Exam 4: Perceptions and Attributions

Causal attributions are common when the perceiver observes normal behavior on the part of someone.

An internal factor that influences perceptual selection is:

Individuals often make unconscious attributions in a wide variety of situations.However,they do not make conscious attributions.

The second to last step in the perceptual process is:

Explain the process of person perception,and how the factors that influence perception are similar and different from perceptual selection.

____ is the tendency for an individual to perform well when expectations are high.

Repetition is an internal factor influencing the perceptual process.

Which of the following is NOT an example of an error in person perception that is particularly common in interview situations?

According to Learning from Experience: Jim Sinegal,the cofounder,president,and CEO of Costco Wholesale,says that one of his cardinal rules is that no branded item,such as a Xerox printer,can be marked up by more than 14 percent and no private-label item,such as Costco gasoline,by more than 15 percent.

A key personality factor that influences perceptual selection is conscientiousness.

The halo effect refers to evaluating another person solely on the basis of one attribute,either favorable or unfavorable.

A perceiver will tend to make an external attribution under conditions of high consistency,high distinctiveness,and high consensus.

Size,intensity and contrast are the only external factors influencing perceptual selection.

During a job interview,Don smelled cigarette smoke on Jose.Don believes strongly that smokers are not as productive as non-smokers because they take more breaks.Though the rest of the hiring team thought Jose had the needed skills for the job,Don argued that each of Jose's skills fell slightly short.This may be an example of:

Selective screening is the process by which people filter out most stimuli so that they can deal with the most important ones.

Read the following scenario and explain how issues related to perceptual errors may be manifest in the case.Clarify any assumptions that you make in this process. From the beginning,Dimitra felt that Mwendwa did not have what it takes to succeed as an emergency medical technician.She wanted to hire Phillip,an outstanding applicant who refused to accept the job for the salary that her organization was willing to pay.She had argued strongly against hiring Mwendwa,but was overruled by her boss and several other supervisors,who felt that Mwendwa was indeed qualified for the job.At the time,Dimitra's boss commented that she had not been very effective at predicting who would perform well on the job in the past.Everyone was aware of Dimitra's feelings when Mwendwa was assigned to her unit.Several team members felt that Dimitra was often particularly hard on Mwendwa.One month after being hired,Mwendwa "froze up" at an accident scene and forgot to complete an important procedure.Dimitra immediately recommended his dismissal.

____ is a person's beliefs about the relationships between another's physical characteristics and personality.

A similarity error occurs when an interviewer is positively predisposed toward a job candidate because the candidate has similar interests as the interviewer.

Explain the process of impression management,and give an example of a situation in which you attempted to apply its basic principles.Explain why your attempt apparently achieved the level of success that it did.

Identify and briefly describe the major perceptual errors that people make.Give an example for at least two of these types of error.Examples may be based upon your observations or experience,or may be simply fictional.