Perception and Personality in Organizations

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Perception and Personality in Organizations
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Foundations of Individual Behaviour
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• WE DONT SEE THINGS AS THEY ARE, WE SEE
  THINGS AS WE ARE.

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Perception

• The study of perception is concerned with
  identifying the process through which we
  interpret and organize sensory information to
  produce our conscious experience of objects and
  object relationship.
• Perception is the process of receiving
  information about and making sense of the world
  around us. It involves deciding which information
  to notice, how to categorize this information and
  how to interpret it within the framework of
  existing knowledge.

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Perception

• A process by which individuals organize and
  interpret their sensory impressions in order to
  give meaning to their environment .

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Perceptual Process Model
Environmental Stimuli
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The Perceptual Process

• Sensation
• An individuals ability to detect stimuli in the
  immediate environment.
• Selection
• The process a person uses to eliminate some of
  the stimuli that have been sensed and to retain
  others for further processing.

• Organization
• The process of placing selected perceptual
  stimuli into a framework for storage.
• Interpretation
• The stage of the perceptual process at which
  stimuli are interpreted and given meaning.

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Selective Attention

• Characteristics of the object
• size, intensity, motion, repetition, novelty
• Perceptual context
• Characteristics of the perceiver
• attitudes
• perceptual defense
• expectations -- condition us to expect events

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• Factors in the Target
• Motion
• Novelty
• Sounds
• Size
• Background
• Proximity
• Similarity

• Factors in the perceiver
• Attitudes
• Motives
• Interests
• Experience
• Expectations

Perception

• Factors in the situation
• Time
• Work Setting
• Social Setting

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Figure-Ground Illustration

• Field-ground differentiation
• The tendency to distinguish and focus on a
  stimulus that is classified as figure as
  opposed to background.

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• PERCEPTUAL GROUPING
• Our tendency to group several individual stimuli
  into a meaningful and recognizable pattern.
• It is very basic in nature and largely it seems
  to be inborn.
• Some factors underlying grouping are
• -continuity -closure
• -proximity -similarity

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ATTRIBUTION THEORY

• is the cause of the behavior seen as internal or
  external? we look for three types of information
  to decide
• DISTINCTIVENESS Is this persons performance
  different on other tasks and in other
  situations?
• CONSISTENCY Over time, is there a change in
  behavior or results on this task by
  this person?
• CONSENSUS Do others perform or behave similarly
  when in a similar position?
• YES answers lead to EXTERNAL attributions
  (Environmental causes)
• NO answers lead to INTERNAL attributions
  (Personal causes)

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Attribution Theory

• When individuals observe behavior, they attempt
  to determine whether it is internally or
  externally caused.

Attribution of cause
observation
Interpretation
H
External
Distictinctiveness
L
Internal
H
Individual behavior
External
Consensus
L
Internal
H
Internal
Consistency
L
External
H high L- Low
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Distinctiveness Does this person behave in
this manner in other situation
Consensus Do other person Behave in the Same
manner?
Consistency Does this person behave in this
same manner at other times ?
Internal Attribution
No Low Consensus Yes High Consensus
Yes High Consistency No Low Consistency
YES Low Distinctiveness NO High Distinctiveness

• External
• Attribution

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PERCEPTUAL ERRORS ATTRIBUTIONS

• STEREOTYPES Based on appearance
• HALO (HORN) EFFECTS One outstanding
  characteristic noted
• CONTRAST EFFECT Ordering
• RECENCY EFFECT Limited recall
• PROJECTION Similar to me Error
• SKEWING ERRORS Central tendency, leniency,
  strictness bias
• SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY People respond the way
  you expected they would
• SELECTIVE PERCEPTION (MIND SETS) Filtering,
  selection,

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ATTRIBUTION ERRORS

• THE FUNDAMENTAL ATTRIBUTION ERROR
• the cause of poor performance (by others) is due
  to personal factors (lazydidnt try very hard)
• SELF-SERVING BIAS
• the cause of poor performance (by myself) is due
  to situational factors (poor support), not
  because of a lack of effort

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Improving Perceptual Accuracy
Diversity Management
Improving Perceptual Accuracy
Empathize With Others
Know Yourself
Postpone Impression Formation
Compare Perceptions With Others
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Know Yourself (Johari Window)
Unknown to Self
Known to Self
Known to Others
Unknown to Others
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Defining Personality

• Relatively stable pattern of behaviours and
  consistent internal states that explain a
  person's behavioural tendencies
• Sum total of ways in which an individual reacts
  and interacts with others and environment

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Determinants of Personality
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Big Five Personality Dimensions
Caring, dependable
Poised, secure
Sensitive, flexible
Courteous, empathic
Outgoing, talkative
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Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

• Extroversion versus introversion
• Sensing versus intuition
• Thinking versus feeling
• Judging versus perceiving

Courtesy of Thompson Doyle Hennessey Everest
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Locus of Control and Self-Monitoring

• Locus of control
• Internals believe in their effort and ability
• Externals believe events are mainly due to
  external causes
• Self-monitoring personality
• Sensitivity to situational cues, and ability to
  adapt your behaviour to that situation

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Personality Traits
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Personality Theories

• Trait Theory
• Psychoanalytical theory
• Social Learning theory
• Self theory

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Personality Traits

• Traits are relatively stable and consistent
  personal characteristics
• Assumptions for Trait theory
• Traits are-
• Common but vary in absolute amounts
• Relatively stable
• Can be inferred by measuring his/her
  behavioral indicators

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Trait Theory

• Trait personality theories suggest that a person
  can be described on the basis of some number of
  personality traits
• Allport identified some 4,500 traits
• Cattel used factor analysis to identify 30-35
  basic traits
• Problems with trait theory include
• Lack of explanation as to WHY traits develop
• Issue of explaining transient versus long-lasting
  traits

