Definition

Perception is a process by which

individuals organize and interpret
their sensory impressions in order to
give meaning to their environment.
Stephen
Robbins

 Perception includes all those processes

by which an individual receives
information about the environmentseeing, hearing, feeling, tasting and
smelling. The study of these perceptual
processes shows that their functioning
is affected by three classes of variables:
the objects or events being perceived,
the environment in which the
perception occurs and the individual
doing the perceiving.
K. Ashwathappa

 Perception is the process of

acquiring, interpreting, selecting, and
organizing sensory information.

FEATURES OF PERCEPTION
Intellectual process sensation vs.
perception
Basic cognitive or psychological
process
Subjective process

 Cognition is the act of knowing an

item of information. Precedes
behaviour. Gives input into a
persons thinking and perception.
Cognitive process is complex. It
arranges information in a sequential
order.

NATURE OF PERCEPTION
A complex cognition process, giving
a unique interpretation of the world.
Difference between perceptual world
& real world.
Problems occurring in organizations
are often found to be the problems of
perception.

Why Is it Important?
Because peoples behaviour is
based on their perception of what
reality is, not on reality itself.
The world as it is perceived is the
world that is behaviourally
important.

Factors influencing perception

The Situation

1.Time
2. Work setting
3. Social setting

Perceptio
n

The Perceived

1.Verbal
communicatio
n
2.Non-verbal
3.Physical
Appearance/
size

The Target

The
1. Perceiv
Attitudes
2. Moods
3. er
Motives
4. Self-concept
5. Interest
6. Cognitive
structure
7. Expectations

Characteristics that greatly influence

how a person perceives others
Knowing oneself makes it easier to see
others accurately.
One's own characteristics affect the
characteristics one is likely to see in others
People who accept themselves are more
likely to be able to see favorable aspects of
other people.
Accuracy in perceiving others is not a
single skill.

Exhibit 2-1 Figure-Ground

Illustrations

Exhibit 2-2 Factors that Influence

Perception
The Situation
Time

The Perceiver

Work setting
Social setting

Attitudes
Motives
Perception

Interests
Experience
Expectations

The Target
Novelty
Motion
Sounds
Size
Background
Proximity

INTRODUCTION
Human beings may differ because of their
differences & uniqueness.
People often see the same
situation/ phenomenon differently within
the organisation & outside the
organisation. For example: when there is
an accident in the factory,the supervisor
may treat it as the carelessness of worker
while the worker may treat it as lack of
adequate provision of security measures.

Thus the situation remaining the

same, cause have been assigned
differently by different group of
people. In order to understand why
people see the same situation
differently,one has to understand
PERCEPTION & its different aspect.

WHAT IS PERCEPTION ?
Perception is a congnitive process. congnition is
basically bit of information, congnitive process
involves the way in which people
process/understand that information.
Perception process involves
selecting,organising and interpreting the
stimulus. Thus perception is the process
selecting, organising and interpreting or
attaching meaning to the events happening in
the environment. However, what one can
perceive can be different from objective

reality. Their need not be but there is

often, disagreement. For example: its
possible that all the employee in a firm
may view it as a great place to work
favourable working conditions,
intresting job assignment, good pay
and excellent benefit but as most of us
know,its very unusal to find such
agreement.

DEFINITION
PERCEPTION may be defined as a
process by which individual organise
and interpret their sensory impression
in order to give meaning to their
environment.

The Perceptual
Process

Environmental Stimuli

Feeling

Hearing

Seeing

Smelling

Selective Attention
Organization and
Interpretation
Attitudes and
Behaviors

Tasting

Perception Defined
The process of selecting,
organizing, and
interpreting information
in order to make sense
of the world around us.

Bob Finlayson/Newspix

Perceptual Process Model

Environmental Stimuli
Feeling

Hearing

Seeing

Smelling

Selective Attention

Organization and
Interpretation
Attitudes and
Behavior

Tasting

Selective Attention
Characteristics of the object
size, intensity, motion, repetition,
novelty

Perceptual context
Characteristics of the perceiver
attitudes
perceptual defense
expectations -- condition us to expect
events

Perceptual
Organization/Interpretation
Categorical thinking
Mostly unconscious process of organizing
people/things
Perceptual grouping principles

Closure -- filling in missing pieces

Identifying trends

Similarity or proximity

Mental models
Broad world-views or theories-in-use
Help us to quickly make sense of situations
May block recognition of new
opportunities/perspectives