Chapter 3: Personality, Perception, and Attribution 1
3PERSONALITY, PERCEPTION, and ATTRIBUTION
Chapter Scan
This chapter begins a two-chapter approach examining individual differences. Much of this chapter is related to interactional psychology, and the advances made regarding personality and behavior in specific situations. Personality characteristics discussed are locus of control, self-efficacy, self-esteem, self-monitoring, and positive/negative affect. Personality theories explained are trait theory, psychodynamic theory, humanistic theory, and the integrative approach. The chapter also examines how social perceptions influence the way we view the world, and how attributions influence how we assign causality for behaviors.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading this chapter, you should be able to do the following:
1.Describe individual differences and their importance in understanding behavior.
2.Define personality.
3.Explain four theories of personality.
4.Identify several personality characteristics and their influences on behavior in
organizations.
5.Explain how personality is measured.
6.Discuss Carl Jung’s contribution to our understanding of individual differences, and explain how his theory is used in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.
7.Define social perception and explain how characteristics of the perceiver, the target, and the situation affect it.
8.Identify five common barriers to social perception.
9.Explain the attribution process and how attributions affect managerial behavior.
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Chapter 3: Personality, Perception, and Attribution
KEY TERMS
Chapter 3 introduces the following key terms:
individual differencesinteractional psychology
personalitytrait theory
psychodynamic theoryhumanistic theory
integrative approachlocus of control
generalized self-efficacyself-esteem
self-monitoringpositive affect
negative affectstrong situation
projective testbehavioral measures
self-report questionnaireMyers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) extraversion introversion
sensingintuiting
thinkingfeeling
judgingperceiving
social perceptiondiscounting principle
selective perceptionstereotype
first-impression errorprojection
self-fulfilling prophecyimpression management
attribution theoryfundamental attribution error
self-serving bias
the CHAPTER SUMMArized
I.THINKING AHEAD: How Norman Brinker Made His Mark (and His Fortune)
II.INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES AND ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
This chapter explores differences in individuals’ skills, abilities, personalities, perceptions, attitudes, values, and ethics.
Interactional psychology offers a useful approach to understanding individuals in organizations. This approach emphasizes understanding the person and the situations in order to understand human behavior.
III.PERSONALITY
Personality is an individual difference that lends consistency to a person’s behavior. Both heredity and environmental forces shape personality.
A.Personality Theories
The four major theories of personality are listed in order of their time frame of study, with trait theory research rare in today's literature.
1.Trait Theory
Trait theory states that in order to understand individuals, we must break down behavior patterns into a series of observable traits.
2.Psychodynamic Theory
The second important theory is based on the work of Sigmund Freud. Psychodynamic theory emphasizes the unconscious determinants of behavior.
3.Humanistic Theory
Humanistic theory emphasizes individual growth and improvement, as popularized by Carl Rogers.
4.Integrative Approach
The integrative approach describes personality as a composite of an individual's psychological processes.
B.Personality Characteristics in Organizations
Hundreds of personality characteristics have been identified that are relevant to personality. Some characteristics with interesting implications in organizations are locus of control, self-esteem, self-efficacy, self-monitoring, and positive/negative affect.
1. Locus of Control
The degree to which individuals perceive control over a situation being internal or external is called locus of control. Locus of controlrefers to the range of beliefs that individuals hold in terms of being controlled by self (internal locus) or controlled by others or the situation (external locus).
2.Self-Efficacy
Generalized self-efficacy refers to a belief about one’s own ability to deal with events and challenges. High self-efficacy results in greater confidence in one’s job-related abilities to function effectively on the job. Success in previous situations leads to increased self-efficacy for present and future challenges.
3.Self-Esteem
An individual's self-worth is referred to as self-esteem. Individuals with high self-esteem have positive feelings about themselves. Low self-esteem individuals are strongly affected by what others think of them, and view themselves negatively.
4.Self-Monitoring
The extent to which people base their behavior on cues from other people and situations is self-monitoring. Individuals high in self-monitoring pay attention to what behavior is appropriate in certain situations by watching others and behaving accordingly. Low self-monitoring individuals prefer that their behavior reflects their attitudes, and are not as flexible in adapting their behavior to situational cues.
5.Positive/Negative Affect
Individuals exhibit attitudes about situations in a positive or negative fashion. An individual's tendency to accentuate the positive aspects of situations is referred to as positive affect, while those accentuating less optimistic views are referred to as having negative affect. Employees with positive affect are absent from work less often. Negative affect individuals report higher levels of job stress.
C.Measuring Personality
There are a host of methods that can be used to measure and assess personality. The most popular are projective tests, behavioral measures, and self-report questionnaires. In projective tests, individuals describe what they see in images they are shown. Behavioral measures involve observation of behavior in controlled situations. Individuals respond to a series of questions in self-report questionnaires.