Allport
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Overview of the Big 5
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The Trait Theory
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Psychoanalytic Theory

• Psychoanalytic theory, as devised by Freud,
  attempts to explain personality on the basis of
  unconscious mental forces
• Levels of consciousness We are unaware of some
  aspects of our mental states
• Freud argued that personality is made up of
  multiple structures, some of which are
  unconscious
• Freud argued that as we have impulses that cause
  us anxiety our personality develops defense
  mechanisms to protect against anxiety

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Freudian Theory

• Levels of consciousness
• Conscious
• What were aware of
• Preconscious
• Memories etc. that can be recalled
• Unconscious
• Wishes, feelings, impulses that lies beyond
  awareness

• Structures of Personality
• Id
• Operates according to the pleasure principle
• Ego
• Operates according to the reality principle
• Superego
• Contains values and ideals

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Defense Mechanisms

• Defense mechanisms refer to unconscious mental
  processes that protect the conscious person from
  developing anxiety
• Sublimation person channels energy from
  unacceptable impulses to create socially
  acceptable accomplishments
• Denial person refuses to recognize reality
• Projection person attributes their own
  unacceptable impulses to others
• Repression anxiety-evoking thoughts are pushed
  into the unconscious

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Defense Mechanisms

• Rationalization Substituting socially
  acceptable reasons
• Intellectualization Ignoring the emotional
  aspects of a painful experience by focusing on
  abstract thoughts, words, or ideas
• Reaction formation Refusing to acknowledge
  unacceptable urges, thoughts or feelings by
  exaggerating the opposite state
• Regression Responding to a threatening
  situation in a way appropriate to an earlier age
  or level of development
• Displacement Substituting a less threatening
  object for the original object of impulse

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Social Learning Theory

• It emphasizes on how an individual behaves or
  acts in a given situation.
• It holds the view that the specific
  characteristics of a situation determine how an
  individual will behave in such situation.

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Humanistic Perspectives

• Carl Rogers self theory
• Self image
• Ideal self
• Looking self glass
• Rreal self

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Self theory

• We have needs for
• Self-consistency (absence of conflict between
  self-perceptions
• Congruence (consistency between self-perceptions
  and experience)
• Inconsistency evokes anxiety and threat
• People with low self-esteem generally have poor
  congruence between their self-concepts and life
  experiences.

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How personality develops or shapes?

• Some findings
• Freuds four stages
• Eriksons eight life stages
• Argyris Immaturity to maturity stages

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Freuds four stages

• The Oral stage- Lasts for the first year
• The Anal stage- Two to three years
• The phallic stage- At the age of four years
• The latency stage- B/w age of six to seven years
• The genital stage-During adolescences adulthood

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Freud criticisms and critiques

• He studied very few people so not representative
  sample
• Process of psychoanalysis interviewing- exhibit
  preconceived notions and biases
• His measures/methods were untreatable
• Definitions dont lend themselves to
  experimentation
• Ones personality is fixed and unchanging

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Eriksons eight life stages

• Infancy- first year
• Early childhood- Two and three years
• Play age-Four and Five years
• School age-Six to twelve years
• Adolescence-Teenage period
• Young adulthood- During Twenties
• Old(sunset) age- Adult

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Argyris Immaturity to maturity stages

• From
• Passivity to activity
• Dependence to Independence
• Selective behavior
• Shallow interest to deep interest
• Short term perspective to long perspective
• Subordinate position to superordinate position
• Lack of self awareness to self awreness and
  control

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Measuring Personality

• Self report surveys
• Projective tests ( Rorschach Inkblot Test and
  Thematic Appreciation Test)
• Assessment Centres

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Assessing the Unconscious

• Projective Tests
• used to assess personality (e.g., Rorschach or
  TAT tests)
• How? provides ambiguous stimuli and subject
  projects his or her motives into the ambiguous
  stimuli

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Assessing the Unconscious -- Rorschach

• Rorschach Inkblot Test
• the most widely used projective test
• a set of 10 inkblots designed by Hermann
  Rorschach

Rorschach
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Assessing the Unconscious--Rorschach
used to identify peoples inner feelings by
analyzing their interpretations of the blots
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Assessing the Unconscious--TAT

• Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
• People express their inner motives through the
  stories they make up about ambiguous scenes

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AM I a TYPE-A?Identify the number on the scale
that best characterizes your behavior for each
trait.

• Casual about appointments Never late
• 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
• Not competitive Very competitive
• 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
• Never feel rushed Always feel rushed
• 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
• Take things one at a time Try to do many
  things at once
• 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
• Slow doing things Fast (eating, walking,
  etc.)
• 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
• Express feelings "Sit on" feelings
• 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
• Many interests Few interests outside work
• 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

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Results

• A total of 120 or more indicates that you are a
  hard-core Type A. Scores below 90 indicate that
  you are a hard-core Type B. The following gives
  you more specifics
• 120 or more points A personality type
• 106-119 A
• 100-105 A
• 90-99 B
• Less than 90 B
• If you score in the "A" categories, you need to
  be aware of your tendency to focus on quantity
  over quality. You may do better in jobs that are
  routine and rely on speed rather than creativity
  for success. In addition, Type As often
  experience moderate to high levels of stress.

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WHAT'S MY BASIC PERSONALITY?

• 1 2 3 4 5
• Quiet Talkative
• Tolerant Critical
• Disorganized Organized
• Tense Calm
• Imaginative Conventional
• Reserved Outgoing

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• Uncooperative Cooperative
• Unreliable Dependable
• Insecure Secure
• New Familiar
• Sociable Loner
• Suspicious Trusting
• Undirected Goal-oriented
• Enthusiastic Depressed
• Change Status quo