What is perception in organizational behavior?
Perception is how we organize and interpret sensory info to make sense of the environment.
👉 Analogy: It’s like wearing tinted glasses — the color of the glass (your perception) changes how you see the world, even if reality itself doesn’t change.
According to Attribution Theory, how do people explain behavior?
When we see someone’s behavior, we automatically ask ourselves: “Why did they do that?”
We have two possible explanations:
Internal cause → It’s something about the person (their ability, attitude, effort, or personality).
External cause → It’s something about the situation (traffic, stress, bad luck, other people).
Example:
Imagine a student is late to class.
Internal explanation: “He’s lazy and irresponsible.”
External explanation: “There was an accident on the road that delayed him.”
What are the 3 factors used in Attribution Theory?
Consistency: Same behavior over time.
Distinctiveness: Different behavior in different situations.
Consensus: Same behavior as others in the same situation.
👉 Analogy: Imagine judging if someone is a bad driver:
Consistency: Do they always drive badly?
Distinctiveness: Do they drive badly in all situations (city, highway, rain)?
Consensus: Are others also driving badly in that same traffic jam?
What is the fundamental attribution error?
When we blame someone’s personality (internal factors), underestimate external factors, instead of their situation (external factors), during judging.
👉 Analogy: If someone cuts you off in traffic, you instantly think “what a jerk” (internal), not “maybe they’re rushing to the hospital” (external).
What is the self-serving bias?
Attributing success to ourselves (“our success”) and blaming failures on external factors (“their fault”).
👉 Analogy: If you ace an exam, it’s because you’re smart. If you fail, it’s because the exam was unfair.
What is the halo effect (and horns effect)?
Forming a general impression based on one single characteristic.
👉 Analogy: If someone is attractive, you might assume they’re also kind and smart (halo). If someone is rude once, you might assume they’re bad at everything (horns).
What is the contrast effect in perception?
Judging someone by comparing them to people you just met.
👉 Analogy: If you taste a bland soup right after a super spicy one, the soup feels extra tasteless — even though it isn’t.
What is stereotyping in perception?
: Judging someone based on group membership.
👉 Analogy: Like assuming all cats hate water — just because many do, doesn’t mean every single cat does.
What is selective perception?
Selective perception is when people interpret information based on their own interests, background, or expectations.
Imagine a manager who believes one employee is “brilliant.” When reviewing that employee’s work, the manager mainly notices the good parts and ignores the mistakes. Meanwhile, for another employee they don’t like, they focus on every small error and miss the positive contributions.
What does the color-changing card trick show about perception?
It shows that we often miss big changes because we focus too narrowly on one detail.
💡 Analogy: Like watching a magician’s hands so closely that you don’t notice the assistant swapping places behind him.
How do expectations influence perception (Budweiser vs. MIT Brew experiment)?
Simple Answer:
What we expect changes how we experience something. If we’re told something is “special” or “different,” we often like or dislike it more — even if the actual thing hasn’t changed at all.
Analogy:
It’s like eating the exact same burger in two places:
At McDonald’s 🍔 → you think “just a normal burger.”
At a fancy gourmet restaurant 🍽️ → you think “wow, this tastes amazing.”
👉 The burger is the same, but your expectation changes your perception of taste.
What is confirmation bias?
The tendency to search for and interpret information in a way that confirms what we already believe.
💡 Analogy: Like only reading reviews that say your favorite football team is the best, while ignoring articles pointing out their weaknesses.
What are common perception shortcuts in organizations?
- Employment Interviews
Idea: People make up their mind about you in less than a second.
Example: You walk into a job interview wearing messy clothes. Even before you speak, the interviewer might already think you’re unprofessional.
👉 Like judging a book by its cover — the outside creates the impression.
2. Performance Evaluations
Why is it a shortcut?
Instead of objectively measuring someone’s work, evaluators often judge based on their personal perception (e.g., “I think this person is lazy” → lower rating, even if the data doesn’t prove it).
Shortcut: They don’t analyze all the facts, they just lean on their biased perception.
👉 Like a referee who doesn’t review the replay but just calls a foul because of a gut feeling.
- Performance Expectations (Pygmalion effect)
Why is it a shortcut?
Leaders don’t always evaluate what employees actually did. Instead, they project their expectations onto them (high expectations → better treatment → better results, low expectations → worse results).
Shortcut: Instead of observing performance fairly, they let their belief shape reality.
👉 Like a teacher deciding “this student is smart” and treating them better, which makes the student perform better — but it’s not based on real proof at the start.
✅ So both are perception shortcuts because the judgment skips objectivity:
Evaluations = shortcut through bias.
Expectations = shortcut through beliefs.
What is and what assumptions does the normative model make about decision-making?
The normative model is a theoretical model of decision-making that describes how people should make decisions if they were perfectly rational.
Problem is well-defined.
Decision criteria are clear and known.
All alternatives can be considered.
Full/reliable data is available.
Preferences are stable.
Humans act as rational calculators.
Analogy: Like a perfect chess computer — it sees every possible move and always picks the mathematically best one.
What does the descriptive model say about real decisions?
Real decisions are limited by:
Incomplete/unreliable information.
Limited mental capacity to process everything.
Limited time.
People “satisfice” (pick a good enough option) using heuristics (mental shortcuts).
Analogy: Like grocery shopping when you’re in a rush — you don’t check every brand of pasta, you just grab a decent one.
What are heuristics and their impact on decision-making?
Heuristics: Simple rules or shortcuts to make decisions quickly.
They often give satisfactory outcomes, but also create predictable errors.
Analogy: Like using Google Maps’ “shortest route” — it usually works, but sometimes it sends you into a traffic jam.
What are System 1 and System 2 thinking?
System 1 (Fast): Automatic, unconscious, effortless, intuitive, but error-prone.
System 2 (Slow): Conscious, deliberate, effortful, logical, more reliable.
Analogy:
System 1 is like reflexively catching a ball.
System 2 is like solving a Sudoku puzzle step by step.
What are the three “meta-biases” in decision making?
Availability bias → relying on what comes to mind most easily.
Self-enhancement → thinking of yourself as better than you really are.
Illusion of control → believing you have more control than you actually do.
Analogy: Like playing Mario Kart — you remember the one time you won (availability), think you’re the best driver (self-enhancement), and believe pressing the controller harder makes your car go faster (illusion of control).
What is Availability Bias?
Tendency to judge based on easily available information → leads to over/underestimation.
Common triggers: recent, novel, emotional, or stereotypical events.
Example: After seeing a shark attack on the news, people think sharks are everywhere.
Analogy: Like your Spotify playlist auto-playing the songs you listen to most — even if they’re not the best songs.
What are examples of Availability Bias subtypes?
Retrievability bias: judging frequency by how easy examples come to mind (e.g., overestimating “-ing” words).
Anchoring & adjustment bias: sticking too closely to an initial number (e.g., auditors estimating fraud cases).
Retrievability bias
You judge something as more frequent or likely just because it’s easier to recall.
Example: People think words ending in -ing are more common than words with “n” as the sixth letter. Why? Because it’s easier to come up with “-ing” words.
Anchoring & adjustment bias
You rely too heavily on an initial number (the “anchor”), even if it’s arbitrary, and adjust too little away from it.
Example: Auditors estimating fraud cases — if they first consider “10 cases,” their later estimate will still be close to that number, even if reality is much higher or lower.
