Perceptions and Attributions

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Perceptions and Attributions
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Perception and Attribution

• Are things as they appear to us?
• How fallible are we in perceiving the world
  around us?
• How much do our assumptions about events and
  people affect the decisions we make and the
  actions we take?

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What do you see?
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What do you see?
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What do you see?
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What do you see?
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Other Illusions
Very Cool Illusion
Induced Motion
Michael Bachs Optical Illusions
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The Perception Process
There is a difference between reality and
our perceptions of it others most likely see the
world differently from you!
Reality
Stimuli
Sensation
Perception
Behavioral Response
Selecting, organizing, interpreting
stimuli from environment
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What affects the perceptual process?

• Characteristics of stimuli
• Characteristics of perceivers
• Social and physical context
• How we cognitively organize stimuli

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Characteristics of stimuli

• Movement
• Familiarity
• Repetition
• Ambiguity

• Intensity
• Size/Status
• Contrast
• Novelty

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Characteristics of perceivers

• Learning style
• Attitudes
• Values
• Motivation

• Internal states or moods
• Experiences
• Needs
• Personality

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Social and Physical Context

• Noise
• Temperature
• Salience or importance of setting to individual

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Cognitive Organization of Stimuli

• Categorization or stereotyping
• Mental maps or schemas
• Figure-ground
• Closure
• Similarity
• Proximity

• Halo or horn effect
• Projection
• Self-fulfilling prophecy
• Perceptual defense
• Selective perception (or Ill see it when I
  believe it.

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The Attribution Process
Behavior Occurs
Observe Behavior
Determine the intent of the behavior
Assign Reason for Behavior
Unintended-- Due to luck or chance
Personal Cause
Situational Cause
We make attributions about the causes or reasons
for someones behaviors, consciously or
unconsciously
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How do we use information to make internal vs.
external attributions?
Consistency is high Distinctiveness is
high Consensus is high
Attribution ofexternal causes
Consistency is high Distinctiveness is
low Consensus is low
Attribution of internal causes
Consistency is low
Attribution of eitherexternal or internalcauses
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Would you make an internal or external
attribution for Employee 1s performance?
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Would you make an internal or external
attribution for Employee 1s performance?
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Would you make an internal or external
attribution for Employee 1s performance?
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Attribution Biases

• Fundamental attribution bias overestimate
  internal causes of others behaviors and minimize
  the situational reasons, especially with regard
  to poor performance
• Self serving bias tendency to take personal
  credit for successes and blame situations for our
  failures

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Attributions of Marginal Performance
Poor Performance of Others Lack of Ability
30 Lack of Effort 49 Lack of Support 21
Poor Performance of Self Lack of Ability
3 Lack of Effort 8 Lack of Support 89
From Schermerhorn, Gardner, Martin (1990)
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Impression Management Tactics
Behavioral matching
Self-promotion
Conforming to norms
Flattering others
Being consistent
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How can we use knowledge about perceptions and
attributions to manage people?

• Have a high level of self-awareness when making
  judgments about other people (i.e., dont
  over-rely on automatic information processing)
• Seek multiple sources of information
• Recognize and work on your own biases and those
  you manage
• Watch out for cross-cultural differences
• Have empathy for others