Chapter 9 - Personality Flashcards

1
Q

What is personality?

A

Structures and propensities explaining individual characteristic patterns of thought, emotion, and behaviour (aka, what people are like).

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2
Q

What is personality a function of?

A

Both genes and environment.

For extraversion and openness to experience especially, genes seem to play a large role.

However, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and neuroticism tend to change significantly over a person’s life span.

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3
Q

What is an important environmental factor to personality?

A

The culture in which one is raised.

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4
Q

What does personality create at a social level?

A

People’s social reputation - how they are prceived.

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5
Q

What are traits?

A

Recurring regularities or trends in people’s responses to their environment.

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6
Q

What are cultural values?

A

Shared beliefs about desirable end states/modes of conduct in a given culture.

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7
Q

What is the connection between personality and cultural values?

A

Cultural values may influence the development of people’s personality traits, and how these are expressed in daily life.

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8
Q

Big Five Taxonomy: What is conscientiousness?

A

-Dependability
-Organization
-Reliability
-Ambition
-Hard-working nature
-Perseverance

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9
Q

Big Five Taxonomy: What is agreeableness?

A

-Warmness/Kindness
-Cooperation
-Sympathy
-Helpfulness
-Courtesy

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10
Q

Big Five Taxonomy: What is neuroticism?

A

Degree of emotional stability/adjustment.

-Nervousness
-Moodiness
-Emotion-display
-Insecurity
-Jealousy

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11
Q

Big Five Taxonomy: What is openness to experience?

A

-Curiosity
-Inquisitiveness
-Imagination
-Creativity
-Complexity
-Refined-ness
-Sophistication

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12
Q

Big Five Taxonomy: What is extraversion?

A

-Talkativeness
-Sociableness
-Passion
-Assertion
-Courage
-Dominance

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13
Q

What is accomplishment striving?

A

A strong desire to accomplish task-related goals as a means of expressing personality.

Working harder and longer on task assignments.

Characteristic of conscientious individuals.

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14
Q

How is conscientiousness related to health?

A

Those who are conscientious are less likely to abuse substance/render in mortal situations.

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15
Q

Where is conscientiousness important?

A

Across all jobs/professions.

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16
Q

What is communion striving?

A

A strong desire to obtain acceptance in personal relationships, as a means of expressing personality.

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17
Q

Where is agreeableness important?

A

Not in management jobs that may demand dealing with unreasonable requests or demands.

Important in service-sector jobs.

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18
Q

When is extraversion most visible?

A

In zero-acquaintance situations, where people have just met.

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19
Q

What is status striving?

A

The strong desire to obtain power and influence within a social structure, as a means of expressing personality.

Constantly directing one’s work efforts toward moving up, developing strong reputation, and obtaining leadership roles.

Especially important in extroverted individuals.

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20
Q

What is extraversion related to?

A

-Leadership
-Effectiveness
-Job Satisfaction, thanks to positive affectivity
-Life Satisfaction

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21
Q

What is positive affectivity?

A

Dispositional tendency to experience pleasant, engaging moods such as enthusiasm, excitement, and elation.

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22
Q

What is negative affectivity?

A

Dispositional tendency to experience unpleasant moods, such as hostility, nervousness, and annoyance.

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23
Q

What is differential exposure to stressors?

A

The appraisal that one has for day-to-day situations to come across as stressful.

Neuroticism elevates exposure to stressors.

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24
Q

What is differential reactivity to stressors?

A

The belief that one has that they can cope with the stressors they experience.

Neuroticism elevates reactivity to stressors.

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25
Q

What is neuroticism related to?

A

-Lower job and life satisfaction;
-Type A behaviour pattern;
-External locus of control.

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26
Q

What are the two types of locus of control?

A

External: Belief that events occurring around them are driven by luck, chance, or fate.

Internal: Belief that one’s own behaviour dictates events.

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27
Q

What is an internal locus of control associated with?

A

-Higher job satisfaction and performance;
-Better health;
-More social support at work, and stronger relationships with supervisors;
-Viewing their job as having more beneficial characteristics;
-Higher salary.

28
Q

When is openness most important?

