CHAPTER 1
PERCEPTION
A Theoretical Perspective
The word Perception comes from the Latin words perception, percipio,
meaning “receiving, collecting, action of taking possession, apprehension
with the mind or senses”.
In psychology, philosophy and the cognitive sciences, perception
is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of sensory
information.
In biology, perception is understood as “the mental interpretation of
physical sensations produced by stimuli from the outside word”. Here
‘mental interpretation’ has been interpreted as a process of constructing
an internal model of the environment.
Perception as per businessdictionary.com, definition of perception is
the “Process by which people translate sensory impressions into a coherent
and unified view of the world around them. Though necessarily based on
incomplete and unverified (or unreliable) information perception is ‘the
reality’ and guides human behavior in general”
1.1 Definition of Perception
According to Dr. Shirley Telles, Shreevidya Nagesh and Naveen K. V.
Shirley Telles, Ph.D., the word ‘perception’, known by Sanskrit terms as,
‘pratyakna’ and ‘aparokna’, where ‘pratyakna’ denotes a ‘pramana’ and
leads to direct and valid knowledge, exists from Vedic age. In many of
our ancient texts like the Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Patanjali and
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many schools of yoga, perception is one of the methods of knowledge
from sensory experience, which man shares with the lowest living beings,
up to the transcendental perception of ultimate reality claimed by great
mystics and seers of the world.
Forgus and Melamed have defined perception as “the process of
information extraction” (1976).
Forgus and Melamed based their
description of perception on cognitive structures and according to them,
“perceptions are the processes that determine how humans interpret their
surroundings”.
According to Steward L. Tubbs & Stylvia Mors “Perception is an
active process as one selectively perceives, organizes and interprets
what one experiences. Interpretations are based on the perceivers past
experiences, assumptions about human behavior, knowledge of the others
circumstances, present moods / wants / desires and expectations.”
According to D. Scott & Baydon “Perception is a selective process
as eye is capable of sensing much more data then the brain is capable
of processing. Six factors which enhance selectivity are background,
intensity, extensity, concreteness, contrast, velocity and impressivity.”
The Perceptions have been analyzed by Peter B. Warr, Christopher
Knapper in their book titled “the Perception of People and Events”
published by John Willey & Sons. They have tried to clarify perceptions as
personal perceptions and general perceptions. They felt that the behavior
of individuals is determined by the way they perceive each other and this
behavior gets affected by the general perceptions which may be direct or
which may be indirect.
As per Ludy T. Benjomin, J. Roy Hoppkins, Jack R. Nation (MacMillan)
perception is not only made of stimulus variables that make up our
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perceptual environment - like sounds, colours, shapes, textures, etc. but
other variables too which reside within the perceiver and are usually
labeled organismic variables. Thus perception is a result of stimulus
variables and organismic variables.
According to Encyclopedia Britannica Gestalt psychologist and other
psychologists have propounded the theory of perception of relations and
according to which the perception is relativistic rather than absolute.
According to it, an object has no perceived size except when it is compared
with another object.
Therefore, it can be concluded that perception is the interpretation of
stimuli as established by relating it to earlier perceptual sets which may
be by way of experience, exposure or any other interaction.
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1.2 Perception and Public Opinion
Public
‘Public’ according to Hold Reinhart & Winston, New York, may
designate any loose association of individuals held together by common
interests, common cultural base and various mechanical means of
communication. It lacks formal institutionalization and is transitory,
amorphous and relatively unstructured association. Robinson defines
‘Public’ as any group of people who have a common interest.
As per Herbert Blumer the term public is used to refer to a group
of people confronted by an issue, divided in their ideas and engaged in
discussion.
Thus public is a heterogeneous / unstructured group of individuals
held together due to an issue, interest or event.
Public Opinion
Holt Reinhart & Winston has defined opinion as belief or conviction
more verifiable and stronger in intensity than mere hunch or impression
but less valid and stronger than truly verifiable or positive knowledge.
Thus there is a difference between a fact and an opinion. Keeping in mind
the difference between fact and opinion, public opinion may be defined
as “beliefs, convictions or views of individuals on matters or issues of
widespread or public interest and concern”.
