Download Chapter 3

Personality,
Perception,
and Attribution
Chapter 3
Organizational
Behavior
Nelson & Quick, 6th edition
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Individual Differences
Individual Differences - the way in
which factors such as skills,
abilities, personalities, perceptions,
attitudes, values, and ethics differ
from one individual to another
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Variables Influencing
Individual Behavior
The person
Skills & abilities
Personality
Perceptions
Attitudes
Values
Ethics
The environment
Organization
Work group
Job
Personal life
Behavior
Behavior
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Interactional Psychology
Interactional psychology - a
psychological approach that says in
order to understand human
behavior, we must know something
about the person and about the
situation
B = f(P,E)
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Propositions of
Interactional Psychology
• Behavior is a function of a continuous,
multi-directional interaction between
person and situation
• Person is active in process
– Changed by situations
– Changes situations
• People vary in many characteristics
• Two situational interpretations
– The objective situation
– Person’s subjective view of the situation
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Definition of Personality
Personality A relatively stable set
of characteristics that
influences an
individual’s behavior
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Personality Theories
Trait Theory - understand individuals by
breaking down behavior patterns into a
series of observable traits
Integrative Approach - describes
personality as a composite of an
individual’s psychological processes
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Big Five Personality Traits
Gregarious, assertive,
Extraversion
sociable
Cooperative, warm,
Agreeableness
agreeable
Hardworking, organized,
Conscientiousness
dependable
Emotional stability
Calm, self-confident, cool
Openness to
experience
Creative, curious, cultured
SOURCES: P. T. Costa and R. R. McCrae, The NEO-PI Personality
Inventory (Odessa, Fla.: Psychological Assessment Resources, 1992); J. F.
Salgado, “The Five Factor Model of Personality and Job Performance in the
European Community,” Journal of Applied Psychology 82 (1997): 30-43.
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Core Self-Evaluation
(CSE) Traits
Locus of Control
Internal
External
I control what
happens to me!
People and
circumstances
control my fate!
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Core Self-Evaluation (CSE)
Traits
Self-Efficacy - beliefs and expectations about
one’s ability to accomplish a specific task effectively
Sources of self-efficacy
Prior experiences and prior success
Behavior models (observing success)
Persuasion
Assessment of current physical &
emotional capabilities
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Core Self-Evaluation (CSE)
Traits
Self-Esteem
Feelings of Self-Worth
Success tends
to increase
self-esteem
Failure tends
to decrease
self-esteem
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Core Self-Evaluation (CSE)
Traits
Self-Monitoring
Behavior based on cues from others & situations
High self monitors
Low self monitors
– flexible: adjust
– act from internal states
behavior according to
rather than from
the situation and the
situational cues
behavior of others
– show consistency
– can appear
– less likely to respond to
unpredictable &
work group norms or
inconsistent
supervisory feedback
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Who Is Most Likely to . . .
Low-self
monitors
High-self
monitors
Get promoted
Accomplish tasks, meet other’s
expectations, seek out central
positions in social networks
Change employers
Self-promote
Make a job-related
geographic move
Demonstrate higher levels of
managerial self-awareness;
base behavior on other’s cues
and the situation
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Core Self-Evaluation (CSE)
Traits
Positive Affect - an individual’s
tendency to accentuate the positive
aspects of oneself, other people,
and the world in general
Negative Affect - an individual’s
tendency to accentuate the negative
aspects of oneself, other people,
and the world in general
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Four Measures of Personality
Projective Test - elicits an
individual’s response to abstract
stimuli
Behavioral Measures - personality
assessments that involve observing
an individual’s behavior in a
controlled situation
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Four Measures of Personality
Self-Report Questionnaire assessment involving an individual’s
responses to questions
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
(MBTI) - instrument measuring
Jung’s theory of individual
differences.
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Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
Based on Carl Jung’s theories
– People are fundamentally different
– People are fundamentally alike
– People have preference combinations
for extraversion/introversion,
perception, judgment
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Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
Based on Carl Jung’s theories
– Human similarities/differences
understood by combining preferences
• Ways of doing things
• Extraversion or introversion
– No preferences better than others
– Understand, celebrate, and
appreciate differences
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Myers Briggs Type Indicator
Briggs & Myers developed the MBTI to
understand individual differences by
analyzing the combinations of
preferences
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MBTI Preferences
Preferences
Represents
Sensing
INtuiting
How one
re-energizes
How one gathers
information
Thinking
Feeling
How one makes decisions
Perceiving
How one orients to the
outer world
Extraversion Introversion
Judging
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MBTI Scales
ISTJ
ISFJ
INFJ
INTJ
ISTP
ISFP
INFP
INTP
ESTP
ESFP
ENFP
ENTP
ESTJ
ESFJ
ENFJ
ENTJ
Introverts
Extroverts
Sensing Types
SOURCE: Modified and reproduced by special permission of the Publisher. CPP,
Inc. Palo Alto, CA 94303 from Introduction to Type, Sixth Edition by Isabel
Briggs Myers. Copyright 1998 by CPP, Inc. All rights reserved. Further
reproduction is prohibited without the publisher’s written consent.
Intuitive Types
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Uses of MBTI
• Identify learning and teaching styles
• Decide on careers (Example: many
managers are ESTJs)
• Determine decision making style
• Determine management style
• Build teams
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Impression Management
Impression Management process by which individuals try to
control the impression others have of
them
– Name dropping
– Appearance
– Self-description
– Flattery
– Favors
– Agreement with opinion
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Attribution Theory
Attribution theory - explains how
individuals pinpoint the causes of their
own behavior or that of others
Internal attribution - attributing success
to ability or effort
External attribution - attributing success
to sources beyond your control
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Attribution Biases
Fundamental Attribution Error -
tendency to make attributions to
internal causes when focusing on
someone else’s behavior
Self-serving Bias -
tendency to attribute one’s own
successes to internal causes and
one’s failures to external causes
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