IV.A POPULAR APPLICATION OF PERSONALITY THEORY IN ORGANIZATIONS: THE MYERS-BRIGGS TYPE INDICATOR
Carl Jung developed the Jungian theory of individual differences. The MBTI is an instrument to measure this theory. Jung suggested that human similarities and differences could be understood by combining performance. People are not exclusively one way or another; there is a preference for extraversion or introversion, just as there is for right- or left-handedness.
A.The Preferences
The combination of the four basic preferences indicates a person’s psychological type.
1.Extraversion/Introversion
Extroverts are energized by interactions with others while introverts prefer time
alone.
2.Sensing/Intuiting
Sensors gather information through the five senses. Intuitors gather
information through a “sixth sense.”
3.Thinking/Feeling
Thinkers make logical, objective decisions. Feelers make decisions in a more personal way.
4.Judging/Perceiving
Judgers have a preference for closure and organization in their life while perceivers are more spontaneous and try to keep their options open.
B.The Sixteen Types
The four preferences can be combined to form sixteen psychological types. Types are not
inherently good or bad. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses.
V.SOCIAL PERCEPTION
Social perception affects the way we view the world around us. It is the process of interpreting information about other people, a process heavily used by management.
A.Characteristics of the Perceiver
Several characteristics of a perceiver define one's perception of another person. Familiarity with the person being perceived leads the perceiver to believe that he or she understands the intentions of the individual. Attitudes and moods also affect one’s impressions of others. The perceiver's self-concept leads to a more negative or positive view of the attributes of others. Finally, a person’s cognitive structure, or pattern of thinking, affects his or her perception of others.
B.Characteristics of the Target
The person being perceived influences the social perception process through a combination of physical appearance, verbal and nonverbal communication, and apparent intentions.
C.Characteristics of the Situation
The social context in which you meet an individual has a great deal to do with perceiving the individual positively or negatively. The strength of the situational cues also affects person perception. Strong situational cues lead to the assumption that the situation prompts a person's behavior rather than his/her own personality.
D.Barriers to Social Perception
There are five distinct barriers to social perception, which are: selective perception, stereotyping, first-impression error, projection, and self-fulfilling prophecies.
Selective perception is the process of selecting information that supports our individual viewpoints while discounting information that threatens our viewpoints. This approach leads to verbal rationalizations. When we stereotype an individual, we generalize and do not allow his or her individual strengths to be relevant to our perception of him or her. First impression error is the tendency to form lasting opinions about an individual based on the initial meeting or perception. This is a major difficulty with hiring from interviews, where the first impression lasts into the socialization process. Projection involves the tendency to assume that other people are similar to us and that our own values and beliefs are appropriate. In some cases, our expectations affect the way we interact with others to produce a certain outcome. This is referred to as a self-fulfilling prophecy.
E.Impression Management
The conscious monitoring and manipulation of others' opinions is referred to as impression management.
VI.ATTRIBUTION IN ORGANIZATIONS
As humans, we are naturally curious about the causes of our behavior and the behavior of others. The process of assigning causality to behavior is referred to as attribution.
A.Internal and External Attributions
The process of connecting behavior and performance to specific internal or external sources of control is known as attribution.
B.Attributional Biases
There are two common errors that affect the attribution process: self-serving bias, and the fundamental attribution error. Fundamental attribution error is the tendency to make attributions to internal causes when focusing on someone else's behavior. Self-serving bias is the tendency to attribute one's own successes to internal causes and one's failures to external causes.
VII.MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS: USING PERSONALITY, PERCEPTION, AND ATTRIBUTION AT WORK
VIII.LOOKING BACK: Brinker International
CHAPTER SUMMARy
Individual differences are factors that make individuals unique. They include personalities, perceptions, skills and abilities, attitudes, values, and ethics.
The trait theory, psychodynamic theory, humanistic theory, and integrative approach are all personality theories.
Managers should understand personality because of its effect on behavior. Several characteristics affect behavior in organizations, including locus of control, self-esteem, self-efficacy, self-monitoring, and positive/negative affect.
Personality has a stronger influence in weak situations, where there are few cues to guide behavior.
One useful framework for understanding individual differences is type theory, developed by Carl Jung and measured by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).
Social perception is the process of interpreting information about another person. It is influenced by characteristics of the perceiver, the target, and the situation.
Barriers to social perception include selective perception, stereotyping, first impression error, projection, and self-fulfilling prophecies.
Impression management techniques such as name-dropping, managing one's appearance, self-descriptions, flattery, favors, and agreement are used by individuals to control others' impressions of them.
Attribution is the process of determining the cause of behavior. It is used extensively by managers, especially in evaluating performance.
REVIEW QUESTIONS: Suggested Answers
1. What are the individual differences, and why should managers understand them?
In order to understand human behavior, we must know something about the person and about the situation. Because no two individuals are alike, managers face the challenge of working with people who possess a multitude of individual characteristics. Important individual differences include personality characteristics, social perceptions and attributions of causality. The more a manager understands these differences, the better he or she can work with others.