Some definitions of ‘public opinion’ have been compiled by Ulrich
Strauss. These are given as under:
W.W. Willoughby speaks of the Sovereignty of Public Opinion and the
power which Lieber (Political Ethics) defines as “the sense and sentiment
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of the community necessarily irresistible, showing its power everywhere”
and the power which “gives sense to the letter and life of the law without
which the written law is a mere husk”.
The Public Opinion, as per Cantril, has three major phases i.e. rise of
the issue, discussion, proposed solutions and arrival at consensus.
According to Lawrence Lowell there are 4 stages by which the
opinions can be formed. First stage is wherein the impressions are
formed which are positively or negatively reinforced by subsequent
interactions. In the second stage the issue is debated and the controversy
in the mind begins to settle which helps the perceiver to take up a definite
position on either side. In the third stage the perceiver takes a definite
side; and the fourth stage is reached when the action on the perception
becomes necessary.
As per S. Ganesh, “Public Opinion, although looks like a loosely held
opinion of individuals is much more than this. It is a strong opinion of the
people and with it people have come to exert their views on the decision
makers”.
Elizabeth M. Perse in “Shaping Public Opinion” while stating that
Public Opinion is something that is marked by being endorsed by a
number of people (a group) states that public opinion is not the expression
of narrow views of political isolates. Public Opinion focuses on matters of
political concern and that sentiments that large groups of people share are
not necessarily public opinion.
All these definitions have been summed up by Lester Markel as under
“Public Opinion in a democracy is a collective viewpoint powerful enough,
if the power is exerted, to influence public policy. It may be the viewpoint
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of a majority of the people, or, in the absence of an effective majority, the
viewpoint of an effective minority”.
The public in a democratic society with almost universal
communications is a dynamic and shifting body and not a homogenous
and stable one. Its viewpoint is subject to change, often swift change, by
statements of people of influence, their image and standing in a society.
Public opinion whether based on reality or perception can determine mass
behavior.
Relation between Perception and Public Opinion
In layman’s terms ‘Public Opinion’ is a collective view i.e. the sum
total of all that is thought and said on a subject or an event by a majority
of people or we can say it is majority view. In the words of James Bryce in
the book ‘Public Opinion and Propaganda’ “it is what any man (not every
man) says, i.e., it is the natural or the general thought or wish which an
occurrence evokes. According to him, every public opinion before being
crystallized has to pass through various stages. For example, in the first
stage when a person reads about the event or the subject this reading arouses
in his mind, sentiments of approval or disapproval which may be strong or
weak depending on his earlier experience/ impression, expectations and
his personal interests in the matter. They also arouse an expectation and
certain consequences likely to follow. These sentiments or expectations
are not based on any reasoning or any analysis but simply on impressions
formed at the spur of the movement. In the second stage this sentiment
starts settling when he interacts with people at say his work place or while
commuting to his work place or at his Coffee House and slowly these
impressions further start affecting him making his sentiment a definite
view. In the third stage these views after reading further information
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or collecting further information on the subject through various sources
start crystallizing into a conviction and is accepted by the majority of the
people leading to formation of a public opinion”.
As per this view, Perception is the first stage of the formation of
an opinion and is linked to experience, expectations and the general
impression. Public opinion regarding organizations thus gets initiated by
prevailing perceptions reinforced by experience, expectations and public
interface i.e. delivery of services.
Public opinion thus is a culmination of experience, impressions, beliefs,
convictions of an individual on matters or issues which may have public
interest or concern. Here individuals favour or support some definite
conditions, person or proposal of widespread importance in a way that it
affects the action of all the concerned in a particular way. For an organization
public opinion is basically a demand or an expectation and involves a phase
of expression and intensity depending upon the issue concerned whether
it is general or it affects a number of individuals directly or indirectly. The
intensity depends upon the number of people it affects.
