Chapter 4

Stereotype Formation and Maintenance built through a four step process.

1. Categorization- We categorize people into groups according to criteria (such as gender, age, race, and occupation). 2. Inferences- Next, we infer that all people within a particular category possess the same traits or characteristics: women are nurturing, older people have more job-related accidents, African Americans are good athletes. 3. Expectations- We form expectations of others and interpret their behavior according to our stereotypes. 4.Maintenance- We maintain stereotypes by: - Overestimating the frequency of stereotypic behaviors exhibited by others. - Incorrectly explaining expected and unexpected behaviors. -Differentiating minority individuals from ourselves.

Kelly's Model of Attribution

1. Consensus compares an individual's behavior with that of his or her peers. There is high consensus when one acts like the rest of the group and low consensus when one acts differently. 2. Distinctiveness compares a person's behavior on one task with his or her behavior on other tasks. High distinctiveness means the individual has performed the task in question in a significantly different manner than he or she has performed other tasks. 3. Consistency judges if the individual's performance on a given task is consistent over time. Low consistency is undesirable for obvious reasons, and implies that a person is unable to perform a certain task at some standard level. High consistency implies that a person performs a certain task the same way, with little or no variation over time.

3rd component of person perception "Characteristics of the situation".

1. Context of interaction- Perceptions are affected by the social context in which the interaction occurs. For example, your parent will likely perceive your eating food from the kitchen when you visit home differently than will a coworker whose food you taken from the office refrigerator. 2. Culture and race consistency- We more accurately recognize emotions displayed by people from our own culture or from other familiar cultures. We also better understand and remember facial expressions displayed by people from our own race.

1st key component of a perception "Characteristics of the Perceiver".

1. Direction of gaze- Gaze is the first step in the perception process because it focuses your attention and tells the brain what you think is important in the immediate environment. 2. Need and goals- We are more likely to perceive whatever is related to our goals and needs. 3. Experience with target- Our perception of a target is influenced by our past experience with him or her. 4. Category based knowledge- Category based knowledge consists of perceptions, including stereotypes, that we have stored in memory about various categories of people (professors, singers, artists, police, politicians, and so on). 5. Gender and emotional status- Women recognize emotions more accurately than men, and both men and women are more likely to recognize a target's emotions when they are consistent with their own. 6. Cognitive load- Cognitive load represents the amount of activity going on in your brain.

2nd key component in perception " Characteristics of the target".

1. Direction of gaze- We form different perceptions of people based on whether they are looking at us while conversing. 2. Facial features and body shape- We often use faces as markers for gender, race, and age, but face and body characteristics can lead us to fall back on cultural stereotypes. 3. Nonverbal cues- Communication experts tell us that nonverbal actions are highly influential in perception. Gestures, touching, facial expressions, eye contact, and body movements like slouching all convey messages. 4. Appearance or dress- We all are susceptible to being influenced by appearance. We may conclude someone who shows u for work dirty, tattered clothes is lazy or uncaring. 5. Physical attractiveness- While attractiveness is culturally determined, the beauty-is-good stereotype leads us to perceive attractive people positively.

Three key strategies of managing diversity

1. The educational component- Education " has two thrusts: one is to prepare nontraditional managers for increasingly responsible posts, and the other is to help traditional managers overcome their prejudice in thinking about and interacting with people who are of a different sex or ethnicity. 2. The enforcement component- Enforcement " puts teeth in diversity goals and encourages behavior change". 3. The exposure component- Exposing people to others with different backgrounds and characteristics " adds a more personal approach to diversity by helping managers get to know and respect others who are different".

3rd layer of diversity

External Influences- These are individual differences over which we have more control, such as where we live, our religious affiliation, our martial and parental status, and our work experience. These dimensions also exert a significant influence on our perceptions, behavior, and attitudes.

2nd layer of diversity

Internal Dimensions- is also referred to as surface level dimensions of diversity which is those that are quickly apparent to interactants, such as race, gender, and age. Because we view these characteristics of others as unchangeable, they strongly influence our attitudes, expectations, and assumptions about them, which, in turn, influence our behavior.

Perception

Is a cognitive process that enables us to interpret and understand our surroundings.

stereotype

Is an individual's set of beliefs about the characteristics or attributes of a group.

Fourth layer of diversity

Organizational dimensions- such as seniority, job title and function, and work location. Integrating these last two layers yields deep- level characteristics of diversity. " Deep-level characteristics"- are those that take time to emerge in interactions, such as attitudes, opinions, and values.

1st layer of diversity

Personality- is at the center of the diversity wheel because it represents a stable set of characteristic responsible for a person's identity.

Diversity

Represents the multitude of individual differences and similarities that exist among people.

Perception is influenced by three key components

The characteristics of the perceiver, Of the target- the person or group being observed- and of the situation

Ethnocentrism

The ethnocentrism barrier is based on the feeling that our cultural rules and norms are superior to or more appropriate than the rules and norms of another culture.

Managing Diversity

enables people to perform up to their maximum potential.

external factors

environmental characteristics that cause behavior. (such as a difficult task).

internal factors

personal characteristics that cause behavior (such as ability)

self-serving bias

represents our tendency to make more personal responsibility for success than for failure.