Organizational behaviourSensory Perception & Cognition

Lecture 2

Sensory Perception and Cognition

What is reality? Its relative not absolute

Receptors Eye-electromagnetic energy, photoreceptors (primary visual cortex) Ear-air waves, mechanoreceptors (Auditory cortex) Tactile/haptic-tissue distortion, skin, (somatosensory cortex) Tongue-aromatic chemicals, mechanoreceptors, (organoleptic and olfactory cortex)

Sensory Store

Attention Mechanism

Various parts of memory that

hold unanalyzed receptor input.

The attention mechanism selects

and blocks perceptual

information for pattern recognition.

Visual/spatial, auditory, haptic, olfactory, organoleptic and

motoristic

Selection Perception recognition and interpretation.

Recognizes and determines which

information a person will use and

remember.

Long Term Memory

Heuristics, biases and

other influencing

mechanisms.

A working limited capacity memory carrying out the functions of rehearsal,

coding, decisions and strategies.

Long term storage memory where short term memory

retrieves and deposits information.

Output Responses

External Stimuli

Environmental energy Inputs

Psychotic, Behavioral and

Cognitive Distortion

Conversion of environmental

energy to neural impulses

(Arrows represent neural transmissions)

Temporary Working (Short Term) Memory

Pattern Recognition

Visual

Patterning Bias

Phonological

Also includes smell, taste and

sensations.

Where information is patterned and sequences in a way our mind

self organizes.

Perceptual Cognition

Mental Cognition Decision Making

Processes

Overview of the cognitive process

Out brain can only process one piece of information at

a time

Yellow Blue Orange Black Red Green Purple Yellow Red Orange Green Black Blue Red Purple Green Blue Orange

Try to say each colour ignoring what is written you will find a cognitive conflict between the word and the colour.

Neural Cell Structure

Feature Level

Letter Level Word level

Memory

Visu

al I

nput

Three cognitive strategies to determine the meaning of writing

• Teh tree fell dwon the side of teh hill

• Evrybody msut stduy to pass the exams

This is why we can still comprehend the sentences above

Emotions influence our decisions before reasoning, a leftover from our primal existence.

Is it rationality or emotion you that makes you decide to buy a car like

this?

Perceptual Information

Memory

Reasoning

Perceptual Biases (Discussed in

chapter)

Figure 4.5. Our Prior knowledge is made up of both truth and beliefs.

Knowledge Belief Truth

Imagination

Memory

Why do we buy fine fragrances?

Figure 1. The olfactory interpretation process from input to response.

Heaven Strategy (Dan Hill 2010)

Emotional Response

Response Rate

Negative Positive

Low

High

More negative/high

response

More positive/lower

response

More negative/lower

response

More positive/highe

r response

Mental Cognition

Working Memory Function Control

Maintains task goals in working memory, selects actions, maintains task information during distraction and suppresses irrelevant information.

Controlled attention of information blocks interference and prevents decay.

Activates retrieval of information from long term memory Encodes and sends information for storage in long term

memory Plays major role in logical reasoning and decision making

Working Memory Store

Interface between environment and long term memory Maintains information above the threshold Allows loss or decay of information below threshold

Long Term memory

Visual-spatial Processing

Phonological Processing

(Controlled Attention)

Running a 100m race

Warm up

Stretching

Jogging

“Run Throughs”

Fast sprints

Practice starts

Relax

Pre-Start

Fix Start Blocks Change shoes

Size up competitors

Take off track suit

Wait for call up Stand behind

blocks

Call up

Start

Attention

Whistle

Get on marks

Call to marks

Set position

Call to set

‘Explode off blocks’

Gun

Race

Accelerate hard first part

Run relax and coast

Final acceleration to finish line

Dip at line

Slow down

Script

A Metaphoric View of a Relational Memory Network.

