Page 222 - DMGT402_MANAGEMENT_PRACTICES_AND_ORGANIZATIONAL_BEHAVIOUR

Unit 10: Emotions and Perception

5. Contrast Effect: Stimuli that contrast with the surrounding environment are more likely Notes
to be selected for attention than stimuli that blend in. A contrasting effect can be caused by
colour, size or any other factor that is unusual (any factor that distinguishes one stimulus
from others at present). For example, a man walking down the street with a pair of
crutches is more attention grabbing than the usual variety of pedestrian. A contrast effect
is the evaluation of a person's characteristics that are affected by comparisons with other
people recently encountered that rank higher or lower on the same characteristics. The
"contrast" principle essentially states that external stimuli that stand out against the
background or which are not what are expecting, will receive their attention. The contrast
effect also explains why a male student stands out in a crowd of female students. There is
nothing unusual about the male student but, when surrounded by females, he stands out.
An illustration of how contrast effects operate is an interview situation in which one sees
a pool of job applicants. Distortions in any given candidate's evaluation can occur as a
result of his or her place in the interview schedule. The candidate is likely to receive a
more favourable evaluation if preceded by mediocre applicants, and a less favourable
evaluation if preceded by strong applicants.
6. Projection: It is easy to judge others if we assume they are similar to us. This tendency to
attribute one's own characteristics to other people is called projection. Projection can
distort perceptions made about others. People who engage in projection tend to perceive
others according to what they are like, rather than according to what the person being
observed is really like. When managers engage in projection, they compromise their
ability to respond to individual differences. They tend to see people as more homogeneous
than they really are.
7. Implicit Personality Theories: We tend to have our own mini-theories about how people
look and behave. These theories help us organise our perceptions and take shortcuts
instead of integrating new information all the time. Implicit-personality theory is opinions
formed about other people that are based on our own mini-theories about how people
behave. For example, we believe that girls dressed in fashionable clothes will like modern
music and girls dressed in traditional dress, like a saree, will like Indian classical music.
These implicit personality theories are barriers because they limit out ability to take in
new information when it is available.
8. Self-fulfilling Prophecies: Self-fulfilling prophecies are situations in which our expectations
about people affect our interaction with them in such a way that our expectations are
fulfilled. Self-fulfilling prophecy is also known as the Pygmalion effect, named after a
sculptor in Greek mythology who carved a statue of a girl that came to life when he
prayed for this boon and it was granted.

Caselet Seasickness as Self-fulfilling Prophecy
irtually no one is immune to seasickness, especially those in the Navy who must
perform their jobs on rough seas. While there are drugs for the problem, some of
Vthe side effects are the very symptoms that the drugs are intended to prevent:
drowsiness, blurred vision, and dryness of the mouth. Naval and aviation medicine
continue to try to solve the challenge of motion sickness.
The authors of one study devised an experiment to see whether self-fulfilling prophecy
could help. They assigned twenty-five naval cadets in the Israeli Defence Forces to
experimental and control conditions. Before their first cruise, the cadets in the experimental
Contd...

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