Chapter 2 – Perception and Learning - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Chapter 2 – Perception and Learning

Part 1: Perception

January 27, 2009

• Combining, integrating, & interpreting info – 3 stages
• 1. Selection – influenced by internal & external factors.
• Internal – implications?
• External – implications?
• What is figural (salient) versus background (filler)?

• 2. Organization
• Use schemas to make sense and infer relationships among targets
• Correspondent inferences -
• Schemas differ between people
• …leading to incorrect inferences
• Focus on ‘weak’ situations for more information?

• Interpret events in subjective fashion – influenced by biases
• Can be barrier to cross-cultural communication
• Adler’s sources of cultural misinterpretation
• What are these?
• Subconscious cultural blinders –
• Projected similarity –

• Attribute actions to internal (trait) or external (situation) causes
• Consensus –defined as…
• Consistency – defined as…
• Distinctiveness – defined as…

• Why is your friend complaining about her manager?
• Assume high consensus & distinctiveness, but low consistency – which attribution is predominant?
• Assume low consensus & distinctiveness, but high consistency – which attribution?

• Self-serving bias
• What is the bias?
• Generalizability to other cultures?
• Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE)
• Opposite of self-serving (judging others)
• What is the error?
• Linked to perf appraisals
• Halo effect –
• (** See book for similar-to-me, selective perception, Pygmalion & Golem effects, performance appraisals and selection applications**)

• DeNisi & Gonzalez (2004) – propose importance of ratee’s perceptions of the appraisal:
• How would each of these help?
• 1. importance of clear standards –
• 2. simple-to-use rating instruments –
• Example of performance diaries or incident logs

• Dangers of relying on stereotype of group to categorize a person from that group
• Reasons stereotypes can become problematic?
• 1)
• 2)
• 3)
• Stereotype threat – fear being evaluated by stereotype  lowers performance
• Examples?

• One way to minimize biases by making people aware of their values, prejudices
• Divides info about you into 4 ‘windows’ based on whether your values/beliefs are known to you & others
• Open, blind, hidden, unknown areas
• What is the goal?

Feedback

Disclosure

• Can work w/360 degree feedback program
• Problems:
• 1)
• 2)
• 3)

• Wilson proposed we have implicit (subconscious) attitudes & explicit (stated) attitudes
• Implicit –
• Explicit –
• See www.understandingprejudice.org/iat/
• How does it measure each type of attitude?