Question

Chapter 6 discusses four types of perceptual distortions: stereotyping, halo effects, selective perception, and projection. Define each of these and provide an example. please provide 400 words minimum and if you could provide 2 references.

Answer 1

Perceptual Distortions occurs when a person's response to stimuli varies from how it is commonly perceived. They can happen as a result of cognitive bias (Individuals holding on to their preference and beliefs regardless of the information that is before them). An example of perceptual distortion is individuals who are afflicted with anorexia holds a distorted self-image. They see their bodies as overweight and unsightly, whereas other people see the sufferer as malnourished and underweight.

The Major causes of Perceptual distortions are:

Stereotyping: This is a perceived notion about people on the basis of the group to which they belong. For example, there is a saying that all Irish are drunks or women are lousy drivers and both of these statements are not true in every case. stereotyping people can lead on to judge individuals incorrectly.

Halo Effect: This occurs when one allows an impression created in one area to influence our evaluation of the person in another area. For instance, a sales professional is proficient at bringing in new accounts and generating revenue, so he is promoted to the position of vice president of sales and he does not know the first thing about being a company executive.

Pre-disposition: An individual sees what they want to see whether it is there or not and not investigating any further.

Recency Effect: This occurs when the most recent information influences or dominates or perception of others. This distortion can occur in an instance when the Human Resource manager focuses too much on what an employee has done within the past few weeks or months when evaluating him for an annual performance review (appraisals), that manager has fallen victim to the recency effect.

Primacy Effect: This occurs when one forms an opinion of others on the basis of first impressions. We are often told that in an interview first impressions count because what we do an say can have an impact on how the interviewer perceives us and whether we get the job or not. During recruitment, an interviewer is expected to observe and evaluate a number of prospective candidates. His evaluation process can be diluted by the primacy effect because he may start judging the candidates by their first impressions. A candidate who is nervous in the first few minutes of an interview can be judged by the interviewer to be the type who cannot handle pressure.

Prejudice: This occurs when individuals are prejudged on baseless and non-factual information, beliefs, attitudes, and emotions. For example, people hold prejudice views towards individuals from a certain race classic example of this is Hitler's hatred toward the Jews.

One can minimize the effects of perceptual distortions in the following ways

In order to decrease the errors involved in perception, one has to keep in mind the way the perceptual process works. By understanding the process one can do a better job at minimizing their negative effect.

One can compare one's perception with other people if they are representing different backgrounds, cultures or training. This may lead to agreements or otherwise, communications can help to sort out the differences.

One should make an effort to understand the other person's point of view, it may help to know when one is wrong. The point is that one should listen and understand the other person rather than try to convince him or her that one is right.

Fourthly, one should be willing to change, when one comes across new information.One should gather enough information before jumping to conclusions. It is imperative that this information be factual to avoid any further errors and that the right course of action be administered.

Finally, one should view the world in dynamic terms, because one's behavior can alter the phenomenon that is the basis for one's perceptions, so, one must notice the impact of one's own behavior.

Perceptual errors can lead to lower employee performance, low morale, poor decision making and an overall reduction in the effectiveness of the organization.