What is perception?
the process by which individuals organise and interpret their sensory impressions to give meaning to their envir
people’s behaviour is based on perception not reality
What are the factors that influence perception?
- the perceiver: our personal characteristics (attitudes, personality, interests, expectations)
- the object: person, event or world that we perceive (background)
- the context: envir, situation (time, location, lighting, temperature)
State the pros and cons of using shortcuts when judging others
+ve: helps us be efficient, make quick decisions based on limited info
-ve: distorted perceptions
Name and describe the shortcuts we use to judge others (8)
- selective perception: a characteristic that makes a person stand out (eg. notice cars like yours after you buy it)
- halo effect: one positive trait influences the overall impression of that person (eg. we assume that a student who excels in one subject is good at all subjects)
- horns effect: one negative trait influences our impression of that person (employee cannot do one task, we see as incompetent)
- contrast effect: compare employee with other employees as a benchmark
- stereotyping: judging someone based on the group that they belong to
- false consensus:
- primacy effect: form an opinion based on our first impressions
- recency effect: most recent info we receive dominates our perceptions
What is a self-fulfilling prophecy? Describe and give an example.
expectation of a person leads them to behave in a way that confirms the expectation.
eg. a manager believes that an employee is highly capable and gives them more opportunities. The employee performs well.
How does the attribution theory allow us to interpret workplace behaviour?
internal attribution: things within one’s control (skills, effort, laziness)
external attribution: situational factors (weather, traffic, workplace policies)
1 situation may have different reasons
What are the key factors in attribution theory (how do we decide if it’s internal or external attribution)?
- distinctiveness: does a person behave differently in different situations? (if yes, external)
- consensus: do others behave in the same way in a similar situation? (if yes, external)
- does the person behave the same over time? (if yes, internal)
example: someone is late to work
How do perceptions influence key organisational decisions?
- employment interviews:
interviewers form quick first impressions that heavily influence hiring decisions
online interviews lower ratings - performance expectations:
self-fulfilling prophecy (high expectations from employee, employee tend to have higher performance) eg. manager believes employee is capable-> give them more opportunities -> stronger performance - performance evaluations: subjective appraisals are prone to biases. This impacts promotions, raises and career
Compare the rational decision-making model with non-rational approaches (bounded rationality and intuition)
What strategies can be used to improve decision quality (ethical decision frameworks)
utilitarianism:
fundamental rights:
justice/fairness:
and creativity-enhancing approaches.
Identify common decision-making biases impacts (8)
overconfidence
anchoring
confirmation bias
availibility
escalation of commitment
randomness error
risk adversion
hindsight bias
what is overconfidence and how does this bias impact decision-making?
people overestimate their accuracy in decision-making -> leads to risky choices
what is anchoring and how does this bias impact decision-making?
people overly rely on initial information when making decisions -> influences subsequent judgements
what is confirmation bias and how does this bias impact decision-making?
people actively seek info that validates & supports their views -> leads to poor decision making & close-mindedness, ignoring reports showing flaws
what is availability and how does this bias impact decision-making?
people make decisions based on easily available info rather than what is true (hiring manager remember a bad past experience with intern from specific uni, dont accept students from that uni anymore)
what is escalation of commitment and how does this bias impact decision-making?
tendency to stick to a failing decision even when evidence suggests its failing bcuz people dont want to admit failure (sunk cost fallacy)
what is randomness error and how does this bias impact decision-making?
tendency to see patterns in random events and believe that one can predict outcomes -> superstition and irrational decision making
what is risk aversion and how does this bias impact decision-making?
preference for a sure thing over a risky outcome -> missed opportunity and lack of innovation
what is hindsight bias and how does this bias impact decision-making?
tendency to believe something after the outcome has happened, saying “I knew it” -> overconfidence in decision-making abilities
