Chapter 3 Perceiving Ourselves and Others in ...
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Chapter 3 Perceiving Ourselves and Others in Organizations
SELF-CONCEPT: HOW WE PERCEIVE OURSELVES (LO1) Self-concept – an individual’s self-beliefs and self-evaluations “who am I?” and “How do I feel about myself?”
Self-Concept Complexity, Consistency, and Clarity complexity – number of distinct and important roles or identities that people perceive about themselves low complexity when individual’s most important identities are highly interconnected internal consistency – high internal consistency when most self-perceived roles require similar personality traits, values, and other attributes low consistency when self-perceptions require characteristics that conflict with characteristics required for other aspects of your self clarity – degree to which you have a clear, confidently defined, and stable self-concept complexity is important because it protects our self-evaluation when roles are threatened/damaged these describe characteristics of a person’s self-concept in addition are four processes that shape self-concept and influence person’s decisions/behavior
Self-Enhancement self-enhancement – person’s inherent motivation to have a positive self-concept, such as being competent, attractive, lucky, ethical, and important positive consequence – individuals experience better mental and physical health when self-concept is viewed positively negative consequence – self-enhancement can make bad decisions (over-confident)
Self-Verification self-verification – a person’s inherent motivation to confirm and maintain his/her existing self-concept occurs when we seek out feedback that supports our self-view several implications for org. behavior such as: 1. affects perceptual process because employees are more likely to remember info that is consistent with self-concept and ignore info that seems inconsistent 2. clearer the individuals self-concept, the less he/she will accept feedback that contradicts self-concept 3. employees are motivated to interact with others who affirm their self-concept, this affects how well they get along with boss/team members
Self-Evaluation defined by three concepts: self-esteem, self-efficacy, and locus of control 1. Self Esteem – extent to which people like, respect, and are satisfied with themselves - rating of success at social inclusion - people with high self-esteem are less influenced by others, tend to persist in spite of failure, and think more rationally 2. Self-Efficacy – person’s belief that they have the ability, motivation, correct role perceptions, and favourable situation to complete a task successfully - those with self-efficacy have “can do “ attitude - MARS model – motivation, ability, role perception, situational factors
2 3. Locus of Control – person’s general belief about the amount of control they have over personal life events - individuals with more of internal locus of control believe that personal characteristics influence life’s outcomes - those with more external locus of control believe events in life are due mainly to fate, luck, or conditions in external environment - internals are more satisfied with job, cope better in stressful situations, and are motivated by performance-based reward systems
Social Self social identity theory – theory that explains that people define themselves by the groups to which they belong or have an emotional attachment social identity is complex combo of many memberships arranged in hierarchy of importance one factor determining importance is how easily we are identified as members of reference group second factor is minority status in a group
PERCEIVING THE WORLD AROUND US (L02) perception - process of receiving info about and making sense of the world around us perception begins when environmental stimuli are received through our senses selective attention – process of attending to some info received by our senses and ignoring other info selective attention is influenced by characteristics of object/person being perceived particularly: - size - intensity - motion - repetition - novelty expectations and assumptions cause us to screen out potentially important information another selective attention problem is confirmation bias – tendency to screen out info that is contrary to our decisions, beliefs, values, and assumptions, and to more readily accept confirming information
Perceptual Organization and Interpretation categorical thinking – organizing people and objects into preconceived categories that are stored in our longterm memory perceptual grouping principles 1. things grouped together based on similarity or proximity 2. need for cognitive closure 3. thinking we see trends in otherwise ambiguous info (winning streaks)
Mental Models mental models – visual or relational images in our mind that represent the external world mental models block our recognition of new opportunities minimize problems with mental models by questioning our assumptions
PERCEPTUAL PROCESS AND PROBLEMS (LO3) examine several of perceptual processes and biases as well as implications for OB begin with most widely known perceptual process and bias: stereotyping
3 Stereotyping in Organizations stereotyping – process of assigning traits to people on the basis of their membership in a social category stereotypes are collective beliefs Why People Stereotype 1. natural and mostly non-conscious “energy saving” process that simplifies our understanding of the world 2. innate need to understand and anticipate how others will behave 3. enhances our self-concept Problems with Stereotyping 1. although not fictional, they do not accurately describe every person in a social category 2. lays foundation for discriminatory attitudes and behaviours Attribution Theory attribution process – perceptual process of deciding whether an observed behavior or event is caused largely by internal or external factors three attribution rules are 1. consistency (how often did person act this way in the past?) 2. distinctiveness (how often does the person act this way in other settings?) 3. consensus (how often do other people act this way in similar situations?)
