ch3: perceiving ourselves and others

Question 1

self-concept

Answer 1

an individual’s self-beliefs and self-evaluations

Question 2

which levels is the self-concept defined at

Answer 2

individual (personal traits), relational (connections to friends and coworkers) and collective (other entities)

Question 3

what are the three components of an individual self

Answer 3

complexity, consistency, clarity

Question 4

complexity

Answer 4

the number of distinct and important roles or identities that people perceive about themselves
 Everyone sees themselves in different roles at various times
 Self-expansion – increasing one’s complexity by seeking out new opportunities and social connections
 Also defined by the separation of different identities – if they’re highly interconnected that might lead to low self-esteem
 Complexity is higher when the multiple identities have a low correlation with one another (distinct spheres of life)
 A particular self-view is usually domain specific – more likely to be activated in some settings than others

Question 5

consistency

Answer 5

the degree to which the individual’s identities require similar personal attributes
 High consistency – individual’s identities are compatible with one another and with their actual personality traits, values and other attributes
 Low consistency – when some self-views require personal attributes that conflict with attributes required for other self-views + when an individual’s dominant self-concept identities are incompatible with their personal attributes

Question 6

clarity

Answer 6

the degree to which a person’s self-concept is clear, confidently defined, and stable
 When someone is confident about who they are, can describe their important identities to others, and provide the same description of themselves across time
 Increases through self-reflection, people who live in other cultures engage in more self-reflection + clearer when a person’s multiple selves have higher consistency (low consistency produces ambiguity about a person’s underlying characteristics)

Question 7

when’s psychological well-being higher

Answer 7

among those with distinct multiple selves (complexity), that are well-established (clarity) and require similar personal attributes that are compatible with the individual’s character (consistency)
o Self-concept complexity protects self-esteem when some roles are damaged or threatened
o Self-concept complexity helps people adapt, but too much variation causes internal tension and conflict
- Well-being also increases with self-concept clarity
o Those who’re unsure of their self-views are more easily influenced by others, experience more stress when making decisions, and feel more threatened by social forces that undermine their self-confidence and self-esteem

Question 8

how are employees with complex identities

Answer 8

more adaptive decision making and performance – multiple selves generate more diverse experiences and role patterns (can alter their thinking and behaviour to suit new tasks and work environments)

Question 9

problem with high complexity

Answer 9

complex self-concepts require more effort to maintain and juggle which can be stressful
 Low complexity (define themselves by their work) – better performance due to more investment in skill development, longer hours, more concentration on work, lower absenteeism and turnover

Question 10

why does clarity improve performance and why is it bad for it

Answer 10

o Less threatened by interpersonal conflict (more constructive problem-solving behaviours)
o High clarity may lead to role inflexibility

Question 11

four selves

Answer 11

self-enhancement, self-verification, self-evaluation, social self

Question 12

self-enhancement

Answer 12

• People are inherently motivated to perceive themselves and be perceived as competent, attractive, lucky, ethical and important – self-enhancement
• Individuals tend to rate themselves above average, believe that they have a better than average probability of success, and attribute their successes to personal motivation or ability while blaming the situation for their mistake
  o Ex: 70% of students believe their academic performance is above average, 62% say that they have above-average leadership ability
• Individuals tend to experience better mental and physical health when they amplify their self-concept + “can-do” attitude
  o Negative side: self-enhancement causes people to overestimate future returns in investment decisions and engage in unsafe behaviour + responsible for executives repeating poor decisions, launching misguided corporate diversification strategies, acquiring excessive corporate debt

Question 13

self-verification

Answer 13

a person’s inherent motivation to confirm and maintain their existing self-concept
- When a person’s identity as a leader is questioned by others, the leader applies self-verification strategies (making their role performance more visible, adopting a les threatening style of that self-view, directly confronting those who doubt or disagree with their identity as a leader)
- Unlike self-enhancement, self-verification includes seeking feedback that isn’t necessarily flattering
o Do we prefer compliments rather than accurate critique about weaknesses that we readily acknowledge?
- Affects the perceptual processes because employees are more likely to remember information that is consistent with their self-concept and nonconsciously screen out information that seems inconsistent with it
- People with high self-concept clarity will consciously dismiss feedback that contradicts their self-concept
- Employees are motivated to interact with others how affirm their self-views

