What makes perception a unique process

One is to engage in a form of preemptive self-serving attributional bias, where we claim an external factor that may reduce our performance, ahead of time, which we can use if things go badly.

For example, in a job interview or before giving a presentation at work, Veronica might say she is not feeling well and ask the audience not to expect too much from her because of this.

Another method of self-handicapping is to behave in ways that make success less likely, which can be an effective way of coping with failure, particularly in circumstances where we feel the task may ordinarily be too difficult. For instance, in research by Berglas and Jones , participants first performed an intelligence test on which they did very well.

It was then explained to them that the researchers were testing the effects of different drugs on performance and that they would be asked to take a similar but potentially more difficult intelligence test while they were under the influence of one of two different drugs. The participants were then given a choice—they could take a pill that was supposed to facilitate performance on the intelligence task making it easier for them to perform or a pill that was supposed to inhibit performance on the intelligence task, thereby making the task harder to perform no drugs were actually administered.

Berglas found that men—but not women—engaged in self-handicapping: they preferred to take the performance-inhibiting rather than the performance-enhancing drug, choosing the drug that provided a convenient external attribution for potential failure.

This finding is consistent with the general gender differences we have talked about in many places in this book: on average, men are more concerned than women about using this type of self-enhancement to boost their self-esteem and social status in the eyes of themselves and others. You can see that there are some benefits but also, of course, some costs of self-handicapping.

If we fail after we self-handicap, we simply blame the failure on the external factor. But if we succeed despite the handicap that we have created for ourselves, we can make clear internal attributions for our success. Engaging in behaviors that create self-handicapping can be costly because doing so makes it harder for us to succeed.

Although self-handicapping would seem to be useful for insulating our feelings from failure, it is not a good tack to take in the long run. They also tend to set goals that they believe they can attain, and to regularly make some progress toward reaching them. As the saying goes, being on the journey is often more important than reaching the destination. Abramson, L. Learned helplessness in humans: Critique and reformulation.

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Implicit theories of intelligence predict achievement across an adolescent transition: A longitudinal study and an intervention. Child Development, 78 1 , — Blascovich, J. Challenge and threat appraisals: The role of affective cues. Forgas Ed. Boyer, W. Accentuate the positive: The relationship between positive explanatory style and academic achievement of prospective elementary teachers. Cacioppo, J. The need for cognition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42 , — Dornbusch, S.

The perceiver and the perceived: Their relative influence on the categories of interpersonal cognition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1 5 , — Duncan, B. Psychotherapy, 31, Fletcher, G. Attributional complexity: An individual differences measure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51 4 , — Henry, P.

Life stress, explanatory style, hopelessness, and occupational stress. International Journal of Stress Management, 12, —;. Hirt, E. Response salience in the work environment is easily identified. A worker who is tired from many hours of work may be acutely sensitive to the number of hours or minutes until quitting time. Employees negotiating a new contract may know to the penny the hourly wage of workers doing similar jobs across town. Managers with a high need to achieve may be sensitive to opportunities for work achievement, success, and promotion.

Finally, female managers may be more sensitive than many male managers to condescending male attitudes toward women. Response salience, in turn, can distort our view of our surroundings. For example, as Ruch notes:. Time spent in interesting work is usually underestimated. Judgment of time is related to feelings of success or failure. Subjects who are experiencing failure judge a given interval as longer than do subjects who are experiencing success. A given interval of time is also estimated as longer by subjects trying to get through a task in order to reach a desired goal than by subjects working without such motivation.

Response Disposition. Whereas response salience deals with immediate needs and concerns, response disposition is the tendency to recognize familiar objects more quickly than unfamiliar ones. The notion of response disposition carries with it a clear recognition of the importance of past learning on what we perceive in the present.

For instance, in one study, a group of individuals was presented with a set of playing cards with the colors and symbols reversed—that is, hearts and diamonds were printed in black, and spades and clubs in red. Surprisingly, when subjects were presented with these cards for brief time periods, individuals consistently described the cards as they expected them to be red hearts and diamonds, black spades and clubs instead of as they really were.

They were predisposed to see things as they always had been in the past. Thus, the basic perceptual process is in reality a fairly complicated one. Several factors, including our own personal makeup and the environment, influence how we interpret and respond to the events we focus on.

