Perceptual Processes

Although perception is seldom covered as a topic in management outside of advertising and consumer behavior, it plays a major role in decision making, interaction style, planning and problem solving. It is the beginning point for attending to and taking in information that will be used later for all sorts of purposes. This page is intended to present some of the more important perceptual processes that underlie our more obvious managerial behavior.
 

An office worker suffers constant headaches and visual fatigue after working at a
     computer terminal. The wall color behind the monitor and glare from surrounding
     fixtures are straining her eyes. After several years, her once perfect vision is impaired. 
     She has increased errors at work and applies for compensation.

An elderly man is walking down a hallway in a hotel. The hall is carpeted with a
     brightly colored pattern. He correctly perceives the colors to be "advancing", his motor
     responses respond, and he trips and falls to the floor. The hotal receives a call from his 
     attorney.

 An assembly line worker is distracted by a brightly colored object within her field of
     vision. She loses concentration and injures her hand. 

A company which markets red contact lenses for chickens (at 20 cents a pair), points
     to medical studies showing that chickens seeing red during the day are happier and eat
     less food. A spokesperson said the lenses will improve world egg-laying productivity
     by $600 million a year. Could it be that the lens are forcing a blue after-image and,
     consequently, the the chickens lose their appetite?

Online Notes on Key Concepts (Sorry--these are currently unavailable--will try to relocate)
Perceptual principles (from course by Steve Soulier & text by Flemming, M. and Levi, H. (Ed) Instructional Message Design (2nd Ed.)Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications, 1993.)
Mechanisms of Attentive and Preattentive processing. (Soulier's materials again)


Perceptual Ranges. We are surrounded by a "soup" of stimulation and can only receive certain ranges of information. For example, we cannot see the ultraviolet range of the color spectrum, smell certain odors, or hear certain pitches. This does not mean that we are unaffected by such events, only that we do not perceive them and therefore usually disregard them. We sometimes use technology to supplement our limitations, such as special sensors that enable us to perceive outside or physiological sensory range. The point--we are always leaving things out of our perception--sometimes that can make a difference!

Smell. How odors can be used to manipulate.


Perceptual Threshold. Related to ranges is threshold. This refers to the limit that stimulation must reach in order for us to become consiously aware of it. It is possible, however, to be influenced in some cases by "subliminal" ("below the threshold") perceptions and messages. What you see is what you get...isn't it? Or can you be influenced by information presented just below the threshold of what you are aware of? Hmmm, maybe I should include a subliminal on this page...(send money, send money, send money, send money)

The Skeptic's Dictionary--"Subliminal".
NLP definition of subliminal
Critique of subliminal perception
Subliminal persuasion. Complete series of articles on the topic.
Subliminal science or science fiction?--
Psychological investigation of unconscious perception--
Subliminal self-help auditory tapes-- research of effectiveness
Sumlim ads ineffective in politics--
Bibliography on subliminals--
More references--
Olfactory Perception: The Nose Knows
Smell: Can we use it to manipulate behavior?
Context influences perception. As figure and ground changes and as we compare one image with another, our judgement about size changes. Notice what happens when we view two flowers:
Flowers
Noise and object-field differentiation. When we are trying to identify some object in a background field similar to the object, we need to know what it looks like. As this demonstration shows, even when we know what to look for it isn't necessarily easy!
Flying Bird Illusion
Context and situational cues help modify how we perceive a situation. Take a look at the ball-and-shadow example. Depending on how the shadow is defined, the path of the ball (which stays the same throughout) is perceived as changing!
Ball and Shadow Illusion
Figure-Ground. When we attend to one thing at a time that thing become "figure" while other elements of the situation fall into the background and become "ground." As our attention shifts, figure and ground also shift, but it is difficult for us to maintain attention to BOTH figure and ground at the same time.
Figure-ground examples
Perceptual paradox. When you pay attention to one part of an event, you may be leaving out contradictory properties. This is a source of bias in research and decision making. In addition, we do not have a language that helps us describe some of the inconsistencies we find perceptually. We often just choose to ignore things or focus on one aspect of a situation that we can describe and explain.
Impossible Doorway.

Impossible triangle, trident, and staircase

Perceptual Accuracy. What we see may not be accurate. Our senses are programmed to perceive things in a certain manner. This template can distort our perception.
Hering's and Poggendorff's illusions. These are straight lines, but they are perceived as distorted due to the background. Consider how these might be important in advertising, work design, etc.

Horizontal-Vertical Illusion.

Sensory fatigue. We need some degree of stimulation and variation. Without it, our attention and perception may become fatigued and diminish. This concept is aprticularly important on tasks that require vigilance, such as monitoring instruments.



Other examples of perception and illusion
The Joy of Visual Perception  A web book of examples and explanations.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

IllusionWorks. Largest collection of illusions on the web.
 


last updated 9-19-99
David X. Swenson Ph.D.
dswenson@css.edu