Question 14

self-evolution

Answer 14

• Defined by self-esteem, self-efficacy, locus of control
• Self-esteem – the extent to which people like, respect, and are satisfied with themselves
  o People have degrees of self-esteem for each of their various roles – form an overall evaluation of themselves (global self-esteem)
  o High self-esteem – less influenced by others, tend to persist in spite of failure, have higher propensity to think logically
• Self-efficacy – a person’s belief that they have the ability, motivation, correct role perception, and favorable situation to complete a task successfully
  o High self-efficacy leads to a “can-do” attitude – believe they possess the energy (motivation), ability, clear expectations (role perceptions) and resources (situational factors)
  o Often task specific, but it can also be more generalized
• Locus of control – a person’s general belief about the amount of control they have over personal life events
  o Internal – believe that life events are caused mainly by their personal characteristics
   More positive self-evaluation + perform better in most employment situations, are more successful in their careers, earn more money, are better suited for leadership positions
   More satisfied with their jobs, cope better in stressful situations, and are more motivated by performance-based reward systems
  o External – events are mainly due to fate, luck, other external factors
  o Most apparent in new situations where their ability to control events is uncertain

Question 15

the social self

Answer 15

• Two opposing human motives that influence how humans view themselves
• Motivation to be distinctive and different from other people
  o Personal identity/internal self-concepts – fulfils the need for distinctiveness because it involves defining ourselves by our personality, values, abilities, qualifications, achievements, other personal attributes
• Motivation for inclusion and assimilation with other people
  o The relational and collective self-concepts fulfil the fundamental need for affiliation – involve both interaction and interdependence with others
  o Social identity or external self-concept
• Social identity theory – a theory stating that people define themselves by the groups to which they belong or have an emotional attachment
• One factor that determines importance of memberships – how easily you’re identified as a member of the reference group + your minority status in the group + the group’s status

Question 16

perception

Answer 16

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

Question 17

when does perception begin

Answer 17

when environmental stimuli are received through our senses, some things are screened out, the rest are organized and interpreted

Question 18

selective attention

Answer 18

the process of attending to some information received by our senses and ignoring other information
o Influenced by characteristics of the person or object being perceived (size, intensity, motion, repetition, novelty)
o Characteristics of the perceiver also influence – without the perceiver’s awareness – our brain quickly and nonconsciously assesses whether it’s relevant or irrelevant and then attaches emotional markers (help us store information in memory)

Question 19

confirmation bias

Answer 19

the processing of screening our information that is contrary to our values and assumptions, and to more readily accept confirming information
o Pay attention to information that supports that decision, ignore information that questions the wisdom of the decision, and more easily recall the supportive than the opposing information
o Ex: student pilots became unsure of their location – tried to find their true location by relying on less reliable information that was consistent with their assumptions

Question 20

categorical thinking

Answer 20

organizing people and objects into preconceive categories that are stored in our long-term memory
o People are usually grouped together based on their observable similarity + by their proximity to one another

Question 21

what’s the second perceptual grouping process

Answer 21

organizes incoming information – fills out in the missing pieces of the puzzle
o Everyone has a need for cognitive closure -> assumptions about missing information by relying on past images and experiences in those situations

Question 22

example for a tendency to see patterns in random events

Answer 22

incorrectly believe that a sports player or gambler with a string of wins is more likely to win the next time as well

Question 23

trustworthiness experiment

Answer 23

o We make judgements about another individual’s trustworthiness after viewing a facial image for as little as 50ms
o Whether we see a face for a minute or just 200ms our opinion about their trustworthiness stays the same

Question 24

mental models

Answer 24

knowledge structures that we develop to describe, explain, an predict the world around us
o Partly rely on the process of perceptual grouping to make sense of things, fill in the missing pieces (including the causal connection among events)
o Make it difficult to see the world in different ways – block our recognition of new opportunities