Attribution Errors two most common are fundamental attribution error and self-serving bias fundamental attribution error – tendency to see the person rather than the situation as the main cause of that person’s behavior self-serving bias – tendency to attribute our favourable outcomes to internal factors and our failures to external factors
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy self-fulfilling prophecy – perceptual process in which our expectations about another person cause that person to act in a way that is consistent with those expectations
Contingency of Self-Fulfilling Prophecy stronger at the beginning of a relationship stronger when several people hold the same expectation of the person positive organizational behavior – perspective of OB that focuses on building positive qualities and traits within individuals or institutions as opposed to focusing on what is wrong with them
Other Perceptual Effects Halo Effect - perceptual error whereby our general impression of a person, usually based on one prominent characteristic, distorts our perception of other characteristics of that person False-Consensus Effect – perceptual error which we overestimate the extent to which others have beliefs and characteristics similar to our own Primacy Effect – error in which we quickly form an opinion of people on the basis of first information we receive about them Regency Effect - error in which the most recent information dominates our perception of others
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IMPROVING PERCEPTIONS (LO4) Three potentially effective ways to improve perceptions include awareness of perceptual biases, selfawareness, and meaningful interaction Awareness of Perceptual Biases
Improving Self-Awareness one approach to becoming more self-aware is to complete formal tests that indicate any implicit biases (IAT – Implicit Association Test) another way is by applying the Johari Window – model of mutual understanding that encourages disclosure and feedback to increase our own open area and reduce the blind, hidden, and unknown areas developed by Joseph Luft and Harry Ingram open area – information about you that is known both to you and to others blind area – info that is known to others but not you hidden area – info known to you but not known to others unknown area – values, beliefs, and experiences that aren’t known to you or others main objective of Johari Window is to increase size of open area so both you and colleagues are aware of your perceptual limitations
Meaningful Interaction meaningful interaction is founded on contact hypothesis – theory stating that the more we interact with someone, the less prejudiced or perceptually biased we will be against that person meaningful interaction improves empathy – person’s understanding of and sensitivity to the feelings, thoughts, and situation of others GLOBAL MINDSET: DEVELOPING PERCEPTIONS ACROSS BORDERS (LO5) global mindset – individual’s ability to perceive, appreciate, and empathize with people from other cultures and to process complex cross-cultural information it includes (a) an awareness of, openness to, and respect for other views and practices in the world, (b) capacity to empathize and act effectively across cultures, (c) ability to process complex information about novel environments, and (d) ability to comprehend and reconcile intercultural matters with multiple levels of thinking
Chapter 3 Perceiving Ourselves and Others in Organizations
SELF-CONCEPT: HOW WE PERCEIVE OURSELVES (LO1) Self-concept – an individual’s self-beliefs and self-evaluations “who am I?” and “How do I feel about myself?”
Self-Concept Complexity, Consistency, and Clarity complexity – number of distinct and important roles or identities that people perceive about themselves low complexity when individual’s most important identities are highly interconnected internal consistency – high internal consistency when most self-perceived roles require similar personality traits, values, and other attributes low consistency when self-perceptions require characteristics that conflict with characteristics required for other aspects of your self clarity – degree to which you have a clear, confidently defined, and stable self-concept complexity is important because it protects our self-evaluation when roles are threatened/damaged these describe characteristics of a person’s self-concept in addition are four processes that shape self-concept and influence person’s decisions/behavior
Self-Enhancement self-enhancement – person’s inherent motivation to have a positive self-concept, such as being competent, attractive, lucky, ethical, and important positive consequence – individuals experience better mental and physical health when self-concept is viewed positively negative consequence – self-enhancement can make bad decisions (over-confident)
Self-Verification self-verification – a person’s inherent motivation to confirm and maintain his/her existing self-concept occurs when we seek out feedback that supports our self-view several implications for org. behavior such as: 1. affects perceptual process because employees are more likely to remember info that is consistent with self-concept and ignore info that seems inconsistent 2. clearer the individuals self-concept, the less he/she will accept feedback that contradicts self-concept 3. employees are motivated to interact with others who affirm their self-concept, this affects how well they get along with boss/team members
Self-Evaluation defined by three concepts: self-esteem, self-efficacy, and locus of control 1. Self Esteem – extent to which people like, respect, and are satisfied with themselves - rating of success at social inclusion - people with high self-esteem are less influenced by others, tend to persist in spite of failure, and think more rationally 2. Self-Efficacy – person’s belief that they have the ability, motivation, correct role perceptions, and favourable situation to complete a task successfully - those with self-efficacy have “can do “ attitude - MARS model – motivation, ability, role perception, situational factors
2 3. Locus of Control – person’s general belief about the amount of control they have over personal life events - individuals with more of internal locus of control believe that personal characteristics influence life’s outcomes - those with more external locus of control believe events in life are due mainly to fate, luck, or conditions in external environment - internals are more satisfied with job, cope better in stressful situations, and are motivated by performance-based reward systems
