How does attribution relate to perception

Which of the circles in the middle is bigger? At first glance, the one on the left may appear bigger, but they are in fact the same size. We compare the middle circle on the left to its surrounding circles, whereas the middle circle on the right is compared to the bigger circles surrounding it. Our visual perception is often biased because we do not perceive objects in isolation.

The contrast between our focus of attention and the remainder of the environment may make an object appear bigger or smaller. This principle is illustrated in the figure with circles.

Which of the middle circles is bigger? To most people, the one on the left appears bigger, but this is because it is surrounded by smaller circles. The contrast between the focal object and the objects surrounding it may make an object bigger or smaller to our eye. How do these tendencies influence behavior in organizations? You may have realized that the fact that our visual perception is faulty may make witness testimony faulty and biased. How do we know whether the employee you judge to be hardworking, fast, and neat is really like that?

Is it really true, or are we comparing this person to other people in the immediate environment? Are you sure? Have you really seen this person surf unrelated Web sites, or is it possible that the person was surfing the Web for work-related purposes? Our biased visual perception may lead to the wrong inferences about the people around us. Human beings are prone to errors and biases when perceiving themselves. Moreover, the type of bias people have depends on their personality.

Many people suffer from self-enhancement bias. This is the tendency to overestimate our performance and capabilities and see ourselves in a more positive light than others see us. At the same time, other people have the opposing extreme, which may be labeled as self-effacement bias. This is the tendency for people to underestimate their performance, undervalue capabilities, and see events in a way that puts them in a more negative light. We may expect that people with low self-esteem may be particularly prone to making this error.

These tendencies have real consequences for behavior in organizations. For example, people who suffer from extreme levels of self-enhancement tendencies may not understand why they are not getting promoted or rewarded, while those who have a tendency to self-efface may project low confidence and take more blame for their failures than necessary.

When perceiving themselves, human beings are also subject to the false consensus error. We assume that whatever quirks we have are shared by a larger number of people than in reality. The problem for behavior in organizations is that, when people believe that a behavior is common and normal, they may repeat the behavior more freely. Under some circumstances this may lead to a high level of unethical or even illegal behaviors. How we perceive other people in our environment is also shaped by our values, emotions, feelings, and personality.

Moreover, how we perceive others will shape our behavior, which in turn will shape the behavior of the person we are interacting with. One of the factors biasing our perception is stereotypes. Stereotypes are generalizations based on group characteristics. For example, believing that women are more cooperative than men, or men are more assertive than women, is a stereotype. Stereotypes may be positive, negative, or neutral.

Human beings have a natural tendency to categorize the information around them to make sense of their environment. What makes stereotypes potentially discriminatory and a perceptual bias is the tendency to generalize from a group to a particular individual. If the belief that men are more assertive than women leads to choosing a man over an equally or potentially more qualified female candidate for a position, the decision will be biased, potentially illegal, and unfair.

Stereotypes often create a situation called a self-fulfilling prophecy. Because you are treating the other person better, the response you get may also be better, confirming your original belief that Asians are friendly. Of course, just the opposite is also true. The result may be that the young employee reporting to you may become increasingly bored at work and start goofing off, confirming your suspicions that young people are slackers! Stereotypes persist because of a process called selective perception.

Selective perception simply means that we pay selective attention to parts of the environment while ignoring other parts. When we observe our environment, we see what we want to see and ignore information that may seem out of place. Here is an interesting example of how selective perception leads our perception to be shaped by the context: As part of a social experiment, in the Washington Post newspaper arranged Joshua Bell, the internationally acclaimed violin virtuoso, to perform in a corner of the Metro station in Washington DC.

When you see someone playing at the metro station, would you expect them to be extraordinary? Weingarten, Our background, expectations, and beliefs will shape which events we notice and which events we ignore. Executives with a background in sales and marketing see the changes in the demand for their product, while executives with a background in information technology may more readily perceive the changes in the technology the company is using.

Selective perception may perpetuate stereotypes, because we are less likely to notice events that go against our beliefs. A person who believes that men drive better than women may be more likely to notice women driving poorly than men driving poorly. As a result, a stereotype is maintained because information to the contrary may not reach our brain.

First impressions are lasting. A job interview is one situation in which first impressions formed during the first few minutes may have consequences for your relationship with your future boss or colleagues.

What then? Unfortunately, this is no guarantee that we will modify our beliefs and prejudices. First, when we see examples that go against our stereotypes, we tend to come up with subcategories. Second, we may simply discount the information. In one study, people who were either in favor of or opposed to the death penalty were shown two studies, one showing benefits from the death penalty and the other discounting any benefits.

One other perceptual tendency that may affect work behavior is that of first impressions. The first impressions we form about people tend to have a lasting impact. In fact, first impressions, once formed, are surprisingly resilient to contrary information. Even if people are told that the first impressions were caused by inaccurate information, people hold onto them to a certain degree. Any information we receive to the contrary does not serve the purpose of altering the original impression.

Imagine the first day you met your colleague Anne. She treated you in a rude manner and when you asked for her help, she brushed you off. You may form the belief that she is a rude and unhelpful person.

Later, you may hear that her mother is very sick and she is very stressed. In reality she may have been unusually stressed on the day you met her. If you had met her on a different day, you could have thought that she is a really nice person who is unusually stressed these days. But chances are your impression that she is rude and unhelpful will not change even when you hear about her mother.

Instead, this new piece of information will be added to the first one: She is rude, unhelpful, and her mother is sick. Being aware of this tendency and consciously opening your mind to new information may protect you against some of the downsides of this bias.

Also, it would be to your advantage to pay careful attention to the first impressions you create, particularly during job interviews. A job interview is your first step to getting the job of your dreams. It is also a social interaction in which your actions during the first 5 minutes will determine the impression you make. Here are some tips to help you create a positive first impression. Sources: Adapted from ideas in Bruce, C.

Business Etiquette Making a good first impression. Black Collegian , 38 1 , 78—80; Evenson, R. Making a great first impression. The self-serving bias is a tendency for people to attribute success on a project to themselves while attributing failure to others. Skip to content Perception and Job Attitudes. The Attribution Process The underlying assumption of attribution theory is that people are motivated to understand their environment and the causes of particular events. The General Attribution Process.

Causes of Internal and External Attributions. Adapted from Nyla Branscombe and Robert A. Social Psychology. Fourteenth Edition, , Pearson. What internal and external attributions can you make about this golfer who is celebrating a hole in one? Notice the untied shoe. What is attribution theory? Describe the attribution process. What are the internal and external causes of attribution? How do people attribute credit and blame for organizational events?

Glossary Attribution biases Covers both the fundamental attribution error and the self-serving bias. Attribution theory Concerns the process by which an individual interprets events as being caused by a particular part of a relatively stable environment.

Fundamental attribution error The tendency to underestimate the effects of external or situational causes of behavior and to overestimate the effects of internal or personal causes.

Self-serving bias The tendency for individuals to attribute success on an event or project to their own actions while attributing failure to others. Previous: Barriers to Accurate Social Perception. Next: Attitudes and Behavior. Share This Book Share on Twitter. Successfully reported this slideshow. We use your LinkedIn profile and activity data to personalize ads and to show you more relevant ads. You can change your ad preferences anytime.

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