Perception and Personality

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Perception and Personality
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Perception, Attribution and Learning
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The Perception Process

• ATTENTION
• The Perceived
• The Perceiver

• ORGANIZATION
• Patterns
• Schemas
• Scripts

PERCEPTION
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Comprehending Perception
We all have a different store of knowledge. We
all therefore interpret the world around us
differently. Understanding relies upon the
speaker and his audience having the same
perception of the required outcome.
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Perception is a 'Learned Experience'

• It is the awareness of the external world (or
  some aspect of it, through one or more of our
  senses and, the interpretation of these by our
  mind.

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Understanding

• Understanding is achieved by interpreting current
  experience using past experience as a source of
  reference, and establishing a context upon which
  to base this new information. In other words
• We are only able to understand today in terms of,
  and because of, our past experiences.
• Yet, we also know that 'Today' is unlike
  'Yesterday'.
• We inherit Yesterday's patterns and need them to
  interpret what our senses are experiencing in the
  present.
• These patterns are simultaneously essential and
  yet out of date.

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How do we perceive?

• We store a model or memory of objects.
• The process of perceiving involves matching
  what our senses are experiencing to one of our
  models.
• Perception is an active pattern-matching process.
• We recognize the world because of our historical
  store of information.
• We create our own unique world, our own
  interpretation of reality.

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Patterns to Organize Sensations
Figure-Ground We tend to organize sensations into
figures and backgrounds.
Similarity We tend to group similar items. Do
you see alternating rows of Os and Xs or
columns of alternating Os and Xs?
O O O O O X X X X X O O O O O X X X
X X
Proximity We tend to group elements that are
close together. How many groupings do you see
at the left?
O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O
Closure We tend to fill in the gaps in incomplete
stimuli. Do you see a rectangle or four lines?
Continuation We tend to organize stimuli into
continuous lines or patterns. Do you see two
intersecting lines or four lines?
Simplicity We tend to reduce stimuli to their
simplest shapes or patterns. Do you see an
overlapping rectangle and triangle or a
nonstandard shaped polygon?
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Therefore

• Discovering a new perception adds to the database
  of patterns which already exists in our minds.
• Once existing experience has been proved
  inadequate to correctly interpret an image, the
  brain supplements its store of knowledge with the
  new experience.
• Once new experience becomes old experience, it is
  often difficult to imagine the state of mind
  prior to gaining this new insight.

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Factors that Influence Perception
Factors in the perceiver Attitudes Motives Inte
rests Experience Expectations
Factors in the target Novelty Motion Sounds Si
ze Background Proximity
Factors in the situation Time Work
setting Social setting
Perceptions
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What is the perception process?

• A process by which individuals
• Organize interpret their sensory impressions,
  in order to give meaning to their environment.
• What one perceive may be substantially
• different from reality.

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Organizational Applications of Perception

• Employment Interviews
• Self-fulfilling prophecies of performance
• Performance evaluations
• Employee effort
• Employee loyalty

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Managers Should Take Five Steps to Increase
Perceptual Accuracy
STEP 5
STEP 4
Eliminate or Reduce Projections
Distinguish among Aspects of Persons Behavior
STEP 3
Determine if Facts or Assumptions
STEP 2
STEP 1
Check Conclusions
Gather information about behavior attitudes
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Attribution

• Judging what people are like and why they do what
  they do.
• What is someone really like?
• What makes a person behave they way s/he does?

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One Makes Attributions in Three Major Steps The
Behavior Occurs the Person Determines if it Was
Intentional if so, the Person Determines its
Causes
Observe behavior
What Caused the behavior?
Was the behavior intentional?
BEHAVIOR OCCURS
Intentional
Unintentional
Situational Cause
Personal Cause
Luck! Chance!
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Correspondent Inferences

• Using acts to judge dispositions.
• We make judgments about what people are like
  based on what we are able to observe of their
  behavior.
• Many causes of behavior.
• People can conceal some of their traits.

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Causal Attribution of Responsibility

• Answering the question of WHY?
• Kelleys Theory of Causal Attribution
• Consensus
• Extent to which other people behave the same.
• Consistency
• Extent to which behavior is same at other times.
• Distinctiveness
• Extent to which behavior is the same in other
  contexts.

