Chapter 6

Perception and
Decision Processes
 After studying this chapter
you should be able to:
1. Define perception, and explain the factors that influence it.
2. Explain attribution theory, and describe the common
shortcuts used in judging others.
3. Explain the link between perception and decision making.
4. Contrast the rational model of decision making with
bounded rationality and intuition.
5. Identify the common decision biases or errors.
6. Explain how individual differences and organizational
constraints affect decision making.
7. Contrast the three ethical decision criteria.
8. Define creativity, and discuss the three-stage model of
creativity.
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 Perception
(Nhận thức)

What Is Perception?
 The process by which individuals organize and interpret
their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to
their environment.
(Quá trình, trong đó các cá nhân thiết lập và diễn giải
cảm giác của họ để hình thành ý nghĩa cho môi trường
xung quanh.)

6-5
 Perception
(Nhận thức)

Why Is It Important?
 Because people’s behavior is based on their perception of
what reality is, not on reality itself.
(Hành vi con người đều dựa trên sự nhận thức của họ
vể hiện thực, chứ không dựa trên bản thân thực tiễn.)
 The world as it is perceived is the world that is
behaviorally important.

6-5
 Factors Influencing Perception
The Situation The Perceive
(Tình huống) (Người nhận thức)

• Time • Attitudes
• Motives
• Work setting
Perception • Interests
• Social setting • Experience
• Expectations

The Target
(Mục tiêu nhận thức)
• Novelty
• Motion
• Sounds
• Size
setting: bối cảnh • Background
novelty: sự mới mẻ/ khác lạ
proximity: khoảng cách • Proximity
 Perceptual Grouping

The law of nearness/proximity (luật lân cận) – all other things

being equal, stimuli that are near each other tend to be
grouped together

The law of similarity (luật tương tự)– stimuli that are similar in
size, color, shape, or form tend to be grouped together

The law of closure (luật liên kết)– the tendency to complete a

figure, so that it has a consistent overall form

The law of figure and ground (luật hình và nền)– the

tendency to group sensations into figures and backgrounds
Figure and ground
Figure and ground
What's that in the middle?
What's that in the middle?
What's that in the middle?
 Person Perception:
Making Judgments about Others ( Phán đoán người khác):
Attribution Theory (Thuyết quy kết)
Perception & judgment of others:
influenced by assumption of other person’s internal state
 When individuals observe behavior, they attempt to
determine (“attribute”) the cause of the behavior:
Example: A colleague does not do his share of the work,
you assume
 he is lazy, selfish, incompetent (internal cause) OR
 his boss asked him to do some other work (external cause)

 Internalcauses : personal cause (nguyên nhân chủ quan)

 External causes: situational cause (nguyên nhân khách quan)
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 Attribution Theory
(Thuyết quy kết)

Causation judged through (determinants of attribution):

Distinctiveness (Sự khác biệt)
 IF he acts the same way in other situations
 THEN we assume the behavior is internally caused

Consistency (Sự nhất quán)

 IF he has acted like this for a long period of time
 THEN we assume the behavior is internally caused

Consensus (Sự nhất trí)

 IF other people in the same situation behave the same
way… does everyone else do this?
 THEN we assume the behavior is externally caused16
 Determination of Attribution
(Elements of Attribution Theory)

Observation Interpretation Attribution of cause

(quan sát) (diễn giải) (quy kết nguyên nhân)
 Determination of Attribution
(Elements of Attribution Theory)

Observation Interpretation Attribution of cause

(quan sát) (diễn giải) (quy kết nguyên nhân)

Distinctiveness High
(Frequently)
(sự khác biệt) External
Does this person behave in
this manner in other Lo w Internal
situation? (Seldom)

High
Consensus (Frequently)
Individual (sự nhất trí) External

behavior
Do other persons behave Internal
r na l
Lo w
in this same manner? (Seldom)

High
Consistency (Frequently)
Internal
(sự nhất quán)
Does this person
Lo w External
behave in this same (Seldom)
manner at other time?
 Determination of Attribution
(Elements of Attribution Theory)

Observation Interpretation Attribution of cause

Customer has
High
complained about Distinctiveness (Frequently)
External
John
He received similar
complaints when he worked Lo w Internal
at other company (Seldom)

High
Consensus (Frequently)
External
Individual
behavior There are no complaints Internal
r na l

about other employee Lo w

(Seldom)
Internal attribution
(John’s behavior is High
mainly from internal Consistency (Frequently)
Internal
cause)
Complaints about him
have been coming in Lo w External
steady (Seldom)
 Errors and Biases in Attribution
(Sai lầm & định kiến trong quy kết)

