Ch 3: Perceiving Ourselves and Others in Organizations

Our self-concept is defined at 3 levels:

individual: personal traits relational: connections to friends and co-workers collective: membership in teams, organizations, social groups and other entities

Selective attention

influenced by characteristics of the person or object being perceived, particularly size, intensity, motion, repetition and novelty

Disclosure

informing others of your personal characteristics that may influence the work relationship

Clarity

is the degree to which a person's self concept is clear, confidently defined and stable Occurs when we are confident about "who we are" and can describe our important identities to others and provide the same description of ourselves across time Self concept clarity increases with age because personality and values become relatively stable by adulthood and people develop better self awareness through life experience

Mental models

knowledge structures that individuals construct to understand and explain their experiences

Complexity

refers to the number of distinct and important roles or identities that people perceive about themselves

Halo effect

tendency of an interviewer to allow positive characteristics of a client to influence the assessments of the client's behavior and statements

Primacy effect

tendency to remember words at the beginning of a list especially well

Recency effect

tendency to remember words at the end of a list especially well

Empathy

the ability to understand and share the feelings of another

Attribution process

the perceptual process of deciding whether an observed behavior or event is caused largely by internal or external factors Internal factors: include person's ability or motivation External factors: include resources, co worker support and luck

Perception

the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events

Fundamental attribution error

the tendency for observers, when analyzing another's behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition

Self serving bias

the tendency for people to take personal credit for success but blame failure on external factors

False consensus effect

the tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share our beliefs and behaviors

Social identity theory

we define ourselves by the groups to which we belong or have an emotional attachment

Differenciation

we tend to assign more favorable characteristics to people in our social identity groups than to people in other groups motivated by self enhancement because being in a "better" group produces higher self esteem

Homogenization

we tend to think that people within each group are very similar to each other

Confirmation Bias

a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence

Stereotyping

creating an oversimplified image of a particular group of people, usually by assuming that all members of the group are alike

How is Self verification associated with several OB topics?

1) affects the perceptual process - employees are more likely to remember info that is consistent with their self concept and non consciously screen out info that seems inconsistent with it 2) people with high self concept clarity will consciously dismiss feedback that contradicts their self view 3) employees are motivated to interact with others who affirm their self views, and this affect show well they get along with their boss and team members

Negatives about self enhancement

Causes people to overestimate future returns in investment decisions and engage in unsafe behavior

People rely on 3 attribution rules to decide whether someone's behavior and performance are caused mainly by their personal characteristics or by environmental influences. What are 3 rules?

Consistency Distinctiveness Consensus

Consistency

High consistency exists when the individual's identities requires similar personality traits, values and attributes Low consistency occurs when some self views require personal characteristics that conflict with attributes required for other self views Also depends on how closely the person's identities align with his or her actual attributes Low consistency exists when an individual's personality and values clash with the type of person he or she tries to become

Positives about self enhancement

Individuals tend to experience better mental and physical health and adjustment when they amplify their self concept Overconfidence can also generate a "can-do" attitude that motivates persistence in difficult or risky tasks

Positive benefits about low self concept complexity

Low complexity self concepts have the advantage of requiring less effort and resources to develop People who define themselves mainly by their work (low complexity) often perform better due to more investment in skill development, working longer hours and a higher concentration on work They also have lower absenteeism and turnover. Self concept clarity tends to improve performance is considered vital for leadership roles.

4 "selves" that shape self concept

Self-enhancement Self-verification Self-evaluation Social self

Contact hypothesis

The idea that stereotypes and prejudice toward a group will diminish as contact with the group increases.

Intentional discrimination

Treatment of others that is unfair (on the basis of prejudice or stereotype) and on purpose

Categorization

a cognitive process used to organize information by placing it into larger groupings of information

Johari window

a model of mutual understanding that encourages disclosure and feedback to increase our own open area and reduce the blind, hidden, and unknown areas

Self verification

a person's inherent motivation to confirm and maintain his/her existing self-concept includes seeking feedback that is not necessarily flattering

Positive organizational behavior

a perspective of organizational behavior that focuses on building positive qualities and traits within individuals or institutions as opposed to focusing on what is wrong with them

Self-fulfiling prophecy

a prediction or expectation about our future behavior that is likely to come true because we believe it and thus act in ways that make it come true

Global mindset

an individual's ability to perceive, appreciate, and empathize with people from other cultures, and to process complex cross-cultural information

Meaningful interaction

can improve self-awareness and mutual understanding

Unintentional systemic discrimination

decision makers rely on stereotypes to establish notions of the "ideal" person in specific roles

Locus of control

defined as a person's general beliefs about the amount of control he or she has over personal life events Internal locus of control: life events are caused mainly by their personal characteristics External locus of control: believe events are due mainly to fate, luck or conditions in the external environment

Self evaluation

defined by 3 elements 1) self esteem 2) self efficacy 3) locus of control

Developing a Global Mindset

develops through better knowledge of people and cultures 1) improve one's perceptions 2) improving self awareness 3) being immersed in the culture

Positive benefits about high self concept complexity

employees with complex identities tend to have more adaptive decision making and performance Second benefit is that self concept complexity often produces more diverse social networks, and this network diversity gives employees access to more resources and social support to perform their jobs

Self esteem

extent to which people like, respect and are satisfied with themselves people with high self esteem are less influenced by others, tend to persist in spite of failure, and have a higher propensity to think logically

Personal identity or internal self concept

fullfils the need for distinctiveness because it involves defining ourselves by our personality, values, abilities qualifications, achievements and other personal attributes

Self efficiacy

refers to a person's belief that he or she can successfully complete a task those with high self efficacy have a "can do" attitude

Self concept

refers to an individual's self beliefs and self evaluations It's reflected in the questions "Who am I?" and "How do I feel about myself?" that people ask themselves and that guide their decisions and actions

Categorial Thinking

organizing people and objects into preconceived categories that are stored in our long-term memory

Self expansion

people are generally motivated to increase their complexity as they seek out new opportunities and social connections

Self enhancement

people are inherently motivated to perceive themselves (and to be perceived by others) as competent, attractive, lucky, ethical and important

Stereoptype Threat

phenomenon whereby members of a stereotyped group are concerned that they might exhibit a negative feature of the stereotype

Self concept complexity

protects our self esteem when some roles are threatened or damaged

Feedback

reduces your blind area because according to studies, people near you are good sources of info about many (but not all) of your traits and behaviors