LECTURE 4 FINAL -Perception-Personality.ppt
- 1. LECTURE FOUR LECTURE FOUR Perception and Personality Perception and Personality
- 2. LECTURE Outline LECTURE Outline • PERCEPTION • General Perception Defined • Social Perception defined • Factors Influencing Perception • Theory of Attribution • Perceptual Errors • Managerial Uses of Perception • Techniques to enhance our perception • PERSONALITY • Definitions of Personality • Determinants of Personality • Personality Traits • MBTI • Major Personality attributes influencing OB
- 3. What is Perception What is Perception ? Generally, it is the process through which the information from outside environment is selected, received, organised and interpreted to make it meaningful. It can also be referred to as a psychological process where people obtain (or take) information from the environment and make sense of their worlds. Very often two people who have seen the same thing end up interpreting it differently. The reason for such occurrence is because of the involvement of an extremely complex cognitive process with each person having a unique perception resulting in individual differences in processing information which is received.
- 4. Perception Perception • In summary, it has to be noted that: Perception is a complex cognition process, giving a unique interpretation (or picture) of the world, which may be very much different from reality at times. There is a lot of difference between the perceptual world and the real world. Many of the problems occurring in organisations (related to organizational behaviour) are often found to be the problems of perception
- 5. Social Perception Social Perception Person or social perception is the process by which individuals attribute characteristics or traits to other people. Factors that influence how a person perceives another can be categorized in terms of: Characteristics or attributes of the person being perceived (The Target) Characteristics of the perceiver Situation or context within which the perception takes place.
- 6. Characteristics of the Perceiver Characteristics of the Perceiver • The profile of the Perceiver can be as follows: a) If a person knows himself, it will be easier for him to see others accurately. b) Perceiver’s own characteristics affect the traits he or she is likely to see in others. c) Perceivers who accept themselves are more likely to see the positive aspects of other people.
- 7. Factors that Influence Perception Factors that Influence Perception Perception The Target • Novelty • Motion • Sounds • Size • Background • Proximity The Perceiver • Attitudes • Motives • Interests • Experience • Expectations The Situation • Time • Work setting • Social setting
- 8. Characteristics of the Perceiver Characteristics of the Perceiver • The profile of the Perceiver can be as follows: a) If a person knows himself, it will be easier for him to see others accurately. b) Perceiver’s own characteristics affect the traits he or she is likely to see in others. c) Perceivers who accept themselves are more likely to see the positive aspects of other people.
- 9. Theory of Attribution Theory of Attribution • Attribution theory describes that when individuals observe behaviour, they attempt to determine whether it is Internally or Externally caused. • Internally caused behaviour is those that are believed to be under the personal control of the individual. • Externally caused behaviour is seen as resulting from outside causes over which the individual has no control.
- 10. Theory of Attribution Theory of Attribution • Kelly’s Theory of Causal Attribution explains that in determining whether others’ behaviour stems mainly from internal or external causes, we focus on three types of information: • a) Distinctiveness; • b) Consensus; • c) Consistency.
- 11. Distinctiveness • Distinctiveness is extent to which a person behaves in the same manner in other contexts. • If one behaves the same way in other situations, distinctiveness is low; if one behaves differently, distinctiveness is high. • If a particular behaviour is unusual, an observer is likely to give the behaviour an external attribution. • If the action is not unusual, it will be perhaps judged as internal
- 12. Consensus Consensus • Consensus is the extent to which other people behave in the same manner as the person we are judging. • If others do behave similarly, consensus is considered, high; if they do not, consensus is considered low. • If consensus were high, you would be expected to give external attribution, and if consensus is low, you tend to give internal attribution.
- 13. Consistency Consistency is tendency to respond the same way over time. Consistency also may be high or low and the more consistent the behaviour, the more the observer is inclined to attribute it to internal causes and vice-versa. When we make judgements about the behaviour of other people, we have tendency to underestimate the influence of external factors and overestimate the influence of internal factors, in case of less than optimum performance by the others. This is called the Fundamental Attribution Error. There is also a tendency for individuals to attribute their own successes to internal factors such as ability or effort while putting the blame for failure on external factors such as luck. This is called the Self-Serving Bias
- 14. Perceptual Errors Perceptual Errors • Attribution Theory • Selective Perception • Halo Effect • Contrast Effects • Projection • Stereotyping
- 15. Attribution Theory Attribution Theory • When individuals observe behaviour, they attempt to determine whether it is internally or externally caused. – Distinctiveness – Consensus – Consistency
- 16. Chapter 2, Nancy Langton and Stephen P. Robbins, Fundamentals of Organizational Behaviour, Third Canadian Edition 2-16 Copyright © 2007 Pearson Education Canada Attribution Theory Attribution Theory • Fundamental Attribution Error – The tendency to underestimate external factors. • Self-Serving Bias – The tendency to attribute one’s successes to internal factors.
