Theories of Perception - Essay Example

?Behavioural Studies Table of Contents ‘We Only See What We Want To See’. Discuss This ment With Reference To Theories of Perception. 3 ‘Money Can Be Viewed As The Greatest Motivator Of All’. Do You Agree With This Viewpoint? Explain Your Thinking With Reference To Motivation Theory. 5 Some Leadership Styles May Be More Effective Than Others. Comment On The Different Styles That May Be Encountered With Reference To Leadership Theory. 7 References 10 Bibliography 13 ‘We Only See What We Want To See’. Discuss This Statement With Reference To Theories of Perception. In order to receive information from the environment human beings are equipped with the sensory organs which include ears, nose, eyes and tongue. The sensory organs receive sensory inputs and transmit the information to the brain. According to Neisser (1976), the theory of perception can be explained through a ‘perceptual cycle’. Allport (1955) defined perceptual set as “a perceptual bias or predisposition or readiness to perceive particular features of a stimulus”. Perceptual set is a concept which is important to the active process of perception and it has a tendency to ignore a few of the available sensory data. ‘We only see what we want to see’ can be interpreted with perceptual set because only a few parts of the sensory data are perceived and others are ignored. The perceiver only sees or perceives what he/she wants to. With reference to Vernon (1962), perceptual set works in two ways i.e. the perceiver has definite expectations and he/she only pays attention on the particular portion of the sensory data and is known as selector. The perceiver knows how to classify, understand the selected data and draw inferences from it, and is called interpreter. There are variables which influence perception. They are expectation, motivation, emotion and culture (Rookes & Willson, 2000). There is a theoretical issue in which perception depends predominantly on the information in the stimulus. Perceptual processes also rely on the expectations of a perceiver and past knowledge in addition to the information obtainable in the stimulus (Rookes & Willson, 2000). Perception can also be influenced by the first impression such as dress of the person, haircut and speech. People usually only see what they actually want to see. There is a perception in their mind before visualising the fact of the overall picture and they only understand and see what they want to (Rose & Harris, n.d.). According to bottom-up theories of perception, perception is explained by starting with the visual stimulus and its effect on the nerve cells of the visual system. Human cognitive processes are affected by personal factors as well as emotional states and thus perception is also affected by personal as well as emotional state (Hill, 2001). According to Hoffman, with regard to conventional view, the basic goal of perception is to recover, or assess properties of the physical world. A human mind takes assumptions about the things which are being seen by them and they perceive it accordingly. It can vary from individual to individual. It can be said that ‘we only see what we want to see’ (Hoffman, n.d.). Every individual can differ from others on the ground of perception. It can also be said that individuals who have already a mind set about any aspect, i.e. perception about the aspect, they view it in the same way as perceived by them. ‘Money Can Be Viewed As The Greatest Motivator Of All’. Do You Agree With This Viewpoint? Explain Your Thinking With Reference To Motivation Theory. ‘Money can be viewed as the greatest motivator of all’. The statement cannot be completely agreed as it depends on the circumstances and individuals. In an organisation, it is very essential to motivate employees to get the desired outcomes. Money can work wonders if used as a motivational tool in organisation. Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory is one of the widely used theories of motivation. Maslow identified human needs in the form of a hierarchy. The needs can be explained with the help of a pyramid below. Figure: Maslow’s Need Theory (Mullins, 2009). According to Maslow’s theory, human beings are motivated to gratify different types of needs. Maslow argues that till the most important needs are fulfilled, other needs have a minute effect on individual’s performance. The different types of needs are physiological needs, security and safety needs, social needs, esteem needs and self actualisation. Physiological needs are the most important needs for human beings. It includes the basic needs such as food, shelter, water, sleep and education which are the primary need of every individual. After the first level, needs are satisfied human beings grow to be concerned for the safety needs. Safety and security needs include safeguard from physical harm, security of income, illness, and relationships. After safety and security needs are satisfied individuals become anxious for social needs. There is need of belongingness, affiliation and acceptance in the society. People seek for love, affection and friendship in the society (Yahaya, n.d.). After the social needs are satisfied people seek for esteem needs. Esteem needs include reverence from others, recognition and self respect. Finally, people need self- actualisation in which they prefer to perform their best possible act. Maslow regards self-actualisation as a highest need in the hierarchy. It is the self fulfilment need of an individual where there are prospects for growth and to maximise one’s potential. As each of the need, starting from physiological need, is satisfied, the other needs become imperative. Thus, to motivate a person, it is very necessary to understand the level of hierarchy that person is on (Mullins, 2009). It is an obvious fact that for the survival food, shelter and clothing are needed. To possess all these, money is required. Money can be the greatest motivator for the people who want it to be. All the necessities including luxury can be acquired with the help of money. This is not true for all the people, money can be a motivator for the people working in the organisation to a certain extent as materialistic happiness can be purchased through money. There are many other ways to motivate people such as appreciation, performance recognition, job security and admiration among others. Employees get motivated also through other ways such as autonomy to take their decisions on their own. Employees have professional, financial and personal goals in their life; therefore only money cannot work for attaining everything. They also have impetus from inside or that of intrinsically (Robbins, 2009). Therefore, it can be said that money alone cannot be a motivator for the employees working in the organisation. They also need other sources with regard to motivation along