Perception & Cognition

By Jayati Singh
Sep 16, 2008
We will broadly cover….

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What is Cognition ?

In psychology, it refers to an information processing

view of an individual's psychological functions.
Other interpretations of the meaning of cognition link it
to the development of concepts; individual minds,
groups, organizations, and even larger coalitions of
entities, can be modeled as societies which cooperate to
form concepts

"understanding and trying to make sense of the world".

What is Perception ?
Perception is the cognitive process of attaining awareness
Or understanding of sensory information.

The key to understanding perception is that –It is a unique

Interpretation of the situation , not an exact recording of it.
The Sub processes of Perception
Confrontation

Registration

Interpretation

Feedback

Behavior (eg rushing off or change in attitude)

Consequence(eg reinforcement/punishment)
Why is Perception Important?
“ Perceived reality, not actual reality is the key to understanding
behavior. How we perceive others and ourselves is at the root of our
actions and intentions.

Understanding the perceptual process and being aware of it

complexities is essential for developing insights into managing
others. The words we use and the body language we display
communicates our view of the world. The power of the perceptual
process in guiding our behavior needs to be unpacked
and understood for effective relationships with
others. ”
Perception………..
Perception…….
Application to OB
 When applied to OB, employee perception can be thought of as a “filter”
 Each employee has a Unique Filter
 Thus, the same situation/stimuli may produce different reactions/ behaviors

 It is mainly important in
6. Interviews
7. Performance Expectations
8. Performance Evaluation
9. Employee Effort
External Attention Factors in
Selectivity/ Factors in the Target

Numerous stimuli are constantly confronting

everyone, so what do people notice
 Intensity

 Size
 Contrast
 Repetition
 Motion
 Novelty & Familiarity
Internal Factors in Selectivity/Factors
in the Perceiver

People will select out stimuli based on their

 Learning
 Motivation
 Personality

 "Better keep yourself clean and bright; you are the

window through which you must see the world. -George
Bernard
Factors in the Situation

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Perceptual Organization
 Whereas Perceptual selectivity is concerned with external &
internal variables that gain an individual’s attention , perceptual
organization focuses on what takes place in the perceptual process
once the information from the situation is received
2. Figure Ground is usually considered to be a basic form perceptual
organization
3. Perceptual Grouping
4. Perceptual Constancy
5. Perceptual Context
FIGURE AND GROUND ILLUSION
FIGURE AND GROUND ILLUSION

The "figure and ground" illusion is commonly experienced when one

gazes at the illustration of a black vase the outline of which is created
by two white profiles.
At any moment one will be able to see either the black vase (in the
centre area) as "figure" or the white profiles on each side (in which
case the black is seen as "ground").
The fluctuations of figure and ground may occur even when one fails
deliberately to shift attention, appearing without conscious effort.
Seeing one aspect apparently excludes seeing the other.
Perceptual Grouping

 Closure: Bases on the gestalt principle which says person will

sometimes perceive a whole when none exist. Person's perceptual
process will close the gaps that are unfilled by sensory inputs.
Perceptual Grouping

2. Closure: For example, head of a project team may take

the view that the entire team agrees to his plan of action
whereas there are differing views among the team
members, which remains unarticulated in a formal
manner.
Perceptual Organization
2. Continuity –An individual tend to perceive continuous
lines/patterns. This leads to inflexible thinking on the
part of organizational members (both managers and
employees). Thus, only the obvious, continuous patterns
or relationships are perceived. For example, a new
design for some production process or product may be
limited to obvious flows or continuous lines/patterns.
New innovative ideas or designs may not be perceived.
Perceptual Organization

3. Proximity- states that the

group of stimuli that are
close together will be
perceived as a whole pattern
of parts belonging together.
For eg. Due to physical
proximity of some
employees they may be
regarded as a group & in
case of bad performance all
these may be branded as
poor while this group may
include some good, loyal,
dedicated workers.
Perceptual Organization

4.Similarity –in dressing etc may brand employees as

groups –danger of stereotyping. Eg. Minority or women
may be regarded as a group while each employee may
be different This might also lead to perceptual error
termed as stereotyping.
Perceptual Organization

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde

Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the
ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is
taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae.
The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll
raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the
huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef,
but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?
Perceptual Organization
 Perceptual Constancy: A More sophisticated form of
perceptual organization .Provides stability in a
changing world. Main role is played by learning. For eg
Snow appears white in the low illumination moonlight
as well as 800,000 times bright sunlight.
 In spite of the changes in the appearance of the dog
moving toward you from a distance, you still perceive
the shape as that of a dog (shape constancy) no matter
the angle from which it is viewed.
Perceptual Organization

Perceptual Context:

 Most sophisticated form of perceptual organization

 The organization culture & structure provide the
primary context in which employees do their perceiving
A Simple Question

The Gestalt principle of ______________ suggests that

objects that are near one another are likely to be grouped
together.

C) Similarity
D) continuity
E) proximity
F) closure
A Simple Question

Q Your ability to identify a penny as being a penny

regardless of the angle at which the penny is presented
to you is best described by:

A) figure-ground relations.
B) monocular depth cues.
C) the Gestalt principle of continuity.
D) perceptual constancies.
Social Perception

 Stereotyping: It is the belief that all members of a

specific groups share similar traits and behavior. Most
often, a person is put into a stereotype because the
perceiver knows only the overall category to which the
person belongs. However, because each individual is
unique, the real traits of the person are generally quite
different from those that stereotype would suggest.
Social Perception

 Halo effect: Under halo effect, a person is perceived on

the basis of a single trait. It generally occurs during
performance appraisal where the supervisor rates an
employee on the basis of only one trait e.g. intelligence,
punctuality, cooperativeness appearance etc.

Opposite is Horn’s Effect

Social Perception

 Projection: It is the tendency of seeing one’s own traits in

others. Thus, individuals project their own feelings,
personality characteristics attitudes, or motives onto
others. Projection may be especially strong for
undesirable traits that the perceivers possess but fail to
recognize in themselves. People whose personality traits
include stinginess, obstinacy, and disorderliness tend to
rate others higher on these traits than do people who do
not have these traits.
Social Perception- Attribution Theory

 Attribution refers to how people explain the

cause of other’s or own behavior
 Conclusions about factors that influence one
another’s behavior
Attribution Theory

 The theory divides the way people attribute causes to

events into two types.
2. "External" or "situational" attribution assigns
causality to an outside factor, such as the weather.
3. "Internal" or "dispositional" attribution assigns
causality to factors within the person, such as their
own level of intelligence or other variables that make
the individual responsible for the event.
 Attribution Theory
Example of OB poor Type of information/ Attribution
performance of subordinate observation Made

Coworkers are also performing

High Consensus
poorly on this task

The subordinate does not do

Externa
Low Consistency
well on this task only one time period l
The subordinate does well on High Distinctiveness
other tasks but not this one

Coworkers are performing Low Consensus

very well on this task
Internal
The subordinate does not do High Consistency
well on this task at any time

The subordinate does poorly on

other tasks as well Low Distinctiveness
Attribution Theory
Please make a note of this……