PERSONALITY

ORGANIZATIONALLY RELEVANT PERSONALITY TRAITS:Refer series - 80

PERCEPTION Syllabus: Nature of perception-characteristic of the perceiver, target, situation- perceptual problems.
NATURE OF PERCEPTION:Definition: According to Kolasa: Perception is the intellectual process by which a person acquires information from the environment, organizes it and obtains the meaning from it. According to Robbins: as a process by which individuals organize, and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environments. Characteristics / Features: Perception is a psychological process. It is a cognitive and intellectual function of the human brain. It forms and develops out of experiences. Perception satisfies needs. Perception is through the sensory organs, but interpretations are made by a psychological process. It is related more to the environment than personality.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PERCEIVER, TARGET, SITUATION:( if it comes as a essy question , if you want , you can explain barriers also).

Figure: Summary of the factors influencing perception

Characteristics of the Perceiver: Needs and Motives Self concept Post experience Psychological state Beliefs Expectations Situation Cultural upbringing Familiarity with target Attitudes (Mood) Cognitive Structure

Characteristics of the Target:Physical Appearance Similarity Behaviour Intentions Manner of communication status

Individuals Perception

Barriers:Halo effect Stereotyping Attribution Impression Inference Projection Implicit personality theory Perceptual set Self serving bias Selective perception.

Characteristics of the situation: Physical setting Social setting Organisational setting

Characteristics of the Perceiver: Needs and Motives: A need is a feeling of discomfort or tension when one things he is missing something or requires something. Unsatisfied needs or motives stimulate individuals and may exert a strong influence on their perception. When people are not able to satisfy their needs they are engaged in wishful thinking which is a way to satisfy their needs not in the real world but imaginary world. Motives also influence the perception of people. People who are devious are prone to see others as also devious. Self concept indicates how we perceive ourselves which then influences how we perceive others and the situation we are in. The more we understand ourselves, the more we are able to perceive others accurately. Example: Secure people tend to see others as warm and friendly. Less secure people often find fault with others. Past experience: Our perceptions are often guided by our past experiences and what we expect to see. A persons past experiences mould the way he perceives the current situation.

Self concept:

Current Psychological state: The psychological and emotional states of an individual are likely to influence how things are perceived. If a person is depressed, he is likely to perceive the same situation differently than if he is elated. Similarly, if a person is scared out of wits by seeing a snake in the garden, she is likely to perceive a rope under the bed as a snake. Beliefs: A persons beliefs influence his perception to a great extent. Thus, a fact is conceived not on what it is but what a person believes it to be. The individual normally censors stimulus inputs to avoid disturbances of his existing beliefs. Expectations affect the perception of a peson. Expectations are related with the state of anticipation of particular behaviour from a person. Example: A technical manager will expect that the non-technical people will be ignorant about the technical features of the product. Situation: Elements in the environment surrounding an individual like time, location, light, heat etc., influence his perception. The context in which a person sees the objects or events is very important. A persons ethics, values and his cultural upbringing also play an important role in his perception about others. It is difficult to perceive the personality of a person raised in another culture because our judgement is based upon our own values. Familiarity with target: When we are familiar with a person, we have multiple observations on which t base our impression of him or her. If the information we have gathered during these observations is accurate, we may have an accurate perception of the other person. Familiarity does not always mean accuracy, however. Sometimes, when we know a person well, we tend to screen out information that is inconsistent with what we believe the person is like. This is a particular danger in performance appraisals where the rater is familiar with the person being rated. Attitudes (Mood): The perceivers attitudes also affect social perception. Cultural upbringing:

Expectations:

Example : Some people feel that women are not capable of holding their own in though negotiations. Mood can have a strong influence on the way we perceive someone. We think differently when we are happy than we do when we are depressed. When in a Positive mood, we form more positive impressions. When in a negative mood we tend to evaluate others unfavourably. Cognitive Structure:An individuals pattern of thinking, also affects social perception. Some people have a tendency to perceive physical traits, such as height, weight, and appearance, more readily. Others tend to focus more on central traits or personality dispositions. Cognitive complexity allows a person to perceive multiple characteristics of another person rather than attending to just a few traits.

Characteristics of the Target / perceived / Perceive: a) Physical appearance: It plays a big role in our perception of others. The perceiver will notice the targets physical characteristics like Height, Weight, Appearances, Estimated Age, race, Gender, Manner of Communication as well as personality traits and other forms of behaviour. Clothing says a great deal about a person. Example 1: Blue pin-striped suits are decoded to mean baking or Wall Street. Perceivers tend to notice physical appearance characteristics that contrast with the norm, that are intense, or that are new or unusual. A loud person, one who dresses out landishly, a very tall person, or a hyperactive child will be noticed because he or she provides a contrast to what is commonly encountered. Example 2: Loud people are more likely to be noticed in a group than are quite ones. Example 3: So too are extremely attractive or extremely ugly individuals. Example 4: People who are novel can attract attention. Example 5: Newcomers or minorities in the organization are examples of novel individuals. Physical attractiveness often colors our entire impression of another person. Interviewers rate attractive candidates more favourably, and attractive candidates are awarded higher starting salaries. People who are perceived as physically attractive face stereotypes as well. b) Similarity:-