Social Self social identity theory – theory that explains that people define themselves by the groups to which they belong or have an emotional attachment social identity is complex combo of many memberships arranged in hierarchy of importance one factor determining importance is how easily we are identified as members of reference group second factor is minority status in a group
PERCEIVING THE WORLD AROUND US (L02) perception - process of receiving info about and making sense of the world around us perception begins when environmental stimuli are received through our senses selective attention – process of attending to some info received by our senses and ignoring other info selective attention is influenced by characteristics of object/person being perceived particularly: - size - intensity - motion - repetition - novelty expectations and assumptions cause us to screen out potentially important information another selective attention problem is confirmation bias – tendency to screen out info that is contrary to our decisions, beliefs, values, and assumptions, and to more readily accept confirming information
Perceptual Organization and Interpretation categorical thinking – organizing people and objects into preconceived categories that are stored in our longterm memory perceptual grouping principles 1. things grouped together based on similarity or proximity 2. need for cognitive closure 3. thinking we see trends in otherwise ambiguous info (winning streaks)
Mental Models mental models – visual or relational images in our mind that represent the external world mental models block our recognition of new opportunities minimize problems with mental models by questioning our assumptions
PERCEPTUAL PROCESS AND PROBLEMS (LO3) examine several of perceptual processes and biases as well as implications for OB begin with most widely known perceptual process and bias: stereotyping
3 Stereotyping in Organizations stereotyping – process of assigning traits to people on the basis of their membership in a social category stereotypes are collective beliefs Why People Stereotype 1. natural and mostly non-conscious “energy saving” process that simplifies our understanding of the world 2. innate need to understand and anticipate how others will behave 3. enhances our self-concept Problems with Stereotyping 1. although not fictional, they do not accurately describe every person in a social category 2. lays foundation for discriminatory attitudes and behaviours Attribution Theory attribution process – perceptual process of deciding whether an observed behavior or event is caused largely by internal or external factors three attribution rules are 1. consistency (how often did person act this way in the past?) 2. distinctiveness (how often does the person act this way in other settings?) 3. consensus (how often do other people act this way in similar situations?)
Attribution Errors two most common are fundamental attribution error and self-serving bias fundamental attribution error – tendency to see the person rather than the situation as the main cause of that person’s behavior self-serving bias – tendency to attribute our favourable outcomes to internal factors and our failures to external factors
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy self-fulfilling prophecy – perceptual process in which our expectations about another person cause that person to act in a way that is consistent with those expectations
Contingency of Self-Fulfilling Prophecy stronger at the beginning of a relationship stronger when several people hold the same expectation of the person positive organizational behavior – perspective of OB that focuses on building positive qualities and traits within individuals or institutions as opposed to focusing on what is wrong with them
Other Perceptual Effects Halo Effect - perceptual error whereby our general impression of a person, usually based on one prominent characteristic, distorts our perception of other characteristics of that person False-Consensus Effect – perceptual error which we overestimate the extent to which others have beliefs and characteristics similar to our own Primacy Effect – error in which we quickly form an opinion of people on the basis of first information we receive about them Regency Effect - error in which the most recent information dominates our perception of others
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IMPROVING PERCEPTIONS (LO4) Three potentially effective ways to improve perceptions include awareness of perceptual biases, selfawareness, and meaningful interaction Awareness of Perceptual Biases
Improving Self-Awareness one approach to becoming more self-aware is to complete formal tests that indicate any implicit biases (IAT – Implicit Association Test) another way is by applying the Johari Window – model of mutual understanding that encourages disclosure and feedback to increase our own open area and reduce the blind, hidden, and unknown areas developed by Joseph Luft and Harry Ingram open area – information about you that is known both to you and to others blind area – info that is known to others but not you hidden area – info known to you but not known to others unknown area – values, beliefs, and experiences that aren’t known to you or others main objective of Johari Window is to increase size of open area so both you and colleagues are aware of your perceptual limitations
Meaningful Interaction meaningful interaction is founded on contact hypothesis – theory stating that the more we interact with someone, the less prejudiced or perceptually biased we will be against that person meaningful interaction improves empathy – person’s understanding of and sensitivity to the feelings, thoughts, and situation of others GLOBAL MINDSET: DEVELOPING PERCEPTIONS ACROSS BORDERS (LO5) global mindset – individual’s ability to perceive, appreciate, and empathize with people from other cultures and to process complex cross-cultural information it includes (a) an awareness of, openness to, and respect for other views and practices in the world, (b) capacity to empathize and act effectively across cultures, (c) ability to process complex information about novel environments, and (d) ability to comprehend and reconcile intercultural matters with multiple levels of thinking