Fundamental Attribution Error (lỗi quy kết bản chất)

 The tendency
• overestimating the personal causes for other’s
behavior while underestimating the situational causes
 We blame people first, not the situation

Self-Serving Bias (định kiến tự đề cao)

 The tendency for individuals
• attributing personal success to internal factors and
personal failure to external factors
 It is “our” success but “their” failure
 Common Shortcuts in Judging Others
(Perceptual Errors)
Selective Perception (nhận thức có chọn lọc)
 People selectively interpret what they see based on
their interests, background, experience, and attitudes.
 Examples:
o Someone considering buying a certain brand of car is
more likely to notice ads about that car than someone
who is neutral to the brand.
o A smoker might filter out a photo of a diseased lung

Halo Effect (hiệu ứng hào quang)

 Drawing a general impression about an individual
based on a single characteristic.
 Example:
o Your overall impression of a person ("He is nice!")
impacts your evaluations of that person's specific
traits ("He is also smart!")
 Common Shortcuts in Judging Others
(Perceptual Errors)
 Contrast Effects (hiệu ứng tương phản)
 A person’s evaluation is affected by comparisons with
other individuals recently encountered.
 When two things appear close to one another, we will
tend to evaluate them against one another more than
against a fixed standard
 Contrast Principle: Example

The dark circle on the right side appears to be larger

than the one of left, however they both are of same size
 Contrast Principle: Example

The dark circle on the right side appears to be larger

than the one of left, however they both are of same size
 Common Shortcuts in Judging Others
(Perceptual Errors)
Projection (sự phóng chiếu)
 Attributing one’s own characteristics to other people.
 Example: A person who is not energetic may see others as lazy.

Stereotyping (sự rập khuôn)

 Judging someone on the basis of your perception of the group to
which that person belongs.
 Example:
o If you say that all women like to cook, you are stereotyping
women
Prejudice (định kiến)
 An unfounded dislike of a person or group based on their
belonging to a particular stereotyped group.
 Example:
o Eddie thinks that meat eaters don't care about the environment,
which is (as we've already seen) a stereotype. But if he decides
that he doesn't like Jeff just based on the fact that Jeff eats
meat, then he is being prejudiced.
 The Link
Between Perception and Decision Making
(Mối liên kết giữa nhận thức và việc ra quyết định)

 Decision making occurs as a reaction to a

perceived problem
 Perception influences:
o Awareness that a problem exists
o The interpretation and evaluation of information
o Bias of analysis and conclusions

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Decision-Making Models in Organizations
(Các mô hình ra quyết địnhtrong tổ chức)

Rational Decision-Making (mô hình lý tính)

 The “perfect world” model: assumes complete information, all
options known, and maximum payoff.
 Six step decision-making process
Bounded Reality (lý tính có giới hạn)
 Managers make decisions rationally, but are limited (bounded)
by their ability to process information.
 The “real world” model: seeks satisfactory and sufficient
solutions from limited data and alternatives
Intuition (trực giác)
 A non-conscious process created from distilled experience that
results in quick decisions
 Relies on holistic associations
 Affectively charged – engaging the emotions
 Rational Decision-Making Model

 Steps in Rational decision-making model

1.
Define the
problem
1. Xác định vấn đề
6.
2.
2. Xác định các tiêu chí quyết định
Select the Identify the 3. Xác định trọng số cho từng tiêu chí
best alternative criteria
4. Phát triển các phương án
5. Phân tích các phương án và đánh giá
Making a Decision 6. Lưa chọn phương án tốt nhất
5.
3.
Evaluate the
Allocate weights
alternatives
to the criteria
4.
Develop
alternatives

 This model is seldom actually used: it’s more of a goal than a

practical method
 Assumptions of the Rational Decision-Making Model

Complete information
(thông tin đầy đủ)
o The problem is clear and unambiguous.

Known options
(xác định được tất cả các phương án phù hợp)
o The decision maker is able to identify all relevant
options in an unbiased manner.