Although the process itself may seem somewhat complicated, it in fact represents a shorthand to guide us in our everyday behavior. That is, without perceptual selectivity we would be immobilized by the millions of stimuli competing for our attention and action. The perceptual process allows us to focus our attention on the more salient events or objects and, in addition, allows us to categorize such events or objects so that they fit into our own conceptual map of the environment.

NUMMI , they had a great idea. Both cars would be essentially identical except for minor styling differences. Economies of scale and high quality would benefit the sales of both cars. Unfortunately, General Motors forgot one thing. The North American consumer holds a higher opinion of Japanese-built cars than American-made ones. As a result, from the start of the joint venture, Corollas have sold rapidly, while sales of Geo Prizms have languished. With hindsight, it is easy to explain what happened in terms of perceptual differences.

That is, the typical consumer simply perceived the Corolla to be of higher quality and perhaps higher status and bought accordingly. Perception was that main reason for lagging sales; however, the paint job on the Prizm was viewed as being among the worst ever. Meanwhile, demand for the Corolla exceeded supply. The final irony here is that no two cars could be any more alike than the Prizm and the Corolla.

They are built on the same assembly line by the same workers to the same design specifications. They are, in fact, the same car. The only difference is in how the consumers perceive the two cars—and these perceptions obviously are radically different. Over time, however, perceptions did change.

While there was nothing unique about the Prizm, the vehicle managed to sell pretty well for the automaker and carried on well into the s. The Prizm was also the base for the Pontiac Vibe, which was based on the Corolla platform as well, and this is one of the few collaborations that worked really well.

Sources: C. Up to this point, we have focused on an examination of basic perceptual processes—how we see objects or attend to stimuli. Based on this discussion, we are now ready to examine a special case of the perceptual process— social perception as it relates to the workplace. Social perception consists of those processes by which we perceive other people.

Particular emphasis in the study of social perception is placed on how we interpret other people, how we categorize them, and how we form impressions of them. Clearly, social perception is far more complex than the perception of inanimate objects such as tables, chairs, signs, and buildings. This is true for at least two reasons. First, people are obviously far more complex and dynamic than tables and chairs.

More-careful attention must be paid in perceiving them so as not to miss important details. Second, an accurate perception of others is usually far more important to us personally than are our perceptions of inanimate objects.

The consequences of misperceiving people are great. Failure to accurately perceive the location of a desk in a large room may mean we bump into it by mistake. Failure to perceive accurately the hierarchical status of someone and how the person cares about this status difference might lead you to inappropriately address the person by their first name or use slang in their presence and thereby significantly hurt your chances for promotion if that person is involved in such decisions.

Consequently, social perception in the work situation deserves special attention. We will concentrate now on the three major influences on social perception: the characteristics of 1 the person being perceived, 2 the particular situation, and 3 the perceiver.

When taken together, these influences are the dimensions of the environment in which we view other people. It is important for students of management to understand the way in which they interact see Figure. The way in which we are evaluated in social situations is greatly influenced by our own unique sets of personal characteristics. That is, our dress, talk, and gestures determine the kind of impressions people form of us. In particular, four categories of personal characteristics can be identified: 1 physical appearance, 2 verbal communication, 3 nonverbal communication, and 4 ascribed attributes.

Physical Appearance. A variety of physical attributes influence our overall image. The subtle changes in pressure against your skin that allow you to feel objects occur without a single thought. Perception acts as a filter that allows us to exist and interpret the world without becoming overwhelmed by the abundance of stimuli.

In order to see the impact of perception, it can be helpful to look at how the process works. This varies somewhat for every sense. In the case of visual perception:. The perceptual process allows you to experience the world around you and interact with it in ways that are both appropriate and meaningful.

Take a moment to think of all the things you perceive on a daily basis. At any given moment, you might see familiar objects in your environment, feel the touch of objects and people against your skin, smell the aroma of a home-cooked meal, and hear the sound of music playing in your next-door neighbor's apartment. All of these things help make up your conscious experience and allow you to interact with the people and objects around you.

There are some things that you can do that might help you perceive more in the world around you—or at least focus on the things that are important.

The perceptual process does not always go smoothly and there are a number of things that may interfere with perception. Perceptual disorders are cognitive conditions that are marked by an impaired ability to perceive objects or concepts.