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Thus perception is the first impression which may be true or not but
if allowed to settle it becomes a conviction or belief leading to formation
of opinion. Once an opinion is formed it becomes like a hardboiled egg
which is very difficult to change. Perception or impression, the first step
in opinion formation can be formed by experience, by the issue concerned,
the utterings of professionals, politicians or statesmen or the people within
the organization and travel to affect the largest number of people. The
acts and responses of the opinion makers upon the mass and of the mass
upon them is the most crucial part of the whole process by which opinion
is produced. There is no doubt that it affects the behavior of public and
media towards organizations.
1.3 Difference between Perception and Attitude
According to Peter B. Warr and Christopher, the line between
perception and attitude is clearly a blurred but there are three clear points
of difference:
1. In the first place attitudes are generally taken to be relatively
permanent structures which are in most instances fairly resistant
to change. Perception on the other hand is more transitory and
flexible.
2. Attitudes may have as their objects more general or abstract
entities than do perceptions. One may hold an attitude concerning,
say, communism or academic freedom but one cannot be said to
perceive these in anything other than a very loose sense.
3. The third difference between attitude and perception is more
fundamental: it is implicit in the definition of perception that this
only occurs in the presence of a stimulus. Yet the more permanent
generalized nature of an attitude allows it to persist when no
stimulus is present.
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There is clearly an interplay between attitude and perception.
Perception is influenced by attitude, and change and development of
attitude is dependent upon the way a source person and his message are
perceived. Yet the two concepts are separate.
Thus, perception and attitude are diverse as the former is not
permanent and keeps on changing whereas the attitude is permanent in
nature and resistant to change.
1.4 Perception and Behaviour
The way individuals behave with each other is clearly in part
determined by the manner in which they perceive each other. According
to Hammod, Wilkins and Todd (1966) “the way people learn to relate to
others is presumably affected by their ability to learn to perceive them
accurately. The nature of interaction between personal perception and
interpersonal behavior is complex and is yet incompletely known, but
existence of some interaction is beyond question.”
In an organization the behavior of public dealing with it depends
on its perception. For example, if a person approaches a Government
organization and a private/multi-national organization, the way of
approach and behavior will be different. It is because multi-national
/private organizations have a perception of being helpful modern
organization whereas Govt. organizations have the perception of being
monolithic and too procedural organizations.
In a research paper by Ki. Jung–Evun, the researchers tested a model
that posits the linkages among perceptions of the organization – public
relationships, attitude and behavioural intentions towards an organization.
This research was based on the hypotheses that public perception of a
relationship affects the attitude and behavioral intentions towards the
organization.
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For an organization the formation of attitude of public is a slow process
which becomes permanent when perceptions are allowed settle which
may be generated through delivery of services, fulfilling the mandate or
any other interaction. It also depends upon the communication patterns
and the related components of the perception of the organization. If the
communication is steady and is in consonance with performance, the
perceptions will match reality and thus develop the right opinion, attitude
and behavior of public towards the organization.
1.5 Perception and Media
According to S. Ganesh “The mass media communication provides
information to people on number of aspects relating to public opinion of
an issue and it provides solutions or it suggests solutions to an issue. We
know about many of the events happening in our immediate environment
not because of anything else but often because of mass media. Thus media
performs the function of correlation and socialization to us. Harwood L.
Child says that the “Press is an important factor in the formation of public
opinion. But there is little evidence to prove this perspective.”
Elizabeth M. Perse in the study ‘Do Media Have Effects’ has concluded
that the media effects are grounded in the belief that mass communication
has noticeable effects over individuals, society and culture. Evidence for
these effects, though is problematic. One the hand, despite consistence
findings of effects, the variance accounted for is typically small. Secondly
strongest effects are usually relegated to laboratory settings, which
are artificial. According to him, there are several reasons to expect that
research underestimates media effects like models, theories and methods
as imprecise. In case of organizations, the media influence according
to sociologists Melvin De Fleur and Sandra Ball – Rokeach (1975) is
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guided by social categories perspective, which holds that there are groups
in the social world who tend to react to any particular media message
in similar ways.
Karan Thapar in a middle in H.T. dated 29th March, 2009 titled
“Perception vs. Truth” wrote as to how perceptions can be far from reality.
