Ch. 03 - Perception, Attribution, and Diversity

Question 1

perception

Answer 1

the process of interpreting the messages of our senses to provide order and meaning to the environment

Question 2

perceptual defence

Answer 2

the tendency for the perceptual system to defend the perceiver against unpleasant emotions

Question 3

social identity theory

Answer 3

a theory that states that people form perceptions of themselves based on their personal characteristics and memberships in social categories

Question 4

primary effect

Answer 4

the tendency for a perceiver to rely on early cues or first impressions

Question 5

recency effect

Answer 5

the tendency for a perceiver to rely on recent cues or last impressions

Question 6

central traits

Answer 6

personal characteristics of a target person that are of particular interest to a perceiver

Question 7

implicit personality theories

Answer 7

personal theories that people have about which personality characteristics go together

Question 8

projection

Answer 8

the tendency for perceivers to attribute their own thoughts and feelings to others

Question 9

stereotyping

Answer 9

the tendency to generalize about people in a certain social category and ignore variations among them

Question 10

attribution

Answer 10

the process by which causes or motives are assigned to explain people’s behaviour

Question 11

dispositional attributions

Answer 11

explanations for behaviour based on an actor’s personality or intellect

Question 12

situational attributions

Answer 12

explanations for behaviour based on an actor’s external situation or environment

Question 13

consistency cues

Answer 13

attribution cues that reflect how consistently a person engages in a behaviour over time

Question 14

consensus cues

Answer 14

attribution cues that reflect how a person’s behaviour compares with that of others

Question 15

distinctiveness cues

Answer 15

attribution cues that reflect the extent to which a person engages in some behaviour across a variety of situations

Question 16

fundamental attribution error

Answer 16

the tendency to overemphasize dispositional explanations for behaviour at the expense of situational explanations

Question 17

actor-observer effect

Answer 17

the propensity for actors and observes to view the causes of the actor’s behaviour differently

Question 18

self-serving bias

Answer 18

the tendency to take credit for successful outcomes and to deny responsibility for failures

Question 19

workforce diversity

Answer 19

differences among recruits and employees in characteristics such as gender, race, age, religion, cultural background, physical ability, or sexual orientation

Question 20

diversity climate

Answer 20

the degree to which an organization advocates fair human resource policies, promotes equal employment opportunities and inclusion, and socially integrates underrepresented employees

Question 21

stereotype threat

Answer 21

members of a social group feel they might be judged or treated according to a stereotype and that their behaviour and/or performance will confirm the stereotype

Question 22

organizational climate

Answer 22

the shared perceptions that employees have about the organization’s policies, practices, and procedures and the behaviours that are expected, supported, and rewarded

Question 23

safety climate

Answer 23

shared perceptions of safety-related events, practices, and procedures as well as the types of safety-oriented behaviours that are expected, supported, and rewarded

Question 24

trust

Answer 24

a psychological state in which one has a willingness to be vulnerable and to take risks with respect to the actions of another party

Question 25

perceived organizational support (POS)

Answer 25

employees’ general belief that their organization values their contribution and cares about their well-being

Question 26

organizational support theory (OST)

Answer 26

a theory that states that employees who have strong perceptions of organizational support feel an obligation to care about the organization’s welfare and to help the organization achieve its objectives

Question 27

norm of reciprocity

Answer 27

a felt obligation to help the organization achieve its goals and objectives in return for various resources obtained from the organization

Question 28

perceived supervisor support (PSS)

Answer 28

employees’ general belief that their supervisor values their contribution and cares about their well-being

Question 29

signalling theory

Answer 29

job applicants interpret their recruitment and selection experiences as cues or signals about known characteristics of a job and an organization and what it will be like to work in an organization

Question 30

contrast effects

Answer 30

previously interviewed job applicants affect an interviewer’s perception of a current applicant, leading to an exaggeration of differences between applicants

Question 31

leniency

Answer 31

the tendency to perceive the job performance of ratees as especially good

Question 32

harshness

Answer 32

the tendency to perceive the job performance of ratees as especially ineffective

Question 33

central tendency

Answer 33

the tendency to assign most ratees to middle-range job performance categories

Question 34

halo effect

Answer 34

the rating of an individual on one trait or characteristic tends to colour ratings on other traits or characteristics

Question 35

similar-to-me effect

Answer 35

a rater gives more favourable evaluations to people who are similar to the rater in terms of background or attitudes

Question 36

behaviourally anchored rating scale (BARS)

Answer 36

a rating scale with specific behavioural examples of good, average, and poor performance

Question 37

frame-of-reference (FOR)

Answer 37

a training method to improve rating accuracy that involves providing raters with a common frame of reference to use when rating individuals