Chapter 4 Social Perception and Managing Diversity

Perception

A cognitive process that enable us to interpret and understand our surroundings. (112)

Cognitive Categories

A number of objects that are considered equivalent. Categories are generally designated by names, e.g. dog, animal. (114)

Schema

A person's mental picture or summary of a particular event or type of stimulus. (114)

Affirmative Action

An artificial intervention aimed at giving management a chance to correct an imbalance, injustice, mistake or outright discrimination that occurred in the past. (124)

Stereotype

An individual's set of beliefs about the characteristics or attributes of a group (117)

Glass Ceiling

An invisible but absolute barrier or solid road black that prevents women from advancing to higher-level position. (127)

Implicit Cognition

Any thoughts or beliefs that are automatically activated from memory without our conscious awareness. (115)

Distinctiveness

Compares a personal's behavior on one task with his or her behavior on other tasks. (119)

Consensus

Compares an individual's behavior with that of his or her peers. Reach when all members agree to support the outcome. (119)

Managing Diversity

Entail managerial actions that enable people to perform up to their maximum potential. (125)

Internal Factors

Factors within a person such as ability, in attribution. (119)

Consistency

Judges if the individual's performance on a given task is consistent over time. (119)

Discrimination

Occurs when employment decisions about an individual are due to reasons not associated with performance or are not related to the job. (124)

Fundamental Attribution Bias

One's tendency to attribute another person's behavior to his or her personal characteristics, as opposed to situational factors. (121)

Self-Serving Bias

One's tendency to take more personal responsibility for success than for failure. (121)

On-Ramping

Programs helping employees to integrate, assimilate, and transition to new jobs by making them familiar with corporate policies, procedures, culture, and politics and by clarifying work-role expectations and responsibilities. (135)

Causal Attributions

Suspected or inferred causes of behavior. (119)

Psychological Safety

The extent to which people feel safe to express their ideas and beliefs without fear of negative consequences. (131)

Diversity

The multitude of individual differences and similarities that exist among people. (122)

Demographics

The statistical measurements of populations and their qualities (such as age, race, gender, or income) over time. (122)

External Factors

Within the environment (119)