IGNOU : M.COM : MCO 1 : UNIT 6 : Q - 1. What do you mean by perception? What are the uses of studying about perception?

 Ans. The dictionary meaning of the word ‘perceive’ is- to take in mentally, to become aware through the senses. In simple language Perception may be defined as the way a person sees the universe, he feels about certain elements in a situation. Baron defines Perception as the process through which we select, organise, and interpret input from our sensory receptors. Robbins defines Perception as a process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment. Nord defines Perception as the manner in which a person organises, interprets, and processes various stimuli that are transmitted into a psychological experience. Each person gives meaning to stimuli, different individuals will see the same thing in different ways.

 

Importance and Uses of Perception

As a concept, perception has important place in the subject of Organisational Behaviour (OB). OB deals with human behaviour at work place, and perception is an important determinant of behaviour. People behave on the basis of their perception of the reality, not on the basis of the reality itself. We may say, the world does not appear to us as it is, but it appears as painted by our perception of the world. This statement establishes the importance and uses of perception on the one hand, and limitations of perception on the other. We shall first examine importance and uses of perception.

Perception helps us adapt to a complex and ever-changing environment through perceptual constancies. Constancies refer to our tendency to perceive physical objects as unchanging despite shifts in the pattern of sensations these objects induce. Perceptual constancies suggest that our perception of the world doesn’t change as much as variations in the sensory information registered by our receptors might lead us to expect. Three types of constancies are more common: size constancy, shape constancy, and brightness constancy. The principle of size constancy relates to the fact that the perceived size of an object remains the same when the distance is varied, even though the size of the image it casts on the retina changes greatly. The principle of shape constancy refers to the fact that the perceived shape of an object does not alter as the image it casts on the retina changes. The principle of brightness constancy refers to the fact that we perceive objects as constant in brightness and colour even when viewed under different lighting conditions. These three principles suggest that the gap between sensations and the perceptions provided by the constancies is clearly beneficial.