Perception

• Is the process people see, think and

attach meaning to the happenings around
(observation – selection – organizing –
interpretation – response)
• Is the process by which all people limit
their views of the world
• Is a complex process, persons make
interpretations of the stimulus or situation
they are faced with
• Externally, selectivity is affected by
intensity, size, contrast, repetition,
motion, novelty, familiarity
• Internally, perceptual sensitivity is
influenced by the
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individual’s motivation, 1
Dr Ashutosh N Misal
 Motives
Expectations Aspirations
Goals/
Needs Purposes/
Reasons

Wants Past
Experiences

Personality
Culture
Capabilities
Social factors

Environments Economic factors

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 Perceptual Sensitivity – Internal and External Factors

• Intensity – loud noise, strong odour, bright light,

loud speaking e.g. advertisements
• Size – more maintenance for smaller machine (?), 6’
3”, full page ads
• Contrast – stimuli that stands out against
background, familiarity of place for training, harsh
sound of machines for experienced worker
• Repetition – advertisements repeatedly released, he
is bad 10 times
• Motion – more attention to moving objects than
stationary
• Personality and Perception – senior-cool, junior-
hot 05:10
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PM woman-top
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• Perceptual Defense – a psychological process
that involves subconsciously screening out large
blocks of information that threaten the person’s
beliefs and values
• Perceptual grouping – the perceptual
organization process of placing people and objects
into recognizable and manageable patterns or
categories
• Mental models – the broad world views or
“theories-in-use” that people rely on to guide their
perceptions and behaviours. E. g. attending a lecture/
seminar, assumptions, expectations etc
• Social Identity Theory – explains self
perception and social perception in terms of
our unique characteristics (personal identity)
as well as membership in various social
groups (social identity) e.g. association with
a particular group,
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graduation from a
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university etc
 Perceptual Errors
• Stereotyping (Pigeonholing/
is the process of using
compartmentalization)
a few observable characteristics to
assign people to a preconceived social
category, and then assigning less
observable traits to those people based
on their membership in the group.
• E.g. Professors are absent-minded,
• This person is a professor,
• This person is absent minded

• Female
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 Perceptual Errors
• Prejudice – unfounded negative
emotions toward people belonging to a
particular stereotyped group e.g. fat
people too lazy etc
• Sexual harassment – unwelcome
conduct of a sexual nature that
detrimentally affects the work
environment or leads to adverse job-
related consequences for its victims
• Attribution Theory – a perceptual
process whereby we interpret the
causes of behaviour in terms of the
person (internal attributions) or the
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 Perceptual Errors
• Fundamental attribution error – the tendency to
incorrectly attribute the behaviour of other people to
internal more than to external factors. Some problem with him, we
have given all facilities
• Self-serving bias – a perceptual error whereby people
tend to attribute their own success to internal factors and
their failures to external factors
• Self-fulfilling prophecy – a phenomenon in which an
observer’s expectations of someone causes that person
to act in a way that is consistent with the observer’s
expectation. Eg not writing name in papers
• Primacy effect – a perceptual error in which we quickly
form an opinion of people based on the first information
we receive about them
• Recency effect – a perceptual error in which the most
recent information dominates our perception about the
person
• Halo error – a perceptual error whereby our general
impression of a person, usually based on one prominent
characteristic,
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biases our
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perception of other
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characteristics of that person.
 Remedies to avoid perceptual errors
• Understand the limitations of personal
knowledge and perception
• Gather full and right information. Insure
exchange and availability of good quality
information
• Avoid instant judgments about people ,
organizations, service
• Build expectations on knowledge and
understanding that halo effects,
stereotyping etc
• Ensure open relationship encouraging
discussions, debate, exchange of thoughts
• Develop self awareness and
understanding
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People Service
• appearance, dress, hair, • friendliness
handshake • effectiveness
• voice, eye contact • speed
• scent, smell

Impressions
First
• quality
• disposition (positive, • confidence
negative, • value
smiling, frowning) • respect
• establishing common interest/ • ambience
failure • appearance
to do so
• courtesy, manner
•Object
age Organization
• design • ambience
• colour • welcome
• weight • appearance
• shape • image and impression
• size • technology
• materials • care
• purpose, usage • respect for others
• price, value, cost • confidence
• trust
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 Summarily Factors affecting Perception
• Closure • Selective focus
• Proximity • Distortion
• Intensity
• • Repetition
Attribution
• Situational factors • Familiarity
• Confidence • Authority,
• Past history responsibility and
• Trapping and position
furnishings • Emotions
• The messenger
• Levels of
• Language
• recognition
Fashions and fads
• Social regard • Visibility
• Human response • Comparison
• first impressions
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• Expectations
 Impression Management
• Impression management is the deliberate
'bending' of the truth in order to make a
favorable impression. Managing impression
includes deliberate use of any or all of: Dress,
make-up, hairstyle and other management of
visual appearance, Manner and general
behavior, such as being pleasant, assertive, and
so on
• Managing body language to conceal anxieties
or untruths and show openness, Being
economic with the truth, not telling lies but also
not revealing the whole truth, Exaggeration or
complete fabrication of things that make you
look good, Downplaying or denial of negative
factors that make you look bad
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• Impression management not only
happens, it is expected to happen. This
can cause a dilemma where the
interviewer either marks you down for
not managing impression sufficiently
(for example not being smart enough or
not being assertive enough) or
managing it too much (low-cut dresses,
boasting, exaggeration).

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• Do manage the impression you make, but do
not over-do it (and do not under-do it either).
• Dress tidily (eg. suit and tie) but not over-
doing it (eg. bow tie, frock coat).
• Show respect, but show neither aggression
nor timidity.
• Do not offer any outright lies.
• Notice your body language, but do not over-
control it.
• Show your experiences in a positive light, but
do not over-exaggerate.
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Body language comes in clusters of signals and postures, depending
on the internal emotions and mental states. Recognizing a whole
cluster is thus far more reliable than trying to interpret individual
elements.
• Aggressive body language: Showing physical threat
• Bored body language: Just not being interested
• Closed body language: Many reasons are closed
• Deceptive body language: Seeking to cover up lying or other deception
• Defensive body language: Protecting self from attack
• Emotional body language: Identifying feelings
• Evaluating body language: Judging and deciding about something
• Open body language: Many reasons for being open
• Power body language: Demonstrating one's power
• Ready body language: Wanting to act and waiting for the trigger
• Relaxed body language: Comfortable and unstressed
• Romantic body language: Showing attraction to others
• Submissive body language: Showing you are prepared to give in
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