- 17. Perceptual Errors Perceptual Errors • Selective Perception It explains that people selectively interpret what they see on the basis of their interests, background, experience and attitudes. • Halo Effect –Evaluation of another person solely on the basis of one attribute, either favourable or unfavourable and creating a general impression • Contrast Effects
- 18. Perceptual Errors Perceptual Errors • Similar-to-me Effect or Projection – It is another common type of perceptual bias, which involves the tendency for people to perceive more favourably others who are like themselves than those who are dissimilar. • Stereotyping – Stereotyping refers to the tendency to assign attributes to a person solely on the basis of a category of people of which he or she is a member. Here, The perceiver fails to recognise the characteristics that will distinguish the person as an individual and his unique traits and qualities
- 19. Contrast Effects • It is evaluations of a person’s characteristics that are affected by comparisons with other people recently encountered who rank higher or lower on the same characteristics • Self-Fulfilling Prophecy – A concept that proposes a person will behave in ways consistent with how he or she is perceived by others. – This is also known as Expectancy which is a tendency to perceive people, objects or events on the basis of what we expected them to be in the first place. It is sometimes referred to as “pygmallion effect” •
- 20. Managerial Uses of Perception Managerial Uses of Perception • Perception is an important concept for managers or for any decision maker and there are some important managerial activities where concept of perception can be applied. These include: Advertising Maintaining Safety Managing Impression Building Corporate Image Managing Performance Evaluating Performance Judging Employees’ Loyalty Self-Assessment and Development
- 21. Techniques to enhance our Perceptual Skills Techniques to enhance our Perceptual Skills • Giving Feedback and Receiving Feedback: This is important because every person has four areas that needs attention • Public Area: The aspects of me which I know as well as others also know • Blind Area: The aspects of me which I do not know but others know • Private Area: The aspects of me which I know but others do not know • Dark Area: The aspects of me that I do not know as well as others also do not know NOTE: Amongst all these Public area does not create problem in perceptual process, but other three areas do, hence these should be reduced. Receiving feedback from others can reduce blind Area, and giving feedback and information about self to others can reduce Private area. Reducing dark area is concerned more with self- purification
- 22. Techniques to enhance our Perceptual Skills contd Techniques to enhance our Perceptual Skills contd Having Empathy Having Positive Attitudes Enhancing Self-Concept and Self esteem Avoiding Common Biases Communication Correct Use of Attribution
- 23. PERSONALITY PERSONALITY Introduction Introduction The word “personality” has been derived from the Latin word “persona” which means a mask worn by an actor while performing a character on the stage. Thus personality is taken to mean the characteristic pattern or style of behaviour of the person revealed from his external appearance. The external properties of a person include his dress, speech, bodily actions, postures, habits and expressions. This means a person endowed with good external properties is considered to possess a good personality and vice versa. But this is not the reality. Mere external properties can not
- 24. Personality as a Derived Concept The concept of personality is a derived concept. The derivation is possible in three ways: The first is subjective, popular derivation based on subjective impressions formed by the individual’s behaviour and is expressed through evaluative expressions like charming, dominating, weak or bold personality. The second derivation of personality is based on an objective description of the overt responses of the individual. The third is organismic according to which personality is the inner pattern of a person’s characterisics.
- 25. Different definitions of Personality A population definition of the word personality can be seen as all inclusive which is the sum total of an individual’s properties (both internal and external) as a distinct and unique human being. The external properties like dressese are directly observed, while the internal are only inferred from the behaviour of a person which is the psychological pattern. Thus Personality is the consistent psychological patterns within an individual that affect the way they interact with others and the situations they encounter.
- 26. Political Definition of Personality According to political definition a person has personality only when he is charismatic, attractive and represents the masses. He should be able to present himself in an impressive manner at a public debate and his personal life should not be marred with scandals. Even this definition is not acceptable for if we accept this definition then majority of political leaders should not have any personality. Thus, Personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his characteristics behaviour and thought
- 27. Biophysical Definition of Personality • This category of definitions regards personality as organic internal element of a person. • It regards personality as consisting of traits which lend themselves to objective measurement. • For example, Sheldon (1942) classified people on the basis of physique. • He described three types of personality namely: endomorphic, mesomorphic and ectomorphic, with endo morphic being fat and fleshy, mesomorphic being athletic in build with a lot of muscles and ecto morphic being thin and bony in build.