with money to enhance productivity and to improve performance. Some Leadership Styles May Be More Effective Than Others. Comment On The Different Styles That May Be Encountered With Reference To Leadership Theory. There are different styles of leadership, these styles are necessary according to the situation and it is important for a leader to know when to demonstrate a particular approach. The basic leadership styles are Autocratic, Laissez-faire, Bureaucratic and Democratic (Sansom, n.d.). Autocratic leadership style is a classical approach in which a leader sustains significant amount of power and decision-making authority. In autocratic leadership style, the staffs are anticipated to follow orders without obtaining any explanation. It has a prearranged set of ‘rewards’ and ‘punishments’. The situational leadership theory is a significant factor to be considered in this aspect. The situational theory of leadership requires a leader to alter his/her style of leadership according to the prevalent situation (Bolden & et. al., 2003). A certain prevalent situation may demand the use of autocratic style of leadership. It can be most effective when new inexperienced staffs do not know which tasks to carry out or which events to follow. It needs valuable supervision which can be provided merely through detailed instructions and directions. It is most effective when there is a certain period of time in which decision has to be made. The other type of leadership style is a bureaucratic leadership style in which a particular system or guideline is followed. It is most effective to use when a routine task is executed persistently by the staff members. Transactional theory of leadership correlates to the aspect of bureaucratic leadership style as a leader-follower contract is a very crucial aspect in this context (Bolden & et. al., 2003). It is most effective to use when security or safety training is being carried out in the office and when staffs execute a task which needs cash handling. Democratic leadership style is also known as ‘participative style’ which promotes employees to be an integral component of decision making. A democratic leader keeps their staffs well-versed about all the aspects which influence their work-procedure and distributes decision making as well as responsibilities of problem solving. Laissez-faire leadership style is also known as the relaxed style. The leader provides very less direction to the employees and provides autonomy to the employees for the determination of goals and resolves problems. Laissez-faire leadership style can be effective to use if the employees are well skilled, trustworthy and experienced. This style of leadership should not be used if a feeling of insecurity is observed amid the employees due to the inaccessibility of their leader or due to the incompetence of the leader (Sansom, n.d.). A few leadership styles may be more effective than others. There are many reasons which influence leaders to use the specific leadership style. The leader’s personal background which includes personality, values, and experiences affects the decision made by a leader and it is one of the reasons, which influences leaders to use the leadership style (Rotary International, 2009). The employees working in an organisation come from different backgrounds and personalities. The leadership style adopted by a leader should be altered on the basis of employees’ response. There are customs and values in all the organization and it also influences the leadership style to be chosen by a leader in the organisation (Gosling & et. al., 2003). For determining the best leadership style a leader should alter their leadership style according to the situation as well as according to the people being led. A leader is expected to use different leadership styles to be successful in their process. Hence, it can be said that no particular leadership style is more effective than other, leadership styles become effective only when used appropriately by the leaders in the required situations (United Nations Public Administration Network, 2010). References Allport, F. H., 1955. Theories of Perception and the Concept of Structure: A Review and Critical Analysis with an Introduction to a Dynamic-Structural Theory of Behavior. Wiley. Bolden, R. & et. al., 2003. A Review of Leadership Theory and Competency Frameworks. University of Exeter. [Online] Available at: http://centres.exeter.ac.uk/cls/documents/mgmt_standards.pdf [Accessed February 29, 2012]. Gosling, B. R. & et. al., 2003. A Review of Leadership Theory and Competency Frameworks. Centre for Leadership Studies, pp. 1-44 Hoffman, D. D., No Date. The Interface Theory of Perception. Ucirvine School of Social Sciences [Online] Available at: http://www.cogsci.uci.edu/~ddhoff/interface.pdf [Accessed February 29, 2012] Hill, G., 2001. A Level Psychology Through Diagrams. Oxford University Press. Mullins, L. J., 2009. Management and Organizational Behaviour, 7/e. Pearson Education Neisser, U., 1976. Cognition and Reality: Principles and Implications of Cognitive Psychology. W. H. Freeman. Robbins, S. P., 2009. Organisational Behaviour: Global and Southern African Perspectives. Pearson South Africa. Rookes, P. & Willson, J., 2000. Perception: Theory, Development, and Organisation. Routledge. Rose, D. & Harris, J., No Date. Perception. Chapter Outline. [Online] Available at: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/intropsych/pdf/chapter8.pdf [Accessed February 28, 2012]. Rotary International, 2009. Leadership Development Your Guide to Starting A Program. RI Documents. [Online] Available at: http://www.rotary.org/RIdocuments/en_pdf/250.pdf [Accessed February 29, 2012] Sansom, G., No Date. Leadership Style. UTS Centre for Local Government [Online] Available at: http://www.clg.uts.edu.au/pdfs/LGAQLeadershipStyle.pdf [Accessed February 29, 2012] United Nations Public Administration Network, 2010. Leadership Styles. Documents. [Online] Available at: http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/unssc/unpan024704.pdf [Accessed February 29, 2012]. Vernon, M. D., 1962. A Further Study of Visual Perception. Cambridge [Eng.] University Press. Yahaya, A. H., No Date. Abraham Maslow: The Needs Hierarchy. Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Institutional Repository. [Online] Available at: http://eprints.utm.my/6091/1/aziziyahbrahamMaslow.pdf [Accessed February 29, 2012]. Bibliography Goleman, D., 2000. Leadership That Gets Results. Harvard Business Review. Hayes, N., 2000. Foundations of Psychology. Cengage Learning EMEA. Robbins, S. P. & et. al., 2010. Essentials of Organizational Behavior, 10/E. Pearson Education India. Raju, S. & Parthasarathy, 2009. Management: Text and Cases. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd. Walker, A., 2011. Organizational Behaviour in Construction. John Wiley and Sons. Read More