Chooses the option with the highest utility

(lựa chọn phương án có mức hữu dụng cao)
 Bounded Rationality
(lý tính bị giới hạn)
 The limited information-processing capability of
human beings:
• impossible to assimilate (tiếp thu) and

• understand all the information necessary to

optimize
 People seek solutions that are satisfactory and
sufficient, rather than optimal (they “satisfice”) (đủ
tốt)

 Bounded rationality
• Constructs simplified models

• extract the essential features (đặc điểm cơ bản) from

problems
 Decision Making in Bounded Rationality

 Steps in Bounded Rationality decision-making model

1. Limited search for criteria (tiêu chí) and
alternatives (phương án):
familiar criteria and easily found alternatives
2. Limited review of alternatives:
focus on alternatives, similar to those already in
effect
3. Satisficing:
selecting the first alternative that is “good enough”
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 Intuitive Decision Making
(ra quyết định theo trực giác)

 Intuitive decision making:

 A non-conscious process created from distilled
experience (trãi nghiệm)
 Making decisions on the basis of experience, feelings,
and accumulated judgment
o Increases with experience
o Can be a powerful complement to rational analysis in
decision making
When used:
 High level of uncertainty
 Variables are less scientifically predictable.
 Analytical data are of little use.
 Time is limited.
…
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 Common Biases and Errors in Decision Making
(Những định kiến và sai lầm phổ biến trong việc ra quyết định)

Overconfidence Bias (định kiến quá tự tin)

 Believing too much in our own ability to make good decisions
 Examples:
 A person who thinks his sense of direction is much better than it
actually is. The person could show his overconfidence by going on a
long trip without a map and refusing to ask for directions if he gets lost
along the way.
Anchoring Bias (thiên kiến neo bám)
 Using early, first received information as the basis for making
subsequent judgments
 Examples:
 The initial price offered for a used car, set the standards for the rest of
the negotiation, so that prices lower than the initial price seem more
reasonable even if they are higher than what the car is really worth.
 Common Biases and Errors in Decision Making
Confirmation Bias (thiên kiến chứng thực)
 Selecting and using only facts that support our decision
 Example:
 An investor hears a rumor that a company is on the verge of
bankruptcy. Based on that information, the investor is considering
selling the stock. When he goes online to read the latest news about the
company, he tends to read only the stories that confirm the likely
bankruptcy scenario and he misses a story about the new product the
company just launched that is expected to perform extremely well.
Instead of holding the stock, he sells it at a substantial loss just before it
turns around and climbs to an all-time high.
Availability Bias (thiên kiến sẵn có)
 Emphasizing info. that is most readily at hand
 Example:
 When hypothesizing the cause of account fluctuations, managers may
readily recall the types of events they have personally experienced but
will have a harder time generating new ideas
 Common Biases and Errors in Decision Making
(Những định kiến và sai lầm phổ biến trong việc ra quyết định)
Escalation of Commitment (gia tăng cam kết)
 Staying with a decision even when there is clear evidence that
it is wrong
 Example:
 When an investor buys stock expecting the price to rise and then
continues to buy more and more as the price drops, they are escalating
their commitment. Instead of their original plan of investing $10,000,
they end up paying in much more in an attempt to make their original
decision right.

Risk Aversion (ác cảm rủi ro)

 Tendency to prefer a sure thing over a risky outcome
 Example:
 an individual may prefer to go with the investment that has the lowest
risks even though it may not bring in the most return. Those
individuals that tend to turn away from the uncertainties and risks are
known as risk averse individuals
 Common Biases and Errors in Decision Making
(Những định kiến và sai lầm phổ biến trong việc ra quyết định)

Hindsight Bias (thiên kiến nhận thức muộn)

 Tendency to believe falsely that we could have predicted the
outcome of an event after that outcome is already known
 After learning the outcome of an event, many people believe
they could have predicted that very outcome.
 Example:
 Three friends decide to bet on a horse race. One of them breaks from
the other two and chooses a white horse with very low winning odds,
saying that he has a good feeling about that horse. The white horse ends
up winning, prompting the friend to claim he’d been certain of the
outcome.
Organizational Constraints on Decision Making
(những ảnh hưởng đến quá trình ra quyết định)

Performance Evaluation (đánh giá công việc)

 Managerial evaluation criteria influence actions

Reward Systems (hệ thống khen thưởng)

 Managers will make the decision with the greatest
personal payoff for them
Formal Regulations (các quy định chính thức)
 Limit the alternative choices of decision makers

System-imposed Time Constraints

(sức ép về thời gian đặt ra cho hệ thống)
 Restrict ability to gather or evaluate information
Historical Precedents (tiền lệ)
 Past decisions influence current decisions
 Ethics in Decision Making
(vấn đề đạo đức khi ra quyết định)