 Persons, objects or events that are similar to each other tend to be grouped together. People dressed in business suits are generally thought to be professional, while employees dressed in ordinary work clothes are assumed to be lower level employees. c) Behaviour:d) Intentions: The intentions of the target are inferred by the perceiver, who observes the targets behaviour. Example: We may see our boss appear in our office doorway and think, Oh no! Shes going to give me more work to do. Or we may perceive that her intentions is to congratulate us on a recent success. In any case, the perceivers interpretation of the targets intentions affects the way the perceiver views the target. e) Manner of communication:Manner of communication, both Verbal and Non-verbal, affect our perception about others. Verbal communication: We listen to the topics they speak about, their voice tone, and their accent and make judgement based on this input. The choice of words and precision of language can from impressions about the education and sophistication of the person. Non-verbal Communication: It conveys a great deal of information about the target. Eye contact, Facial expressions, Body movements, and posture al are deciphered by the perceiver in an attempt to form an impression of the target. The tone of voice indicates the mood of the person. The depth of conversation and choice of topics provide clues of peoples intelligence. The body language or expressive behaviour such as how a person sits and the movement of his eyes or a smile can indicate whether he is nervous or self confident. Some nonverbal signals mean very different thing in different cultures. Example : The okay sign in the United States (forming a circle with the thumb and forefinger) is an insult in South America. Facial expressions, however, seem to have universal meanings. Individuals from different cultures are able to recognize and decipher expressions the same way. f) Status: The Status or Occupation of a person also influence the perception.

 We tend to behave in a more respectful way when we are introduced to the principal of a school in which our child is studying, judge of the high court or a famous cricket player. Sometimes our perception of a person tends to be biased, depending upon the description given to us by other persons. When we meet a person who is described to us as warm and friendly, we treat him differently as compared to meeting a person who is known to be cold and calculating. Characteristics of the Situation: The situation in which the interaction between the perceiver and the target takes place has an influence on the perceivers impression of the target. The surrounding environment and the elements present in it influence our perception while perceiving a particular situation or event, its physical, social and organisational setting can also influence the perception. a) Physical Setting: Location of a given even is also very important factor in determining the behaviour. Example 1:- A conversation with the boss taking place in a causal reception area may be perceived differently than when taking place in the bosss office with the door closed. b) Social setting: The social context of the interaction is a major influence. Example: Meeting a professor in his or her office affects your impression in a certain way that may contrast with the impression you would from had you met the professor in a local restaurant. In japan, social context is very important. Business conversations after working hours or at lunch are taboo. If you try to talk business during these times, you may be perceived as rude. The strength of situational cues also affects social perception. Discounting principle: the assumption that an individuals behaviour is accounted for by the situation. Example: You may encounter an automobile salesperson who has a warm and personable manner, asks about your work and hobbies, and seems genuinely interested in your taste in cars. This person is trying to sell you a car, and in this particular situation he or she probably treats all customers in this manner. So his behaviour cannot reflects his original personality because, he has influenced by the situation. c) Organisational setting: Organisational setting also affect the behaviour of the people. An organization setting where people are given an opportunity to interact in a friendly and sociable work situation, they become more trustworthy and less defensive. Conclusion:- The characteristics of the perceiver, the target, and the situation all affect social perception.

Perceptual Problems/Distortions:
Distortions or problems in perception are those elements that come in the way of proper understanding. Frequently, individuals misunderstand situations due to a number of reasons. Distortions in perception, which arise because different individuals understand things in a different manner, are very common. They are due to number of factors, such as physical conditions, personality of the perceiver, the environment and are presented below: 1. Halo Effect: The halo effect uses a single personality trait in an individual to draw a general meaning about him. The single trait influences the judgement of the other characteristics of the individual. The halo effect has important implications for evaluation of employee in an oranisation. It may have a positive or negative effect. Example: A good looking employee may be considered to be smart, whereas in actual fact, he may be the opposite. Here, his facial features influence the understanding of him in a positive manner. 2. Stereotyping: Stereotyping is judging a person based on the characteristics of the group to which they belong. In the process of stereotyping, individual characteristics are overlooked. This causes an error in the understanding, as certain important traits are not considered. Example 1: The Japanese are perceived as industrious, Americans are perceived as materialistic, Indians are perceived as democratic etc. Example 2: If an employee is frequently seen in a group of productive workers, he is likely to be judged as a productive worker, where he may in fact be spoiling the productive group. The advantage of stereotyping is that it helps the perceiver to simplify a complex situation, but the disadvantage is that people are perceived as members of a group, rather than individuals. 3. Attribution: Attribution is explaining behaviour by a cause and effect relationship. It is an important factor in perception, because it creates a tendency to look at identical behaviour differently. Example 1: If two students arrive late for class, they may give different explanations. While one uses the excuse that train was late, the other uses the excuse of ill health. In this case, a teacher is likely to show more concern for the second student.

