Perception and People
Perception is a strong term
when it comes to humans and their thought and action process. It is defined as “A process by
which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to
give meaning to their environment”.
Like: Two individuals can look at
same entity at same time and yet perceive it to be different in a lot of ways. A number of
factors shape the way you perceive anything - it can be in the perceiver, the
object being perceived or the circumstance under which these observations are being made.
In today’s scenario it plays
an important part as whatever you or any object may try to reflect it may or
may not be the same what is being perceived upon the other end of the channel.
Example: Like in today’s
scenario in a Job interview there may be chances the whole process depends on 'what you are and how your candidature is being perceived upon' or 'you yourself might
perceive the whole process differently'.
Lets Watch a video to understand it better.
However it is advisable to
avoid any form of perceptual error when it comes to interacting with people at
any stage of career or life cycle. The best way is to understand what the
different errors are and how to overcome them and benefit in the long run.
Few types of Perceptual
Errors and How to avoid them :
1.
Self Serving Bias:
This is tendency of individuals to attribute their own successes to internal
factors and putting the blame for failures on external factors. Solution: Take ownership of your actions and outcomes.
Learn from your failures and share the credit of your successes.
2.
Selective Perception:
Selectively interpreting what one sees on the basis of one’s interests, background,
experience and attitude. Solution: Be empathetic and focus just not on hearing
but listening what others have to say. Chances are it might improve your
listening skills and benefit you in the long run interacting with different people,
adapting to various cultures and systems.
3.
Halo Effect: One
of the most common errors, it means drawing a general impression about an
individual or entity on the basis of a single characteristic. Solution: See
people as what they are not what they were or what population or background
they come from, every soul living on this planet is unique in its own way and
if you discard this error chances are you might learn something from the other
individuals’ traits. It would help in better team management where you can actually
see the real person and his expertise and charisma.
4.
Contrast Effects:
Evaluation of a person’s characteristics that are affected by comparison with
other people encountered who rank higher or lower on same characteristics.
Solution: Avoid ranking people on types rather see the USP of the whole creed ,
if you understand the community well you can offer and manage them better as a
whole. No two experiences in life are the same.
5.
Projections: It
is attributing one’s own characteristics to other people. Solution: See people
as more homogenous they are not what similarities or differences they have with
your attributes, like if a manager analyses on basis of projections he/she
loses the ability to respond to the individual differences within the team.
6.
Stereotyping: The
most occurring perceptual error – It is judging the person on the basis of one’s
perception of the group to which the person belongs. It can have a devastating impact
on anything in this era where the whole world is a single global village.
Solution: never judge a person on the basis of his one single trait or
community to which he belongs. Always see and admire people for their
inheritance and culture , it will assure a positive impact on the whole
interaction and who might know you might come across a unique group attribute
you may end up acquiring and enjoying yourself.
Remember:
“The more you interact the more you learn, the more you
learn the better you become “.
Video Source :Youtube(Stephanie L)