Behavioural studies: explain why judgements about people based on perceptions may be incorrect

Behavioral Studies Order No: 192794 No: of pages: 2 Premium – 6530 Each and every individual is unique and as such have their own tastes, beliefs and perceptions. In such a scenario it doesn’t seem quite right in passing judgment on people just based on their perceptions. Taking the process of “ perception” into consideration, it becomes quite apparent that judgment cannot be passed because of individual differences. When different individuals perceive the “ real” world, each of them tends to conjure up their own image or opinion of that world based on their own perception of things around them.
When we perceive things, we tend to segregate them into two categories- what is worthwhile and what is worthless. Based on these assumptions an individual forms his own opinion and this helps him to pass judgment just based on his own perceptions. This influences our perception of things because we “ see” what we want to see and “ hear” what we want to hear. According to Laurie Mullins, “ Perception is the root of all organizational behavior; any situation can be analyzed in terms of its perceptual connotations”. (Laurie Mullins, Organizational Behavior, Chap. 7, 6th Edition. 2002)
Perception:
By perception we mean an individual’s picture or image of his environment. “ Perception is the dynamic psychological process, responsible for attending to, organizing, and interpreting sensory data”. ( )
Attention and Perception:
It is impossible to perceive things in our environment without making use of our senses. But our senses too work within limits and cannot go beyond it. This is the reason why we are selective in our perception and give our attention to only those things that really matter to us and discard the other things. This is what we call selective attention.
Since individual tastes are all varied, different people would form different opinions on the world around them. What may be good or mean a lot to some people would not mean a thing to others. Hence it just doesn’t seem right in passing judgment on people and things based on perception. What may be right for some individuals may be wrong for the others.
Stereotyping:
Stereotyping is the way an individual tends to groups people possessing the same characteristics- e. g. Teachers, Students, Lawyers etc…We do this because we attribute specific personality traits to them.
Halo Effect:
The Halo effect can either be positive or negative. When we perceive a person, we form our own image or opinion based on the impression they have created. They may be favorable or unfavorable. The danger lurking here is that due to the hasty judgment made, the perceiver tends to become “ perceptually blind” to the other valuable stimuli which may exist. Thus the “ Halo effect” tends to block or obscure other relevant characteristics of the individual.
Perceptual Sets: A Perceptual set is also called a “ mental set” where an individual is predisposed to respond to certain events in a particular manner. We tend to believe or perceive what we want to believe or perceive. Therefore judgment based on this would be incorrect.
References:
L. Mullins, (2002) Management and Organizational Behavior
Chapter 11, 6th Edition.