Existing Schema

(Prior Knowledge)

New Experience

Created Interpretation

Experience unable to coordinate new

experience with existing schema

Modified Schema

Time

Use of metaphor to understand and solve problems

If solved will lead to reinforcement of existing schema

New feelings & emotions Present feelings & emotions

Learning

The cognitive process of learning

Experience introduces feeling & emotion to learning

The ongoing story construct

Concept

Potential Scenarios

Cognitive Tools

Environmental Information

Perc

eptu

al B

iase

s

Prior Knowledge

Personal Desires

Organizational Goals

New Knowledge

Developed Idea

1

2

3

4

+

+

Consistent with personal and organizational goals, in accordance with prior

knowledge, enhanced with new knowledge and developed and verified with various cognitive

tools.

Narrative

Visual Spatial

The Cognitive Thinking Process and Idea Evolution

Incr

easi

ng A

vaila

bilit

y

Increasing Usefulness

Word of Mouth

Media Reports

Data

Information

knowledge

Wisdom

Reasoning

Fallacies

Misconceptions

Abstract Inferences

Heuristics

Decision Making

Cognitive Biases Ideas

Strategy

Faulty or invalid premises

Experience Attribute

Substitution

Potential Creativity Process

(Circumvents logic &

perception)

Intuition

Summary of factors influencing our thinking

Narrative gives meaning – without narrative there is no meaning

Behavior

Influencers

“Who I am” “What I do”

Sense of self. ego, encoded

assumptions, beliefs and values.

Expectations, goals, self regulating restraints, etc.

The Psych

Personality Traits

Feedback

Out

com

es

Prior Knowledge

Wor

ld a

nd w

ork

expe

rienc

e, e

duca

tion,

cul

ture

, fam

ily u

pbrin

ging

, etc

.

Perc

eptio

n Alertness

Motivation

“How I feel”

Skills

Strategic Outlook Creativity

Propensity to Action

Talents and Abilities

Interpersonal

Personal Paradigms

A Trigger Situation

Motivational Trigger

Idea GAP

External event or internal feelings

Figure 3.32. The Potential Socio-psycho Factors that Influence Opportunity Discovery and Behavior.

Perfumer Excellence

Knowledge (vocabulary) of

odorous substances

Knowledge of potential strengths,

weaknesses and applications of

odorous materials

Knowledge of outstanding

fragrance creations within the domain

Practical knowledge & experience

Olfactory sensitivity

Time, patience, perseverance

Interest and passion

Imagination

Knowledge Base Emotion

Cognitive Skill Creativity Tool

Process & Product

Curiosity, enquiry and

experimentation

Figure 4.1. Creativity is Domain Specific: The elements of creativity for a perfumer

Field Dependence-Independence Perception

Embedded Figures Test (EFT) Witkin 1954, 1973, 1977

Raw materials

Transport

Production Transport

Warehouse

Supermarket

Community

Farm

Transport

Education

Research & Development

Management

Fossil Fuels Pollution

Power generation

Export/Import

Air Transport

Waste

Competition & Tension

Conflict

Government

Diversity

Economic Growth

Health Development Poverty &

Unhappiness

Consumption

Uncertainty

New Paradigms

Regulation

Do we view the environment as a system or focus on something?

What can you remember with once glimpse?

We view the world through field dependence or independence

Left Hand Side

Sequential processing, A to b to C Looks at facts and detailed information Splits the world into concrete and

identifiable categories Logical cause and effect reasoning Linear thinking from task to task Follows on pre-existing fixed rules Maths and science Statistically inclined Systematic appraisal Thinks in words and language Utilizes the concept of time, past and

present Objective reality based Logically strategizes Splits things apart Knows Acknowledges Reality based Realistic Safety, risk adverse