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Internal and External Causes of Behavior
Employee Applies for Promotion
Employees Denied Promotion
Employee Receives Promotion
Coworker Attributes Success to Situational Charact
eristics Bosss Supervision
Coworker Attributes Failure to Personal Characteri
stics Employees Personality
Employee Attributes Failure to Situational Charact
eristics Interviewers Attitude
Employee Attributes Success to Personal Characteri
stics Employees Effort
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Making Judgments Errors

• Fundamental Attribution Error
• Actor-Observer Effect
• Self-Serving Attribution
• False Consensus
• Stereotypes
• Overcoming Bias in Social Perception
• External Causes
• Know your Stereotypes
• Objective Factors
• Rash Judgments

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The Johari Window
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How Little We Remember
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Biographical Characteristics

• Age
• Gender
• Marital Status
• Birth Order
• Number of Dependents
• Personality Determinants
• Heredity
• Environment
• Situation

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What is Personality?

• The sum total of ways in which an individual
  reacts and interacts with others,
• described in terms of measurable personality
  traits that a person exhibits.
• Job fit -- job satisfaction!

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Personality Attributes

• Locus of Control
• Achievement Orientation
• Authoritarianism
• Self-esteem
• Risk Taking
• Self-Monitoring
• Self Efficacy

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Big Five Dimensions

• Conscientiousness
• Extraversion-introversion
• Agreeableness
• Emotional Stability
• Openness to Experience

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Uniqueness

• Affectivity moods
• High sense of well-being
• Type A Type B
• A seek more challenge -- overloaded
• Self-Efficacy
• Belief in ones own ability to perform
• Self-Esteem
• Positive or Negative views about self
• Achievement Motivation
• Task Orientation

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Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

• Introvert-Extrovert
• where you derive your energy
• Sensing-Intuitive
• where you obtain your information
• Thinking-Feeling
• analysis logic versus pleasing people
• Judging-Perceiving
• how you make a decision

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Kiersey Temperament Sorter

• 1.In most situations are you more
• deliberate than spontaneous
• spontaneous than deliberate
• 2.Is it worse to be
• a softy
• hard-nosed
• 3.Is it better to be
• just
• merciful

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Each Manager Has a Particular Personality Type
That Focuses Attention and Presents Strengths and
Weaknesses in Dealing With Situations
Psychological Types
Weaknesses (if Overextended)
Focus and Preferences
Strengths
Good at social interaction en- thusiastic
and confident insti- gates action open and
straightforward Good at personal interaction
stays calm and focused can con- centrate
intensely develops ideas uses discretion in
talking
Intellectual super- ficiality intrusive lack of
respect for others privacy easily
distracted May lose touch with outer
world keeps people at a distance
easily preoccupied
Focuses on people and things sociable
outgoing Focuses on thoughts and concepts
reflective inwardly directed
Extroversion Introversion
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Each Manager Has a Particular Personality Type
That Focuses His or Her Attention and Presents
Strengths and Weaknesses in Dealing With
Situations as They Arise (Cont.)
Psychological Types
Focus and Preferences
Weaknesses (if Overextended)
Strengths
Facts data details concrete reality based
present oriented Possibilities
hunches speculations theor- etical future
oriented Analysis objective logic
impersonal justice systematic inquiry
Pragmatic precise stable results orient- ed
sensible system- atic Imaginative
concep- tulizes easily creative intellectually
tenacious idealistic Rational analytical
assertive logical care- fully weighs
alternatives firm but fair explains thoroughly
Lacks long-range outlook may reject innovative
ideas Unrealistic out of touch bored by
routine scattered Undervalues feel- ings
overly anal- ytical insensitive critical
judgmental
Sensing Intuitive Thinking
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Each Manager Has a Particular Personality Type
That Focuses His or Her Attention and Presents
Strengths and Weaknesses in Dealing With
Situations as They Arise (Cont.)
Weaknesses (if Overextended)
Psychological Types
Focus and Preferences
Strengths
Overly sensitive moody can become emotionally
over- burdened Close minded in- flexible can
jump to conclusions too quickly
intolerant judgmental Indecisive
procrast- inates unfocused disorganized
im- pulsive may collect data too long
before deciding
Sympathy subjective humane personal compassion
trust consideration Organized
planned settledcontrol ones life set goals
struc- tured routine Pending
flexible curious spontaneity tentative let
life happen undaunted by surprise open to
change
Persuasive empathic warm sensitive
demon- strative and expressive loyal Plan,
organize, and control well persistent decisive
conscientious reliable Open minded
adaptable spontaneous under- standing
tolerant inquisitive
Feeling Judging Perceiving
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Frequently Used Shortcuts in Judging Others