2. Define personality, and describe its origins.
Personality is a relatively stable set of characteristics that influences an individual's behavior. Family influences, cultural influences, educational influences, and environmental forces all shape personality.
3. Describe four theories of personality and what each contributes to our knowledge of personality.
The four theories of personality are trait theory, psychodynamic theory, humanistic theory, and the integrative approach. Trait theory was the earliest approach toward studying personality, and in part because of criticism of its approach, it provided the basis for other types of theories. Psychodynamic theory, based on the work of Freud, emphasizes the unconscious determinants of behavior. Humanistic theory emphasizes individual growth. The integrative approach is the most comprehensive because it includes a variety of psychological processes.
4. Describe the eight preferences of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. How does this instrument measure Carl Jung's ideas?
Jung's theory of individual differences is put into application through the Myers-Briggs instrument. The initial division he proposed was between extroverted and introverted individuals. He added the measurements of sensing and intuiting, which depict how individuals gather information. The third set includes thinking and feeling, styles of decision-making, and the fourth set reflects one's orientation to the outer world.
5. What factors influence social perception? What are the barriers to social perception?
Perception is influenced by all things with which we come into contact, and helps us understand our surroundings and ourselves. Selective perception is the tendency to choose information that supports our viewpoints. Stereotyping is a generalization made about a group of people, and is often inaccurate. First impression error is the tendency to form lasting opinions about an individual based on initial perceptions. Projection involves the tendency to assume that other people are similar to us and that our own values and beliefs are appropriate. Self-fulfilling prophecies are expectations that become reality.
6. Describe the errors that affect the attribution process.
Fundamental attribution error is the tendency to make attributions to internal causes when focusing on someone else's behavior. Self-serving bias is the tendency to attribute one's own successes to internal causes and one's failure to external causes.
DISCUSSION and communication QUESTIONS: suggested answers
1. What contributions can high self-monitors make in organizations? Low self-monitors?
High self-monitors would do well in sales jobs or in any position that requires meeting the public because of their attentiveness to cues from other people and from situations. Low self-monitors would do well in jobs that are consistent with their fundamental beliefs. Because they prefer that their behavior is consistent with their attitudes, they would be uncomfortable in certain sales situations, such as having to sell a product they didn't believe in.
2. How can managers improve their perceptual skills?
Managers need to be aware of characteristics in themselves, in situations, and in other people that affect social perception. They need to understand the barriers to accurate perception and guard against these barriers.
3. Which has the stronger impact on personality: heredity or environment?
This is a good discussion question in class, particularly if there are psychology and sociology students taking the organizational behavior course. There are good arguments for either position. Both have an impact.
4. How can managers make more accurate attributions?
Managers can make more accurate attributions by gathering information carefully and possessing an awareness of self-serving bias and fundamental attribution error.
5. How can managers encourage self-efficacy in employees?
Managers can provide job challenges, coaching and counseling for improved performance, and reward employees' achievements to enhance self-efficacy.
6. How can self-serving bias and the fundamental attribution error be avoided?
Awareness is the first step. Careful information gathering and conscious attention to one's own attributional tendencies are essential. Owning up to one's failures is important.
7. You have been asked to develop a training program for interviewers. An integral part of this training program focuses on helping interviewers develop better social perception skills. Write an outline for this section of the training program. Be sure to address barriers to social perception and ways to avoid these barriers.
During class discussion, encourage students to share interview experiences they have had in which misperceptions played a role. This would also be a good assignment to refer back to during the discussion of learning in Chapter 6.
8. Form groups of four to six, and then split each group in half. Debate the origins of personality, with one half taking the position that personality is inherited, and the other half taking the position that personality is formed by the environment. Each half should also discuss the implications of its position for managers.
To enhance the debate, this assignment could be made prior to the class in which the debate will occur so that students have the opportunity to conduct outside research on the different perspectives.
ETHICS QUESTIONS: suggested answers
1. What are the ethical uses of personality tests? What are the unethical uses?
Hiring, firing, or promoting someone on the basis of a personality test is not only unethical, it is illegal. Students may have interesting examples of tests that they have heard have been administered. Personality tests should be used to enhance one's understanding of self and others.
2. Suppose a manager makes an incorrect attribution for an employee's poor performance (for instance, the manager cites equipment failure), and peers know the employee is at fault. Should they blow the whistle on their colleague?
The preferable way to approach the situation is through problem reporting, either with the supervisor or an established outlet in the organization. (Whistle-blowing typically refers to going outside the organization.) Perhaps the co-workers should try to assist the employee before reporting him or her.
3. Suppose one of your colleagues wants to eliminate all biases and stereotypes from the hiring process. He suggests that only résumés be used, with no names or other identifying data – only experience and education. What are the ethical consequences of this approach? Would any group be unfairly disadvantaged by this approach?