Right Hand Side

Holistic processing, big picture orientated

Visual and spatial Looks at the whole rather than pieces Analogic: sees similarities and

resemblances Feelings and emotional thought Philosophy and religion Thinks in images Transformative Intuitive Looks for relationships, patterns, makes

associations Looks for unbounded connections Lumps things together: connector Imagination Present and future orientated Looks at possibilities Uses symbols and images Believes Appreciates Fantasy based Impetuous Adventurous, risk taker

Ways to Develop Left and Right Hemisphere Skills

Left Hemisphere Skills Right Hemisphere Skills1. Step by step planning 1. Using metaphors & of your work and life activities analogies to describe things 2. Reading philosophy 2. Taking off your watch3. Establishing timetables when you are not working for all your activities 3. Listening to music4. Using and working with 4. Suspending your a computer program initial judgment of ideas, people TV shows etc 5. Recording your hunches, feelings, and intuitions and calculating their accuracy 6. Detailed fantasizing and visualising things and situations in the future 7. Drawing faces, caricatures and landscapes

The Four Part Brain

1. Sensory2. Visual

3. Rational

4. Emotional

New Ideas Unknown Opportunities

Developing Strategies Solving Problems

Surrounding Environment

“Domain” &“Field”

Environmental Factors conducive

to creativity

Environmental Factors that

hinder creativity

Motivational Trigger

Internal Influencing Factors

Focus & Attention Creative Sensitivity Energy Emotion Curiosity Empathy Confidence Discipline Interest Passion

Prior Knowledge

Perception

Patterning

Patterned Thinking Processes

Creative Product

Applied Thinking Tools,

Manifestations & Elaborations Domain & Field

Acceptance/ Rejection

Memory Heuristics

Belief Imagination

Fantasy Experience

Tacit Knowledge

Awar

enes

s

Source of intelligence &

Thinking Processes

(Self Organizing System)

The concept of creative intelligence

Personality

Thinking

Feeling

Sens

ation

Intuition

Introversion

Extroversion

Extroversion Introversion

Expressive, outgoing, energized by things, people and events, act or speak before they think, share information easily, prefer the company of others, easily distracted, have a lot of friends, uninhibited, like working in groups, easily approachable, like meeting new people, develop ideas through discussion.

Quiet, shy, energized by ideas, feelings and impressions, think before they speak, reluctant to share information, prefer to be left alone, can concentrate well, have a small close group of friends, inhibited socially, like to work alone, prefer to keep to themselves, ideas come from thinking alone.

Thinking Feeling

Value facts and figures, look for the truth, use logic and reasoning to make decisions, driven by rationality, notice wrong reasoning and illogical thinking in arguments, speak their mind, firm with people, use justice in speaking with others, can be seen as cold and heartless, impersonal, objective, critical, prefers a logical impersonal atmosphere, thick-skinned.

Value harmony, use personal feelings in making decisions, passionate about issues, empathetic with people, merciful, takes things personally, subjective, prefers a warm friendly atmosphere, thin-skinned.

Sensation Intuition

Focused on the physical world, live by their senses, concrete, interested in ‘what is’, realistic, practical, understands details and particulars, sees only the obvious, down to earth, uses words literally, lives in the present, needs evidence and facts, traditional and simple, sees the trees instead of the forest.

Focused on the mental or spiritual world, uses hunches and gut feeling, abstract, interested in what can be, idealistic, imaginative, understands meaning and generalities, looks beyond the surface, head in the clouds, deep thinker, uses metaphors, analogies and hidden meanings, lives in the future, speculative and theoretical, original and complex, and sees the big picture.

Table 3.20. Some Traits and Characteristics of the Ego-Functions.

