ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

PERCEPTION AND FACTORS IMPACTING

PERCEPTION

ASSIGNMENT #4

SUBMITTED TO: MADAM IFFAT CHAUDARY

SUBMITTED BY: IRSHAD HUSSAIN

REGISTRATION NO: 1432-210069

DATE: 3 August 2010.

 PERCEPTION AND FACTORS IMPACTING PERCEPTION

Perception: Perception is a process by which individuals organize and interpret their

sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment.

Factors that influence perception: Usually individuals may look at the same thing yet
perceive it differently.
Three types of factors influence perception.
1. Factors in the perceiver.
2. Factors in the situation.
3. Factors in the target.

1. Factors in the perceiver

• Attitudes
• Motives
• Interests
• Expectations
• Motives
• Experience

Individuals look at the target and attempt to interpret what he sees, that interpretation is
heavily influenced by the personal characteristics of the individual perceiver. Personal
characteristics that affect perception include a person’s attitudes, personality, motives,
interests, past experiences, and expectations.
For Example, We expect police officer to be authoritative, young people to be lazy,
women to talkative, you may perceive them as such, regardless of their actual traits, you
may perceive them as such, regardless of their actual traits.

2. Factors in the target

• Novelty
• Motion
• Sounds
• Size
• Background
• Proximity
• Similarity

Characteristics of the target we observe can affect what we perceive. Loud people are
more likely to be noticed in a group than quiet ones. So, too, are extremely attractive or
unattractive individuals. Because we don’t look at targets in isolation, the relationship of
a target to its background also influences perception, as does our tendency to group close
things are similar things together.
For example, women, people of color, or members of any other group that has clearly
distinguishable characteristics are often perceived as alike in other, unrelated ways as
well.

3. Factors in the situation

• Time
• Work setting
• Social setting

The context in which we see objects or events is also important. The time at which we see
an object or event can influence attention, as can location, light, heat, or any number of
situational factors.
For example, at a night club on Saturday night, you may not a young guest dressed in
nines. Yet that same person so attired for your Monday morning management class would
certainly catch your attention. Neither the perceiver nor the target changed between
Saturday night and Monday morning, but the situation is different.