Perception and Decision Making
What is perception?
Perception can be defined as “the process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment”. (Robbins, 2005 p134) More simply stated, it is what a person senses or believe to be true about a person or situation, which can sometimes be different than what is actually true. It is the reason why two people can look at the same situation and see different problems, as well as different solutions. Since the perceived reality is what influences a persons behavior, perception is extremely important in the decision making process.
There are several factors that influence a person’s perception of a situation or another person. Those factors can either be found in the perceiver, in the situation, or in the object or target being perceived. The factors related to the perceiver are attitude, motive, interest, experience and expectations. When a person looks at something and tries to interpret what they see, any or all of these factors will affect their interpretation of it. The factors associated with the situation are time, work setting and social setting. These factors are the reason why a person could react differently to the same situation, at a different time or place. For example, a parent may tolerate a child’s behavior at the grocery store or the park, but that same behavior at a social function or work related activity would not be acceptable. The factors in the target are novelty, motion, sounds, size, background, proximity and similarity. For example a person could see two people from a distance of 100 feet away and perceive them to be having an argument, when in reality if t ...