There are so many ways to define personality

The External World

The Conscious World

The Personal Unconscious

The Collective Unconscious

Anima/Animus (opposite sex qualities)

The Shadow (Denied and Suppressing Psychic Material)

Archetypes

The Persona (Self Image)

The Ego Consciousness

The Transcended Self

Patterning

Usually seen as one

Jung’s personality Archetypes

Ego Concept

Sense and view of the world & reality

Inner drive - aggressive/destructive - sensitive/appreciative

Obtainment strategies Libidinal love for outside

world/internal world Self confidence Responsibility Accountability Drive/Courage

Influences Attention

Personality Situation/Life Experience

Capacity to Synthesize

Motivation

Thoughts

Feelings & Emotions

Desires

Discipline

External Stimuli

Filter Mechanism

Defense Mechanisms

The role of ego in cognition

Wisdom (emotion & experience)

Cognitive processing (creativity)

Multiple Intelligences

Thinking Typologies

General Intelligence

(Memory & I)

The basis of our skills and abilities used alone or

supplement other thinking typologies (our most primitive type of thinking) – wider than

Gardner’s MI

Mainly developed academic learning which creates formal knowledge. This formal knowledge can supplement other thinking typologies as it is fairly useless on its own. – left hemisphere

Based on experience, awareness, reflection, mixed emotion and imagination, very intuitive based thinking. Useful for strategic and visionary thinking and solving problems based on past patterns. Can be and is influenced by G and MI – more right hemisphere but uses both

Frontal lobe and coordinated right/left hemisphere thinking. Can be greatly enhanced using specific cognitive tools that can be learned. Can be supplemented by other thinking typologies. Heavy use imagination/metaphor/symbolic. Problem solving & creating new ideas

Instinctive

Solution

Knowledge

Application Co

nnec

tive

Fluid

ity

Mem

ory

Emoti

ve

Empathy ExerciseSome people don’t realize we are doing destructive things that hurt others

[67]. Sometimes this hurt can lead to grave and serious illness. If we switch our self from the usual “I am” to a different viewpoint, i.e., the feeling of being superior, equal, or inferior to another, from one of these viewpoints we can generate new sets of emotions. For example, if we take a superior view point to others we may generate intensive highhandedness. If we view others as equals we may generate feelings of jealousy and competitiveness, and if we view others from an inferior position, we may generate feelings of jealousy and envy. This helps us see the perspectives of our false sense of ourselves and the source of our behaviours. If we can substitute humility for our emotions (humility does not mean subservience or inferiority), we can see our relationships without the emotional intensities that existed before. We can see our inter-connectiveness, how our actions hurt people, and how we stray from our innate morality.

Listening Exercise• The simple act of listening shows how we sometimes wander through life with a low

level of awareness. How many times when someone is speaking to you, are you preoccupied with other things? How often do we daydream when others are speaking? How often do you believe that what you think is right and what the other has to say is not worth listening to? How often are you just waiting for an opportunity to espouse what you think? How often are you just thinking of rebuttals, arguments against what a person is saying rather than actually listening to the content of what they are actually saying? How often are you making judgments about the person speaking or what they are saying? How often are you looking for an opportunity to disagree, agree, or run away? How often are you evaluating and comparing what a person is saying against what you believe? How often do you fail to seek clarification about something you don’t understand? Do you try and control the interaction by trying to dominate the conversation? Our listening habits usually show that our level of personal awareness is low and we are influenced by so much of our own emotion just in the act of listening to someone. This is at the cost of seeing new perspectives and exercising our ability to empathize with others.

• The ability to listen effectively is a powerful tool in developing awareness, empathy, humility, and consequently understand new perspectives. Listening is much more than hearing, it involves being attentive to what others say, observing emotion, behaviour and body language, facial expressions, and fighting off our own internal distractions that lessen of ability to listen. Listening requires much more discipline, attention, and concentration than we expect. Think about it, how much self discipline do we need to really effectively listen to someone? Once we have achieved the discipline, attention, and concentration really needed to listen, we realize how powerful a tool listening is in understanding what a person has to say, and from where emotionally a person is saying it. Listening skills can be developed and refined through active and reflective listening techniques, where the listener repeats, paraphrases and reflects upon what the speaker is saying as a means of clarifying the message that the speaker is intending to convey to us [92].