 Example 2: two workers do not perform a given task. One worker cites ill health as the reason, while the other worker says the poor quality of the raw materials prevented him from doing he job. The supervisor is likely to show sympathy for the first person and look on the second as a work evader, even if the raw materials are really of poor quality. Here the supervisor is unable to accept that the fault was his , as he supplied poor quality materials. 4. Impression: Formulating certain ideas about others even before knowing their personality traits is known as impression. It leads to perceptual distortions The first impression lasts longer unless it is contradicted by the information received later. Example: If a worker is seen to be very serious in his work, when he first joins the organisation, his superior has a favourable impression about him. Later, even if the worker slackens off, the superior may not believe it unless he experiences it for himself. 5. Inference: Inference refers to drawing judgements based on information. The right inference requires complete information; otherwise, an inference based on limited information can lead to a wrong inference or judgement. This leads to a perceptual error. Example: A finance manager making an investment decision without obtaining complete information bout the available investment opportunities is likely to make a wrong choice, and ther result would be a loss. 6. Projection: Projection takes place when a person assigns his own personal attributes to others. In projection, the perceiver assumes that others have the same characteristics as himself. Therefore, a person is likely to be judged based on the traits of the person making the Moreover , people like to anticipate future events. In this case, the projections are based

judgement. on expectations, which are sometimes far from the reality. Thus, an error is caused if the anticipated events do not materialize. Example 1: An honest person is likely to assume that others are also honest, and deals Example 2: A production manager who was promoted due to his hard work and with them in that way. However, in reality, all people do not have the same degree of honesty. sincerity, will expect his workers to be as hardworking as he is and is likely to develop an authoritarian style of supervision. 7. Implicit personality theory:

 In judging an making inferences about others, an individuals perceptions are influenced by his belief that certain human traits are associated with one another. Example: The trait honesty is associated with hardworking. All hardworking people are perceived to be honest. 8. Perceptual Set: A perceptual set means previously held beliefs about an objects influence on individual perception of similar objects. Example: A manager may have developed the general belief and attitude that workers are lazy and shirkers and that they want to gain whatever is possible from the organization without giving their best to it. His subsequent perception will be influenced by this set when he meets a group of workers. The manager tends to interpret the behaviour of the workers according to his mental set. 9. Self serving bias: When we make judgements about the behaviour of other people, we have a tendency to underestimate the influence of external factors and overestimate the influence of internal factors. This is called the fundamental attribution error. There is also a tendency for individuals to attribute their success to internal factors like ability or effort while putting the blame for failure on external factors like luck. This is called self serving bias. Therefore, incorrect decisions are possibly based on erroneous attributions resulting in misconceptions. 10. Selective perception: Perceptual Selectivity refers to the tendency to select certain objects from the environment. The objects which are selected are those which are relevant and appropriate for an individual or those which are consistent with his existing beliefs, values and needs. It works as a short cut in judging other people. It enable the perceiver to screen out others, but in this there is a risk of drawing an inaccurate picture. Because we se what we want to see, we can draw unwarranted conclusions from an ambiguous situation. (Barriers of the perception or Barriers of the social perception, both are same) STRATEGIES FOR IMPROVING PERCEPTUAL SKILLS / (OVERCOMING BARRIERS TO PERCEPTION / HOW TO MAKE PERCEPTION EFFECTIVELY):-

There are certain perceptual errors and distortion because of which a person may not perceive the thing or another person, as it may be. Though these errors cannot be altogether removed, attempt could be made to minimize these distortions. A few strategies for improving perceptual skills are : Knowing Oneself Accurately: One should be aware of his or her values, beliefs and prejudices. People normally misperceive others because they fail to perceive themselves accurately. The more accurately a person understands himself, the more accurately he can perceive others. The concept of Johari window must be applied by people so as to increase awareness about self and others. Emphatise with others: Empathy skills can also be developed over a passage of time by proper feedback system and by close interaction and working. By emphatizing with other person, one can perceive the other individual more aptly. Make effort to have a positive attitude and should not let out personal biases to crop in and hinder the perceptual powers. Postpone Impression Formation: A much better strategy is to postpone the impression formation until more information about the individual and the situation is collected. Communicating openly: Utmost care should be taken, so that the message reaches the right person, at the right time and in the right manner. Proper transmission of information followed by appropriate feedback can help minimize perceptual distortions. Comparing ones perception with that of others: Compare ones own perception with the perception of the other person about the same object. By sharing perceptions se come across different point of views and potentially gain a much better understanding of the situation and the object. Introducing diversity management Programs: Organizational workforce is so diverse with language differences, religious differences and cultural differences that it becomes really hard to make the employees work together in an effective manner. The biggest challenge in front of the management in to minimize perceptual bias and benefit from such diversity. Have a positive Attitude:

Use training programs which may help in communication the value of diversity. Help the participants acquaint with one another. Provide them room to mix with one another with different backgrounds. These training programs mainly increase the employees awareness of difference and thus help in minimizing perceptual biases and distortions.