Ethical Decision Criteria (các tiêu chí ra quyết định

mang tính đạo đức)
 Utilitarianism (thuyết vị lợi)
Based on outcome-Seeking the greatest good for
the greatest number
 Rights (quyền lợi)
Decisions consistent with fundamental liberties
and privileges
 Justice (công bằng)
Imposing and enforcing rules fairly and
impartially so that there is equal distribution of
benefits and costs
 Creativity in Organizations

 Creativity: The ability to produce novel

(mới lạ) and useful ideas

 Creativity is important because

o See problems others can’t see
o Better understand the problem
o Identify all viable alternatives
o Identify alternatives that aren’t readily apparent

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Three-Stage Model of Creativity
in Organizations
 Causes of Creative Behavior

 Cause of creative behavior:

1. Creative potential
 Expertise (năng lực chuyên môn) is the
single most important predictor of
creative potential
2. Creative environment
 Motivation
 Rewards and recognition
6-41
 Creative Behavior

Steps:
1. Problem formulation: identify a problem or
opportunity that requires a solution as yet
unknown
2. Information gathering: possible solutions
incubate in an individual’s mind
3. Idea generation: develop possible solutions
from relevant information and knowledge
4. Idea evaluation: evaluate potential solutions
and identify the best one 6-42
 Creative Outcomes

 Creative outcomes: ideas or solutions judged to

be novel and useful by relevant stakeholders
“Ideas are useless unless used”
Creative ideas are more likely to be used
when
• The individual was motivated to translate the
idea into practice
• Conducive organizational climate
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 Implications for Managers

 Behavior follows perception, so to influence employee

behavior at work, assess how employees perceive their
work.
 Make better decisions by recognizing perceptual biases
and decision-making errors we tend to commit
 Adjust your decision-making approach to the national
culture you’re operating in and to the criteria your
organization values.
 Combine rational analysis with intuition.
 Try to enhance your creativity.
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 Keep in Mind…

1. People have inherent biases in perception and

decision making
 Understanding those biases allows for better
prediction of behavior
2. Biases can be helpful
 Managers must determine when the bias may be
counterproductive
3. Creativity aids in decision making
 Helps to appraise, understand, and identify
problems
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 Summary

1. Defined perception and explained the factors that influence it.

2. Explained attribution theory, and described the common
shortcuts used in judging others.
3. Explained the link between perception and decision making.
4. Contrasted the rational model of decision making with
bounded rationality and intuition.
5. Identified the common decision biases or errors.
6. Explained how individual differences and organizational
constraints affect decision making.
7. Contrasted the three ethical decision criteria.
8. Defined creativity and discussed the three-stage model of
creativity.
6-46
1) ________ is the process by which individuals organize and interpret
their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment.
A) Cognitive dissonance B) Environmental analysis
C) Social verification D) Emotional labor E) Perception

2) David is of the opinion that people who drive SUVs are dangerous
drivers. He often thinks that people driving SUVs are driving rashly, even
when other observers can see nothing wrong with the behavior of the SUV
drivers. What factor is affecting his perception in this case?
A) his interests B) his personality C) his expectations
D) his motives E) his attitude

3) Ideally, ________ would be an objective process; however, it is largely

influenced by one's ________.
A) judging; perceptions
B) perceiving; decision making
C) decision making; biases
D) decision making, perceptions
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E) perceiving; biases
4) Business schools generally train students to follow ________ decision-
making models.
A) Intuitive B) convolutional
C) Rational D) bounded rationality E) sequential

5) ________ is a highly complex and highly developed form of reasoning that

is based on years of experience and learning.
A) Contrast effect B) Halo effect C) Intuition D) Selective perception
E) Emotional intelligence

6) From the 1930s through the mid-1980s, General Motors consistently gave
promotions and bonuses to managers who kept a low profile and avoided
controversy. This is an example of which of the following organizational
constraints?
A) performance evaluation
B) reward systems
C) formal regulations
D) system-imposed time constraints
E) historical precedents 6-48
7) In the ethical yardstick of ________, decisions are
made solely on the basis of their outcomes, ideally to
provide the greatest good for the greatest number.
A) utilitarianism
B) self-serving bias
C) bounded rationality
D) selective perception
E) anchoring bias

8) Which of the following traits does a decision maker

need to have if they are to fully appraise a problem and
even see problems that others are not aware of?
A) creativity
B) rationality
C) conceptual style
D) intuition
E) individuality
6-49