Chapter 3: Perceiving ourselves and others in Organizations Flashcards
Self-concept
An individuals self-beliefs and self-evaluations
The 3 characteristics of self-concept:
- Complexity
- Consistency
- Clarity
Complexity
The number of distinct and important identities people perceive about themselves.
(higher complexity when the selves are different)
Consistency
The degree to which a persons identities are compatible with each other and compatible with the individuals personal characteristics
Clarity
The degree to which a persons self-concept is clear, confidently defined and stable
When do people have a better well-being?
When they have:
- high complexity
- high consistency
- high clarity
The 4 selves:
- self-enhancement
- self-verification
- self-esteem
- self-efficacy
self-enhancement
A persons inherent motivation to have a positive self-concept.
Self-verification
A persons inherent motivation to confirm and maintain his or her existing self-concept
How is self-verification associated with several OB topics?
- It affects the perceptual processes
- people with high self-concept clarity will consciously dismiss feedback that contradicts their self-concept
- Employees prefer interacting with other who affirm their self-views
The 3 things by which self-evaluation is defined:
- self-esteem
- self-efficacy
- locus of control
self-esteem
The extent to which a person likes, respects and is satisfied with themselves
self-efficacy
A persons belief about having the ability, motivation, correct role perceptions and favorable situation to successfully complete a task
locus of control
The persons general beliefs about the amount of control they have over personal life events
internal locus of control
People who belief that life events are mainly caused by their personal characteristics
external locus of control
People who belief that life events are mainly caused by fate, luck or the external environment
Who has a more positive self-evaluation, people with an external or internal locus of control?
People with an internal locus of control
The 2 opposing motives in how people view themselves:
- The motivation to be distinctive and different from other people
- The motivation for inclusion and assimilation with other people
The social-identity theory:
People define themselves by the groups to which they belong or have an emotional attachment
The hierarchy of social importance when it comes to social identity:
- How easily you are identified as a member of the reference group
- Your minority status in a group
- The groups social status
Perception
The process of receiving information and making sense of the world around us
selective attention
The process of attending to some information received by our senses and ignoring other information
confirmation bias
screening out information that is contrary to our values and assumptions and more readily accepting information that is confirming to our beliefs
categorical thinking
The unconscious process of organizing people and object into preconceived categories that are stored in our long-term memory
mental models
knowledge structures that we develop to describe, explain and predict the world around us. (Block our recognition of new opportunities)
Stereotyping
impressions that people form of groups by associating groups with particular characteristics
3 reasons why we stereotype:
- Because it is a non conscious energy-saving process that simplifies our understanding of the world
- We have an innate need to understand and anticipate how others behave
- The observers need for social-identity and self-enhancement
The 3 foundations of stereotyping:
- Categorization
- Homogenization
- Differentiation
Categorization
Categorizing people into distinct groups
Homogenization
All people within a group are very similar to one another
Differentiation
our tendency to assign more favorable characteristics to people in our group than people in another group
3 problems with stereotyping in general:
- It is highly inaccurate
- They generate stereotype threat
- it lays a foundation for unfair discrimination
stereotype threat
an individuals concern about confirming a negative stereotype about their group and ending up displaying the stereotype they are trying to avoid.
attribution process
forming beliefs about whether an observed behavior or event is caused largely by internal or external factors
The 3 attribution rules
- distinctiveness
- consensus
- consistency
distinctiveness
Does the person also do this in other situations?
consensus
Do other people also do this in the same situation?
consistency
Does the person do this the whole time?
self-serving bias
the tendency to attribute our favorable outcomes to internal factors and failures to external factors
fundamental attribution error
tendency to see the person rather than the situation as the main cause of that persons behavior
self-fulfilling prophecy
By expecting something we start acting like it which in turn influences the other to act more like our expectation
When is the self-fulfilling prophecy stronger?
- At the beginning of a relationship
- When several people hold the same expectations of an individual
- applied to people with a history of low achievement
the halo effect
when our general impression is influenced by the perception of one characteristic of a person
false-consensus effect
When we overestimate the extent to which others have similar beliefs and characteristics to our own
The recency effect
When most recent information dominates our perception of others
primacy effect
When we quickly form an opinion of other people based on the first information we receive about them
4 explanations for the false-consensus effect:
- We are comforted with the fact that others are similar to us
- We tend to interact more with people with similar views
- Confirmation bias
- We homogenize people within a group, so the same goes for the false-consensus effect
Ways to reduce perceptual biases:
- acknowledging the biases
- interventions to improve self-awareness
- applying the Johari window
the Johari window
A model of self-awareness and mutual understanding
the 4 windows of the Johari window:
- open area
- blind area
- hidden area
- unknown area
open area (Johari window)
Information about yourself that is known to you and others
blind area (Johari window)
Information about yourself that is known to others but not to you
hidden area (Johari window)
Information about yourself that is known to you but unknown to others
unknown area (Johari window)
Information about yourself that is not known to you and not known to others
what is the purpose of the Johari window?
To produce revelations about yourself in the unknown area through disclosure (informing others of information) and feedback
contact hypothesis
the theory that certain types of direct contact between members of hostile groups will reduce stereotyping and prejudice
empathy
the ability to understand another persons situation or viewpoint, be sensitive to their thoughts and feelings and experience their emotions
Global mindset
an individuals ability to perceive, know about and process information across cultures
4 elements of a global mindset:
- adapting a global perspective
- empathizing and acting effectively across cultures
- processing complex information about novel environments
- developing new multilevel mental models
2 limits to the benefits of the Johari window:
- implicit biases are similar to stereotypes and thus difficult to prevent
- perceptual bias self-awareness can cause people to become more sensitized and self-conscious