Question 25

changing mental models

Answer 25

– being aware of and frequently questioning them – ask ourselves about the assumptions that we make
o Also working with people from diverse backgrounds

Question 26

stereotyping

Answer 26

the process of assigning traits to people based on their membership in a social category
o The assigned characteristics tend to be difficult to observe (personality traits and abilities)

Question 27

explanations for stereotyping

Answer 27

• Stereotyping is a nonconscious “energy-saving” process – simplifies our understanding of the world
  o Easier to remember features of a stereotype than characteristics unique to everyone we meet
• People have an innate need to understand and anticipate how others will behave – the higher the perceiver’s need for cognitive closure, the higher the reliance on stereotypes
• Third explanation – motivated by the observer’s need for social identity and self-enhancement

Question 28

categorization

Answer 28

the comparison with others begins by categorizing people into distinct groups, see others as a prototypical representative of the group

Question 29

homogenization

Answer 29

to simplify the comparison process, we tend to think that people within each group are very similar to one another

Question 30

differentiation

Answer 30

assign more favourable characteristics to people in our groups than to people in other groups – motivated by self-enhancement

Question 31

problems with stereotypes

Answer 31

inaccurate – more characteristics are distorted and embellished

Question 32

stereotype threat

Answer 32

an individual’s concern about confirming a negative stereotype about their group so they end up displaying that stereotype trait
o People anxiously try to avoid conforming the undesirable traits and try to push the negative image from their mind – divert energy and attention + weaken self-efficacy (difficult to be confident in your ability when your group’s stereotype suggests otherwise)

Question 33

stereotype threat experiment

Answer 33

women perform worse on math and science tests when sensitized to the belief that women perform worse in these subjects + lower scores when there are few women in the group being tested
o Much higher scores when the gender stereotype isn’t salient
o Observed for women, African Americans and other minority groups, and older people

Question 34

unintentional systemic discrimination experiment

Answer 34

science faculty from several research intensive universities – given the application materials of an undergraduate student who was applying for a science lab manager job – half were male applicant, half female applicant
o Much higher ratings for the male applicant and a 4000 dollars higher starting salary

Question 35

intentional discrimination or prejudice

Answer 35

hold unfounded negative attitudes + deliberately puts the target person at an unfair disadvantage

Question 36

minorities stats

Answer 36

need to submit 50% more job applications to receive the same amount of interviews
o French code of BBR – bleu-blanc-rouge

Question 37

can specialized training programs minimize stereotype activation

Answer 37

to some extent, but the process is mostly hardwired in our braincells
o Better to prevent the application of stereotypes and not activation

Question 38

attribution process

Answer 38

the perceptual process of deciding whether an observed behaviour or event is caused largely by internal or external factor

Question 39

three attribution rules

Answer 39

consistency, distinctiveness, consensus
o Consistency is high for both internal and external attributions (low consistency weakens our confidence about what the source of the problem is)
o Distinctiveness and consensus determine whether the attribution should be internal or external, consistency determines our confidence

Question 40

self-serving bias

Answer 40

the tendency to attribute our favourable outcomes to internal factors and our failures to external factors
o We take credit for our successes and blame others or the situation for our mistakes

Question 41

fundamental attribution error

Answer 41

the tendency to see the person rather than the situation as the main cause of that person’s behaviour
o Observers can’t easily see the external factors that constrain another person’s behaviour + people like to think that human beings are the prime sources of their behaviours
o Less apparent in Asia and other cultures that encourage people to be mindful of the context of behaviour

Question 42

self-fulfilling prophecy

Answer 42

the perceptual process in which our expectations about another person cause that person to act more consistently with those expectations

Question 43

the process of self-fulfilling prophecy

Answer 43

o The supervisor forms expectations about the employee’s future behaviour and performance (sometimes inaccurate)
o These expectations influence their behaviour toward employees – high-expectancy employees receive more emotional support through nonverbal cues, more frequent and valuable feedback and reinforcement, more challenging goals, better training, more opportunities to demonstrate good performance
o High-expectancy employee learns more skills + the employee has higher self-efficacy which results in higher motivation and willingness to set more challenging goals
o Employee’s behaviour becomes more consistent with the supervisor’s initial expectations