He was commenting on Obama’s first press conference where he called
himself a ‘mutt’ as he happens to be half black and half white. His mother
a Christian and father a Muslim. But the overall perception is that he is
a Christian. According to this piece of writing even though perception
about Gandhi’s (Smt. Indira Gandhi & family) is that they are Hindu,
in reality they are a ‘pot pourri-kichdi’ of various religions - such as
Sanjay and Rajiv Gandhi were half-Parsi and half-Hindu.
Similarly,
Rahul, Priyanka and Varun are three-quarters non-Hindus and only
a quarter Hindu.
Media has a great influence on perception whereas the reverse is also
true as media reporting whether true or untrue go with the general opinion
or view point and thereby the acceptance of audiences as that is what sells.
Secondly, today media in its hurry to report first, disregards ethics or any
extensive investigation, reporting whatever is known - directly or indirectly.
Many times it is judgemental in its reporting as in the case of Arushi Murder
and is thereby able to sway opinions creating perceptions contrary to the
reality. This happens due to intense competition within the newspapers /
media to break the news first. The media is thus guided by :
(1) Popular perceptions
(2) Competitiveness within the media
(3) Ensuring public acceptance by arousing curiosity
i.e. sensationalization
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Effect of Audio Visual Media on Perception
According to Jennings Byant, Graber (1996) noted that audio-visuals
in the news are uniquely successful in creating a sense of reality and a
sense of actually witnessing an event makes these images powerful
tools for manipulating media audiences. For example image of atrocities
inflicted on women or children evoke sympathy. The recent reporting
and coverage of CWG scams created hatred for Sh. Suresh Kalmadi, the
Chairman of Organising Committee much before he was proven guilty.
1.6 Organizational Perception and its Components
The nature of perception has been pondered by psychologists and
philosophers for centuries and still there is no formally accepted definition.
As reported by Peter B. Warr and Christopher Knapper “The guidelines
of specification have of course long been sketched in but about the final
details there is still much uncertainty. It is clear that in some sense
perception involves an interaction or transaction between an individual
and his environment. He receives information from the external world
which in some way modifies his experience and behavior. But beyond
statements of this order of generality there are few formulations which
are universally accepted”.
Organizational perceptions depend on a number of factors. Many
scholars have tried to establish as to how perceptions get generated in an
organization. As per S. Ganeshan “In an organization, perceptions are
generated by policies, programmes, their implementation or by the work
done, delivery of services, or even by interpersonal and intrapersonal
relations. The perception of reality to be in the right frame is as important
as reality itself. But if there is a gap between reality and perception even
the reality can be belied to create an illusion far away from reality leading
to unexpected public behavior.”
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In a research study titled “Expanding the Organisation Public Relations
Scale” the relationship between the service provider and customer was
studied through survey. It was found that such relationship had four
dimensions / components (i) Anthropomorphism i.e. the way organization
demonstrates positive human qualities (i.e trustworthiness, open and
willing to invest in the relationship) which can be construed to be good
customer relations (ii) Professional benefits / Expectations represent a public
perception of professionalism of the organization which can be construed
as image (iii) Personal commitment is wanting to maintain relationships,
feeling linked to the organization. In simple words it can be construed as
creating identity where employees as well as customers identify with the
organization (iv) Community Improvement meaning
thereby that the
organization is working for good of the community. The result from this
research also established that an organization’s relationship with the public
is multi-dimensional.
Human behavior is complex and there are no set rules or principles
which can be identified that govern the behavior but there is a general belief
based on experience that the behavior is regulated by certain circumstances,
conditions or cultures, experiences, etc. In a similar fashion perceptions
also get influenced by factors such as one’s experience by learning through
circumstances or by the utterings of known personalities including media.
As we know, perception is response to stimulus. Similarly, an individuals
relationship with social stimulus objects like people and groups evaluate
attitudes of attraction or repulsion, playing an important role in the
perception of non-social stimuli. In organizations the perception of reality
may be a part of a larger whole which we cannot perceive. It may be having
components which indirectly contribute to the whole in a big way. It may
be linked to reality or not but it determines the opinion and behavior of
stakeholders.
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