Author's Choice

Perception- Personality and Learning

Perception
Perception is the process by which individuals organize and interpret their seniority impressions in order to give meaning to their environment.
Attribution theory is used to develop explanations of the ways in which we judge people differently, depending on what meaning we attribute to a given behaviour. Basically the theory suggests that when we observe an individual’s behaviour we attempt to determine whether it was internally or three caused. That determination depends largely on three factors:
• Distinctiveness
• Consensus
• Consistency

Internally caused behaviors are those believed to be under the personal control of the individual. Externally caused behaviors is seen as resulting from outside causes, that is person is seen as having been forced into a behavior by the situation.
Distinctiveness refers to whether an individual displays different behaviors in different situations what is to be determined is whether this behavior is unusual. If it is, the observer is likely to five the behavior an external attribution. If this action is not unusual, it will probably be judged as internal.
If everyone who is faced with a similar situation responds in the same way, we can say the behavior shows consensus.
Consistently refers to whether responds the same way over time. The more consistent the behavior, the more the observes is inclined to attribute it to internal causes.
A number of factors operate to shape and sometimes distort perception. These factors can reside in the perceiver, in the object or target being perceived, or in the contrast of the situation in which the perception is made.
When an individual looks at the target and attempts to interpret what he or she sees, that interpretation is heavily influenced by the personal characteristics of the individual perceiver. Personal characteristics that affect perception include a person’s attitudes, personality motives. Interests, past experiences and expectations.
Characteristics of the target being observed can effect what is perceived. Local people are more likely to be noticed in a group than quite ones. So, too ,are extremely , attractive individuals because targets are not looked at in isolation, the relationship of a target to its background also influences perception, as does our tendency to group close things and similar things together.
The context in which we see objects or events is also important. The time at which object or event is seen can influence attention as can location, light or any number of situational factors.

Frequently used shortcuts in judging others
• Selective Perception: People selectively interpret what they see on the basis of their interests, background experience and attribute. People perceive aspects of a situation that were specifically related to the activities and goals of the unit to which they are attached. A group’s perception of organizational activities is selectively altered to align with the vested interests they represent.

• Halo Effect: Halo effect refers to drawing a general impression about an individual on the basis of single characteristics such as intelligence, sociability or appearance.

• Contrast Effect: We don’t evaluate a person in isolation. Our reaction to one person is influenced by other person we have recently encountered. Contrast effect refers to evaluation of a person’s characteristics that are affected by comparison with other people recently encountered who rank higher or lower on the same characteristics.

• Projections: Projections refers to attributing one’s own characteristics to other people. People who engage in projection tend to perceive others according to what they themselves are like rather than according to what the person being observed is really like.

• Stereotyping: Stereotyping refers to judging someone on the basis of one’s perception of the group to which that person belongs.

Specific Applications of Perception in Organizations
• Employment Interviews: Interviews generally draw early impressions that become very quickly entrenched. If negative information is exposed early in the interview, it tends to be more heavily weighted than if that same information comes out later. Most interviewers’ decisions change very little after the first four or five minutes of the interview. As a result, information elicited early in the interview carries greater weight than does information elicited later, and a “good applicant” is probably characterized more by the absence of unfavorable characterizes than by the presence of favorable characteristics.

• Performance Evaluation: An employee’s performance appraisal is very much dependent on the perceptual process. Many jobs are evaluated in subjective terms. Subjective measures are, by the defination, judge mental. To the extend the managers use subjective measures in appraising employee, what the evaluator perceives to be good or bad employee characterizes or behaviors will significantly influence the outcome of the appraisal.

PERSONALITY

Personality is defined as the sum total of ways in which an individual reacts an interacts with others. Adult personality is generally considered to be made up of hereditary and environmental factors, moderated by situational conditional.

Hereditary:- Hereditary refers to those factors that were determined by conception. Physical stature, facial alteration, gender temperament, energy level and biological rhythms are characteristics that are either completely or substantially influenced by parents. Evidence demonstrates that traits such as shyness, fear and distress are most likely caused by inherited genetic characteristics.
If personality characteristics were completely dictated by heredity, they would be fixed at birth and no amount of experience would alter them. If one is relaxed and easygoing as a child, for ex. that would be the result of one’s genes, and it would not be possible to change those characteristics. But personality characteristics are not completely dictated by heredity.

Environment:- Among the factors that exact pressures on our personality formation are the cultures in which we are area raised; our earlier conditioning the norms among our family, friends and social groups and other influences that we experience. These environmental factors play a substantial role in shaping our personalities. Cultural establishes the norms attributes and values that are passed along from generations to the and create consistencies of time ideology that is only moderate intensely fostered in one culture may only have emphasis in another. It can be concluded that both heredity and environment are the primary determinations of personality.

Situations:- The third factor, the situation influences the effects of heredity and environment on personality. An individual’s personality, although generally stable and consistent does change in different situations. The different demands of different situations call forth different aspects of one’s personality. So we shouldn’t look at personality patterns in isolation.

Determinations of personality that are more input than in others in shaping the personality of a manager include:-
• Locus of control:- The degree to which people believe they masters of their own fate. Individuals who believe that they control what happens to them make more successful manager than those who believe that what happens to them is controlled by outside forces such as luck or chance.

• Introvert and Extrovert:- Extrovert i.e. individuals who are gregarious and social are more successful as managers than Introverts i.e. individuals who are shy, quite and retiring.

LEARNING

Any relatively permanent change in behavior is called learning. Three theories have been offered explain the process of learning by which we acquire patter us of behavior. These are classical conditioning operant conditioning and social learning.

• Classical Conditioning:- deals with the association of one event with another desired event resulting in desired behavior or learning.

• Operant Conditioning:- A type of conditioning in which desired voluntary behavior leads to a reward or prevents punishment. The tendency to repeat such behavior is influenced by the reinforcement or lack of reinforcement about by the consequences of the behavior. Therefore, reinforcement strengthens a behavior and increases the like hood that it will be repeated.

• Social learning:- People can learn through observation and direct experience. The influence of this model is central to the social viewpoint. Four processes have been found to determine the influence that a model will have an individual.

i) Attention Processes:- People learn from a model only when they recognize and pay attention to its critical features.

ii) Retention Processes:- A model’s influence will depend on how well the individual remembers the model’s action after the model is no longer readily available.

iii) Motor Reproduction Process:- After a person has a new behavior by observing the model the watching must be converted to doing. This process then demonstrates that their individual can perform the modeled activities.
Because learning takes place on the job as well as prior to it managers will be concerted with how they can teach employees to behave in ways that most benefit the organization and this change their attitude. When managers attempt to mold individuals by guiding their learning in graduated steps, they are “shaping behavior” and this changing their attitude.
There are four ways in which to shape behavior positive reinforcement negative reinforcement, punishment and extinction.
Following a response with something pleasant is called positive reinforcement Negative response happens when individuals learn to avoid or escape from unpleasant consequences. Punishment is causing an unpleasant condition in an attempt to eliminate an unpleasant behavior. Eliminating any reinforcement that is maintaining a behavior is called extinction.

Popularity: 1% [?]