Subprocesses of Perception

The existence of several subprocesses gives evidence of the complexity and the
interactive nature of perception. Figure 6.1 shows how these subprocesses relate to one
another. The first important subprocessis the
stimulus
or
situation
that is present. Perception begins when a person is confronted with a stimulusor a situation. This
confrontation may be with the immediate sensual stimulation or with the total physicaland
sociocultural environment. An example is the employee who is confronted with his or her
supervisor or with the total formal organizational environment. Either one or both
may initiate the employee's perceptual process. In other words, this represents the stimulus
situation interacting with the person.In addition to the situation-person interaction, there are the
internal cognitive processes of
registration,interpretation, and feedback
. During the registration phenomenon, the physiological (sensory and neural)mechanisms are
affected; the physiological ability to hear and see will affect perception. Interpretation isthe
most significant cognitive aspect of perception. The other psychological processes
will affect theinterpretation of a situation. For example, in an organization, employees'
interpretations of a situation arelargely dependent on their learning and motivation and
their personality. An example would be thekinesthetic feedback (sensory impressions from
muscles) that helps manufacturing workers perceive thespeed of materials moving by them in the
production process. An example of psychological feedback thatmay influence an employee's
perception is the supervisor's raised eyebrow or a change in voice inflection.Research has shown
that both facial expressions and the specific situation will influence perceptions of certain
emotions, such as fear, anger, or pain. The behavioral termination of perception is the reaction
or behavior, either overt or covert, which is necessary if perception is to be considered
a behavioral eventand thus an important part of organizational behavior. As a result of
perception, an employee may moverapidly or slowly (overt behavior) or make a self-evaluation
(covert behavior).

FIGURE 6.1