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Perceptual Errors

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khant nyar
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110 views2 pages

Perceptual Errors

Uploaded by

khant nyar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Perceptual error is the inability to judge humans, things or situations fairly and accurately.

Selective Perception

People cannot observe everything going on around them. So, they engage in selective
perception. People tend to selectively interpret what they see based on their interests,
background, experience, and attitudes. This means that individuals may pay attention to certain
details while ignoring others, shaping their perception of a situation or person accordingly. For
example, a teacher may ignore poor attainment of her favorite student.

Projection

Projection refers to the tendency of people to see their own traits in other people. It means
that when people make judgments about others, they project their own characteristics into
others. When we assume that others are similar to us, it is easy to judge them. For example,
if we want challenge and responsibility in our job, we assume that others want it too. When
managers engage in projection, they compromise their ability to respond to individual
differences.

Stereotyping

In order to simplify matters, we often tend to classify people and events into already-known
general categories or groups. Putting people into a convenient category on the basis of some
characteristics is known as stereotyping. For example, everyone believes that Indians are
quick-tempered. Therefore, when we judge someone on the basis of our perception of the
group to which they belong, we are using the short cut called stereotyping.

Halo Effect

Halo effect refers to the tendency of judging a person entirely on the basis of a single
trait such as intelligence, sociability or appearance. Here, a single trait dominates other
characteristics of the individual. For example, we always have an impression that a lazy person
can never be punctual in any occasion. Among other errors of perception, halo effect has the
most profound impact on an individual’s perception and behavior.
Contrast Effect

Contrast effect is another perceptual error that is very common in workplace. We do not
evaluate a person in isolation. Our reaction to one person is often influenced by other people
or events we have recently encountered. For example, an applicant in an interview could
receive a more favorable evaluation if he is preceded by normal applicants and a less
favorable evaluation if he is preceded by outstanding applicants.

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