Question 44

self-fulfilling prophecy - Israeli army

Answer 44

told that 1/3 of the incoming trainees had high command potential, 1/3 had normal potential and the rest were unknown
o High-expectancy soldiers performed significantly better by the end of the course

Question 45

when’s self-fulfilling prophecy stronger

Answer 45

at the beginning of a relationship + when several people hold the same expectations of the individual + among those with a history of low achievement

Question 46

positive organizational behavior

Answer 46

a perspective of organizational behaviour that focuses on building positive qualities and traits within individuals or institutions as opposed to focusing on what’s wrong with them

Question 47

training programs for self-fulfilling prophecy

Answer 47

• Training programs that make leaders aware of the power of positive expectations – minimal effect
  o Hiring supervisors who’re inherently optimistic – increasing the positive self-fulfiling prophecy

Question 48

halo effect

Answer 48

a perceptual error whereby our general impression of a person, usually based on one prominent characteristic, colours our perception of other characteristics of that person
o Most likely to occur when important information about the perceived target is missing or we’re not sufficiently motivated to search for it

Question 49

false-consensus effect

Answer 49

a perceptual error in which we overestimate the extent to which others have beliefs and characteristics similar to our own
o Reasons: comforted by the belief that others are similar to us (especially with regard to less acceptable or divisive behaviour), we interact more with people who have similar views and behaviours, we’re more likely to notice and remember information that is consistent with our own views, we engage in the process of homogenizing people within groups

Question 50

recency effect

Answer 50

a perceptual error in which the most recent information dominates our perception of others
o Most common when people make a decision involving complex information

Question 51

primacy effect

Answer 51

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

Question 52

awareness of perceptual bias training

Answer 52

• Diversity awareness training – making people aware of systemic discrimination and prejudices + dispel myths about people from various cultural and demographic groups
  o Only has a limited effect – teaching people to reject incorrect stereotypes has the unintended effect of reinforcing rather than reducing reliance on those stereotypes
  o Ineffective for people with deeply held prejudices against those groups

Question 53

Johari window

Answer 53

a model of mutual understanding that encourages disclosure and feedback to increase our own open area and reduce the blind, hidden and unknown areas
o Open – known both to you and others
o Blind – known to others but not to you
o Hidden – known to you but not to others
o Unknown – nobody knows them

Question 54

Johari window - increasing the size of the open area

Answer 54

o Disclosure – informing others of your beliefs, feelings, experiences that may influence the work relationships
o Feedback from others about your behaviour – reduces your blind area
contact hypothesis

Question 55

contact hypothesis

Answer 55

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

Question 56

when are meaningful interactions the strongest

Answer 56

when people work closely and frequently with one another on a shared goal that requires mutual cooperation and reliance
o Reduces dependence on stereotypes – diminishes psychological distance, improves our knowledge about individuals, helps us to observe their unique attributes in action

Question 57

empathy

Answer 57

understanding and being sensitive to the feelings, thoughts and situations of others
o Empathize when they visualize themselves in other person’s place – cognitive, emotional, experiential
o Improves our sensitivity to the external causes of another person’s performance and behaviour

Question 58

global mindset

Answer 58

an individuals’ ability to perceive, appreciate, and empathize with people from other cultures, and to process complex cross-cultural information

Question 59

four elements of the global mindset

Answer 59

o Adopting a global perspective – global rather than a local frame of reference about their business and its environment – accumulating knowledge and appreciation of many cultures without judging the competence of others by their nationality
o Empathizing and acting effectively across cultures
o Processing complex information about novel environments
o Developing new multilevel mental models

Question 60

what are people with a global mindset good at

Answer 60

• Form better relationships across cultures by understanding and showing respect + can sift through ambiguous and novel information + capacity to form networks and exchange resources more rapidly

Question 61

how does the global mindset begin

Answer 61

with self-awareness -> more open minded and non-judgemental when receiving and processing complex information