Chapter 3: Perceiving Ourselves and Others in Organizations

Question 1

Self-Concept

Answer 1

Individual’s self-beliefs and self-evaluations; complexity, consistency, clarity

Question 2

Complexity

Answer 2

number of distinct and important ; more roles, more complex

Question 3

Consistency

Answer 3

When most of the individual’s self-perceived roles require similar personality traits, values, and other attributes; prison guard is one way at work and another at home

Question 4

Clarity

Answer 4

Degree to which you have a clear, confidently defined, and stable self-concept

Question 5

Self-enhancement

Answer 5

A person’s inherent motivation to have a positive self-concept (and to have others perceive him or her favorably), such as being competent, attractive, lucky, ethical, and important; “Welcome to … where all the children are above average”

Question 6

Self-verification

Answer 6

Person’s inherent motivation to confirm and maintain his/her existing self-concept; “Lockup” show trying to verify what a bad person they are

Question 7

Self-evaluation

Answer 7

Evaluation of yourself mostly defined by three elements: self-esteem, self-efficacy, and locus of control

Question 8

Self-esteem

Answer 8

Extent to which people like, respect, and are satisfied with themselves

Question 9

Self-efficacy

Answer 9

Person’s belief that he or she has the ability, motivation, correct role perceptions, and favorable situation to complete a task succesfully

Question 10

Locus of Control

Answer 10

A person’s general belief about the amount of control he or she has over personal life events; people with a more internal locus of control have a more positive self-evaluation

Question 11

Social identity theory

Answer 11

Theory stating that people define themselves by the groups to which they belong or have an emotional attachment; how we perceive ourselves to others; who’s in or out; Fixed or Growth mindset

Question 12

Perception

Answer 12

process of receiving information about and making sense of the world around us; entails which info to notice, how to categorize this info, how to interpret it within the framework of our existing knowledge

Question 13

Selective attention

Answer 13

Process of attending to some info received by our senses and ignoring other info

Question 14

Confirmation bias

Answer 14

Process of screening out info that is contrary to our values and assumptions and to more readily accept confirming info

Question 15

Categorical thinking

Answer 15

Organizing people and objects into preconceived categories that are stored in our long-term memory

Question 16

Mental models

Answer 16

Knowledge structures that we develop to describe, explain, and predict the world around us

Question 17

Stereotyping

Answer 17

Perceptual process of assigning traits to people based on their membership in a social category; natural non-conscious “energy-saving” process

Question 18

Attribution theory process

Answer 18

Perceptual process of deciding whether an observed behavior or event is caused largely by internal or external factors; three attribution rules: consistency, distinctiveness, consensus; “Why did that happen”

Question 19

Self-serving bias

Answer 19

Tendency to attribute our favorable outcomes to internal factors and our failures to external factors; associated with self-enhancement

Question 20

Fundamental attribution error

Answer 20

Tendency to see the person rather than the situation as the main cause of that person’s behavior

Question 21

Self-fulfilling prophecy

Answer 21

Perceptual process in which our expectations about another person cause that person to act more consistently with those expectations; stronger effect at the beginning of a relationsihp

Question 22

Positive organizational behavior

Answer 22

Perspective of org behavior that focuses on building positive qualities and traits within individuals or institutions as opposed to focusing on what is wrong with them

Question 23

Halo effect

Answer 23

Perceptual error whereby our general impression of a person, usually based on one prominent characteristic, colors our perception of other characteristics of that person; guy bringing breakfast example

Question 24

False consensus effect

Answer 24

Perceptual error in which we overestimate the extent to which others have beliefs and characteristics similar to our own

Question 25

Primacy effect

Answer 25

Perceptual error in which we quickly form an opinion of people based on the first information we receive about them

Question 26

Recency effect

Answer 26

Perceptual error in which the most recent information dominates our perception of others; sales example, big recent sale

Question 27

Johari Window

Answer 27

Model of mutual understanding that encourages disclosure and feedback to increase our own open area and reduce the blind, hidden, and unknown areas

Question 28

Meaningful interaction

Answer 28

Any activity in which people engage in valued activied

Question 29

Contact hypothersis

Answer 29

Theory stating that the more we interact with someone, the less prejudiced or perceptually based we will be against that person

Question 30

Empathy

Answer 30

A person’s understanding of and sensitivity to the feelings, thoughts, and situations of others

Question 31

Global mindset

Answer 31

An individual’s ability to perceive, appreciate, and empathize with people from other cultures, and to process complex cross-cultural information

Question 32

Perceptual Process Model

Answer 32

Environmental stimuli - walking thru woods, selective attention varies on charact. of perceives - bear vs flower, org and interpretation, attitudes and behavior - flowers don’t smell good, bear person runs

Question 33

Contrast error

Answer 33

Perceptual error from vast perceived differences; in line behind star employee