Internal Factors Influencing The Perception Process

The internal set of factors are as under:

a) Habit
b) Motivation and interest
c) Learning
d) Organizational and specialization
e) Economic and social background
f) Personality

Habit: Habits die hard and therefore individuals perceive objects, situations and conditions differently according to their habits. A Hindu will bow and do Namaskar when he sees a temple while walking on road, because of his well-established habit. These are several instances in life settings where individuals tend to react with the right response to the wrong signals. Thus a retired soldier may throw himself on the ground when he hears a sudden burst of car tyre.

Motivation and interest: Two examples of motivational factors are hunger and thirst. Motivational factors increase the individual's sensitivity to those stimuli which he considers as relevant to the satisfaction of his needs in view of his past experience with them. A thirsty individual has a perceptual set to seek a water fountain or a hotel to quench his thirst, which increases for him likelihood of perceiving restaurant signs and decreases the likelihood of visualizing other objects at that moment in time. A worker who has a strong need for affiliation, when walks into the lunchroom, the table where several coworkers are sitting tends to be perceived and the empty table or the table where only one person is sitting will attract no attention.

Learning: The state of learning influences and plays a crucial role in the perception process. However, it should be recognized that the role of learning is more pronounced in respect of complex forms of perception where the symbolic content creeps into the process. Although interrelated with motivation and personality, learning may play the single biggest role in developing perceptual set.

People perceive as per their levels of learning. it is therefore essential for the organization to make its employees knowledgeable and educated for their effective performance and behaviour. The learning of managers and workers is a twin requirement.

Organizational role and specialization: The modern organizations value specialization. Consequently the specialty of a person that casts him in a particular organizational role predisposes him to select certain stimuli and to disregard others. Thus in a lengthy report a departmental head will first notice the text relating to his department.

Economic and social background: The employee perceptions are based on economic and social backgrounds. Socially and economically developed employees have a more positive attitude towards development rather than less developed employees.

Personality: The personality of the perceiver as well as the stimulator have an impact on the perception process. The age, sex, race, dress, etc of both the persons have a direct influence on the perception process.

Tutorial Activity

• Explain the external factors that influence the perception process.
• Explain the internal factors that influence the perception process.