- 28. Personality Determinants There are several factors that determine the formation or shaping of our personality. Among the three major factors are: Heredity Environment Situation
- 29. Heredity • The genetic components inherited from our parents at the time of conception determine strongly the personality characteristics of an individual. E.g., physical statutory, facial attractiveness, gender, etc Environment: • The culture in which people are brought up in their lives and the type of socialization process such as family’s child rearing practices, socio economic status of the family, number of children in a family, education of the parents, religious practices, etc play a critical role in shaping our personalities. Situation: • The type of specific situation which a person encounters also equally shapes the type of personality characteristics. E.g., an individual’s exposure to a job interview and the type of experiences encountered during that time will shape certain personality characteristic
- 30. Personality Traits Those characteristics like shy, aggressive, submissive, lazy, ambitious, loyal, timid etc, when they are exhibited in large number of situations, are called Personality Traits or enduring characteristics that describe on individual’s behavior. Cattel (1973) identified 16 source of Primary Traits such as Reserved – Outgoing; Less intelligent - More intelligent; Affected by feelings - Emotionally stable; Submissive – Dominant; Timid – Venturesome; Tough minded - Sensitive etc. These traits were found to be generally steady and constant sources of behaviour. But there was found to be no scientific relevance.
- 31. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Myers-Briggs Type Indicator ( (MBTI) MBTI describes four dimensions of Personality Types: (a) Extroversion versus Introversion: (The ways in which people relate to the world) (b) Sensing versus Intuition: (Becoming aware of and perceiving information) (c) Thinking versus Feeling: (Ways of deciding and prefer to make judgments) (d) Judging and Perception: (The amount of control exercising and organizing people)
- 32. The Big Five Model The Big Five Model Classifications • Extraversion – friendly, outgoing – spend a lot of time maintaining and enjoying – Agreeableness – Highly agreeable = value harmony more – Low agreeable = focus more on their own needs • Conscientiousness – Highly conscientious = pursues fewer goals, – Low conscientious = tend to be more easily distracted
- 33. The Big Five Model The Big Five Model • Emotional Stability – Positive emotional stability = calm, enthusiastic – Negative emotional stability = nervous, depressed, • Openness to Experience – Extremely open = fascinated by novelty – Not open = appear more conventional
- 34. Big Five Personality Factors Big Five Personality Factors
- 35. Major Personality Attributes Major Personality Attributes Influencing OB Influencing OB • Locus of Control • Machiavellianism • Self-Esteem • Self-Monitoring • Risk-Taking • Type A Personality • Type B Personality • Proactive Personality
- 36. Locus of Control Locus of Control • The degree to which people believe they are in control of their own fate. – Internals • Individuals who believe that they control what happens to them. – Externals • Individuals who believe that what happens to them is controlled by outside forces such as luck or chance.
- 37. Machiavellianism Machiavellianism • Degree to which an individual is pragmatic, maintains emotional distance, and believes that ends can justify means. Self-Esteem Self-Esteem Individuals’ degree of liking or disliking of themselves
- 38. Self-Monitoring Self-Monitoring • A personality trait that measures an individual’s ability to adjust behaviour to external situational factors. • Risk-Taking Risk-Taking • Refers to a person’s willingness to take chances or risks.
- 39. Type A Personality Type A Personality – Moves, – Impatient – Multitasks – Dislikes leisure – Obsessed with numbers
- 40. Type B Personality Type B Personality – Never suffers – Doesn’t need to display – Plays for fun – Can relax
- 41. Proactive Personality Proactive Personality • A person who identifies opportunities, shows initiative, takes action, and perseveres until meaningful change occurs.
- 42. CONCLUSION CONCLUSION • Thank you for your attention and see you next time
Editor's Notes
- #14: Material pertinent to this discussion is found on pages 34-39.
- #36: Material pertinent to this discussion is found on pages 46. If you believe you control your own destiny you are labelled internal; if you see your life as being controlled by outside forces you are labelled external. Research shows internals are more satisfied with their jobs, have lower absenteeism, and perform better on certain types of jobs. A self-assessment for locus of control is found at the end of the chapter.