret, and respond to information
from the world around them.
s Perception (consciously and unconsciously) involves
searching for, obtaining, and processing information in
the mind in an attempt to make sense of the world
q Selection and organization often account for
differences in interpretation/perception between
individuals observing the same stimuli
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3. Basic Elements in the Perceptual Process*
(See Figure 3.1, page 68)
Observation
Environmental * Taste * Smell
Stimuli * Hearing * Sight
* Touch
Perceptual Selection Perceptual
* External factors
Organization
* Internal factors
* Perceptual grouping
Interpretation Response
* Perceptual errors * Covert
* Attributions * Overt
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4. Concepts Manifest in the Princeton Case
q Selective Screening: the process by which people filter
out most information so they can deal with the most
important matters
q Perceptual Set: an expectation of a perception based on
past experience with the same or similar objects
q Pollyanna Principle: the notion that pleasant stimuli are
processed more efficiently and accurately than unpleasant
stimuli; an effect of motivation on perception
q Perceptual Grouping: tendency to form individual stimuli
into a meaningful pattern by continuity, closure, proximity,
or similarity
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5. Person Perception
q Definition: the process by which individuals
attribute characteristics or traits to other people;
closely related to attribution
q Implicit personality theories: personal beliefs
about the relationships among other’s physical
characteristics, personality traits, and specific
behaviors
q Impression Management: the attempt people
make to manipulate or control the impressions
others form about them
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6. Common Perceptual Errors
q Perceptual defense: the tendency for people to protect
themselves against ideas, objects, or situations that are
threatening
q Stereotyping: the tendency to assign attributes to someone
solely on the basis of the category of people, of which that
person is a member
q Halo effect: the process by which the perceiver evaluates
another person solely on the basis of one attribute, either
favorable or unfavorable
q Projection: the tendency for people to see their own traits in
others
q Expectancy effects: extent to which expectations bias how
events, objects, and people are actually perceived
s Self-fulfilling prophecy: expecting certain things to happen will
shape the behavior of the perceiver in such a way that the expected
is more likely to happen
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7. Nature of the Attribution Process*
q Definition: The ways in which people come to understand
the causes of their own and others’ behaviors
q Most often an unconscious process (i.e., people are not
normally aware of making attributions)
q People are constantly attributing the behavior of themselves
and others to either internal (i.e., personal) or external
(i.e., situational) causes.
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8. The Attribution Process
Antecedents-- •Information
factors internal •Beliefs
to the perceiver •Motivation
•Perceived external
Attributions made by the perceiver or internal causes
of behavior
•Behavior
Consequences for the perceiver •Feelings
•Expectations
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9. Theory of Causal Attributions
Consistency
s Does person usually Ye
Ye s
behave this way in
this situation?
Distinctiveness
External Attribution Does person behave Internal Attribution
No
(to person’s situation) Yes differently in different (to person’s disposition)
situations?
Consensus
Ye
s Do others behave No
similarly in this
situation?
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10. Frequent Attribution Errors*
q Fundamental Attribution Error = overestimating the
personal causes for other’s behavior while underestimating
the situational causes
q Self-Serving Bias = attributing personal success to internal
factors and personal failure to external factors
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