• Selective Perception
• Projection
• Stereotyping
• Halo Effect

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Emotional Intelligence

• Definition Self-control, zeal, persistence, and
  the ability to motivate oneself.
• The 5 Domains of Emotional Intelligence
• Knowing your own emotions
• Managing your emotions
• Motivating yourself
• Empathy
• Handling Relationships

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Knowing Your Emotions

• The first step, the fundamental competence on
  which all others are built
• Self-Awareness being aware of both our mood and
  our thoughts about that moodthe building block
  to the next step. . . Shaking off a bad mood
• Ways of Attending to Emotions
• Self-aware
• Engulfed
• Accepting (laissez-faire)
• Getting to understand your Gut Feelings
• The Emotional Hijacking

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Managing Emotions

• Finding a Balance
• Venting Emotions
• Anger (Dont Suppress it but Dont Act)
• Reframe Anger (Paradigm Shifts)
• 1. Challenge the Triggering Thoughts
• 2. Understanding
• Worry

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Motivating Yourself

• Mundanity of Excellence
• Anxiety, Anger Depression Inhibit Learning
• Impulse Control Delayed Gratification
• (the Marshmallow Experiment)
• Memory is state-specific
• Self-Efficacy can be learned, like optimism and
  hope
• Flow
• Self-Forgetfulness
• Zone between Boredom Anxiety

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Empathy

• Requires Enough Calm and Receptivity so Subtle
  Signs of Others can be Received
• Benefits of Reading Non-verbal Cues
• Better Adjusted
• More Popular
• More Outgoing
• More Sensitive

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Handling Relationships

• Key Social Competence Expressing Own Feelings
• Display Rules
• Minimizing
• Exaggerating
• Substituting
• Emotional Judo

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Values

• Content Intensity Attributes
• Lay the foundation for the understanding of
  attitudes and motivation.
• Influence our perceptions.
• Influence attitudes and behavior.
• Sources of Value Systems develop over time.
• Achievement, peace, cooperation, equity etc.

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What are Attitudes?

• Evaluative statements or judgements concerning
  objects, people, or events.
• Either favorable or unfavorable.
• Attitudes Reflect a Persons Values.
• Attitudes Consistency for Individuals
• Among their attitudes
• Between their attitudes and behavior
• Align attitudes and behavior by changing one or
  the other.

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Three Components of Attitudes

• Evaluative how we feel
• Cognitive personal knowledge
• Behavioral predisposition to act in a certain
  way.

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Job Satisfaction Herzbergs Two Factor Theory

• Hygiene Factors
• dis-satisfiers
• lower level needs
• working conditions

• Motivators
• higher level needs
• satisfiers

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Motivators ? Worker Satisfaction. Hygiene
Factors ? Worker Dissatisfaction.
HYGIENE FACTORS
MOTIVATORS
Job Dissatisfaction
No Job Dissatisfaction
No Job Satisfaction
Job Satisfaction

• Meaningful Work
• Challenging Work
• Recognition for Accomplishments
• Feeling of Achievement
• Increased Responsibility
• Opportunities for Growth
• and Advancement
• The Job Itself

• Pay
• Status
• Security
• Working Conditions
• Fringe Benefits
• Policies and Administrative Practices
• Interpersonal Relations

Fig. 4-3
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Consequences of Job Dissatisfaction

• Turnover
• Absenteeism
• Job performance

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Ability

• Directly influences level of performance and
  satisfaction.
• Need an effective selection process.
• Need effective promotion and transfer decisions.
• Need to fine-tune jobs to fit individuals.

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Types of Ability
Intellectual Ability Number Verbal
Comprehension Perceptual Speed Inductive
Reasoning
Physical Ability Strength Flexibility Conditio
ning Balance Stamina