Some disorders that may affect perception include:. Some of these conditions may be influenced by genetics while others result from stroke or brain injury. Interest in perception dates back to the time of the ancient Greek philosophers who were interested in how people know the world and gain understanding.

As psychology emerged as a science separate from philosophy , researchers became interested in understanding how different aspects of perception worked, particularly the perception of color. In addition to understanding the basic physiological processes that occur, psychologists were also interested in understanding how the mind interprets and organizes these perceptions.

The Gestalt psychologists proposed a holistic approach, suggesting that the sum equals more than the sum of its parts. Cognitive psychologists have also worked to understand how motivations and expectations can play a role in the process of perception.

Today, researchers also work to investigate perception on the neural level and look at how injury, conditions, and substances might affect perception. Ever wonder what your personality type means? Sign up to find out more in our Healthy Mind newsletter. Perceptual vigilance on the other hand takes place when we, as consumers find ourselves in a position where we pay more attention to advertisements that meet our current needs and wants.

While advertisements surround us on a day-to-day basis, we tune out those that are irrelevant or ill-suited to our particular situations. Maximizing exposure with the intent to become noticed and make a strong impression on consumers is the reason why brands might engage in guerilla marketing.

This form of marketing is often unconventional, unexpected, innovative, and memorable. Although it can be risky, when executed successfully guerilla marketing will result in word-of-mouth advertising and with any luck, become a viral sensation.

In resale markets, such as consumer second-hand markets, hype is a driving force of value for products that are perceived to have high social, emotional, and monetary value.

Subliminal perception is a topic that has captivated the public for more than fifty years, despite the fact that there is virtually no proof that this process has any effect on consumer behaviour. A survey of American consumers found that almost two-thirds believe in the existence of subliminal advertising , and more than one-half are convinced that this technique can get them to buy things they do not really want Lev, They believe marketers design many advertising messages so the consumers perceive them unconsciously, or below the threshold of recognition.

Although some research suggests that subliminal messages can work under very specific conditions, this technique has very little applicability to advertising even if we wanted to resort to it. However, a new study surely will add fuel to the long-raging debate. Although selecting and organizing incoming stimuli happens very quickly, and sometimes without much conscious thought, interpretation can be a much more deliberate and conscious step in the perception process.

Interpretation is the third part of the perception process, where we assign meaning to our experiences using mental structures known as schemata. Schemata are like databases of stored, related information that we use to interpret new experiences.

We all have fairly complicated schemata that have developed over time as small units of information combined to make more meaningful complexes of information. For example, if you are doing a group project for class and you perceive a group member to be shy based on your schema of how shy people communicate, you may avoid giving them presentation responsibilities in your group project because you are of the belief that shy people may not make good public speakers. Schemata also guide our interactions, providing a script for our behaviours.

Even a person who has never been on a game show can develop a schema for how to act in that environment by watching The Price Is Right , for example. People go to great lengths to make shirts with clever sayings or act enthusiastically in hopes of being picked to be a part of the studio audience and hopefully become a contestant on the show.

We have schemata about individuals, groups, places, and things, and these schemata filter our perceptions before, during, and after interactions. As schemata are retrieved from memory, they are executed, like computer programs or apps on your smartphone, to help us interpret the world around us.

Just like computer programs and apps must be regularly updated to improve their functioning, competent communicators update and adapt their schemata as they have new experiences. A fundamental process of perception is sensory adaptation — a decreased sensitivity to a stimulus after prolonged and constant exposure. When you step into a swimming pool, the water initially feels cold, but after a while you stop noticing it.

After prolonged exposure to the same stimulus, our sensitivity toward it diminishes and we no longer perceive it. We ignore the sounds that our car makes every day, which leaves us free to pay attention to the sounds that are different from normal, and thus likely to need our attention.

Our sensory receptors are alert to novelty and are fatigued after constant exposure to the same stimulus. As mentioned at the top of this page, consumers are exposed to thousands of advertising and marketing messages each day. While some ads can successfully break through the noise and capture our attention, over time we may just grow tired of the ad and it no longer interests us. When left unchanged, the ad fails and fades into the background.

The question for the marketer becomes this: how much exposure is enough to garner attention, but not so much to reach a state of adaptation where the consumer no longer responds? When a stimulus is constant and unchanging, we experience sensory adaptation. During this process we become less sensitive to that stimulus. A great example of this occurs when we leave the radio on in our car after we park it at home for the night.