A

In jobs that are fluid and dynamic, with rapid changes in job demands.

29
Q

Where do employees high in openness excel?

A

-Learning and training environment: Creativity, adaptability, identifying new methods of doing things that are more effective.

-Creative performance jobs

30
Q

What drives creative thought?

A

-Cognitive ability
-Openness to experience

31
Q

What is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)?

A

A taxonomy of personality evaluating individuals based on four types of preferences.

  1. Energy stemming from people/social interactions (Extraversion) vs from private time and reflection (Introversion).
  2. Concrete/clear facts and data (Sensing) vs Hunches/speculations based on theory and imagination (Intuition).
  3. Decision-making using logic and critical analysis (Thinking) vs Emphasizing others’ needs and feelings (Feeling).
  4. Performing tasks through planning and setting goals (Judging) vs flexibility and spontaneity (Perceiving).
32
Q

Where is MBTI most used, and why?

A

In team-building contexts, given that there are no ‘bad’ types.

33
Q

What are interests?

A

Expressions of personality that influence behaviour through preferences for certain environments and activities.

34
Q

What do interests reflect?

A

Stable and enduring likes and dislikes, which explain why people are drawn to some careers and away from others.

35
Q

What is the RIASEC model?

A

Holland’s model, in which interests are summarized through six personality types.

36
Q

What are the six personality types in the RIASEC model?

A

-Realistic: Keen for practical, hands-on, real-world tasks. Frank, practical, determined, rugged.

-Investigative: Keen for abstract, analytical, theory-oriented tasks. Analytical, intellectual, reserved, scholarly.

-Artistic: Keen for using imagination to entertain and fascinate. Original, independent, impulsive, creative.

-Social: Keen for helping, serving, assisting. Helpful, inspiring, informative, empathic.

-Enterprising: Keen for persuading, leading, outperforming. Energetic, sociable, ambitious, risk-taking.

-Conventional: Keen for organizing, counting, regulating people/things. Careful, conservative, self-controlled, structured.

37
Q

What two dimensions does Holland use to classify the personality types in the RIASEC model?

A

Preference for working with data, vs working with ideas;

Preference for working with people, vs working with things.

38
Q

What is the central premise of the RIASEC model?

A

Employees will stem greater career satisfaction, job knowledge, and longevity when their employment matches their personality type.

39
Q

Where is the RIASEC model commonly used?

A

Interest inventories that score people on their relevant personality dimensions, giving them a list of occupations that could provide a good match for that profile.

40
Q

What is culture?

A

Shared values, beliefs, motives, identities, and interpretations resulting from common experiences of members of a society, transmitted across generations.

Patterns resulting from societal traditions.

Collective programming of the mind distinguishing societies from one another.

41
Q

What does culture influence?

A

How are personalities are developed and how our traits are expressed.

42
Q

What are cultural values?

A

In a given society, cultural values dictate the way things should be done.

43
Q

What is the cultural value dimension of individualism-collectivism (Hofstede)?

A

Individualism: Loosely-knit social framework, with people taking care of themselves and their immediate family.

Collectivism: Tightly-knit social framework, with people taking care of and being loyal towards the members of a broader in-group.

44
Q

What is the cultural value dimension of power distance (Hofstede)?

A

Low power distance: Culture with a preference for uniform distribution of power, egalitarianism.

High power distance: Culture that distributes power unequally within organizations.

45
Q

What is the cultural value dimension of uncertainty avoidance (Hofstede)?

A

Low uncertainty avoidance: Culture with tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity, valuing unusual ideas and behaviours.

High uncertainty avoidance: Culture that feels threatened by uncertainty and ambiguity, relying instead on formal rules to create stability.

46
Q

What is the cultural value dimension of masculinity-femininity (Hofstede)?

A

Masculine: Culture valuing assertiveness, acquisition of money and things.

Feminine: Culture valuing caring for others and quality of life.

47
Q

What is the cultural value dimension of time orientation (Hofstede)?

A

Short-term Time Orientation: Past-and-present focused culture, with respect for traditions and fulfilling obligations.

Long-term Time Orientation: Future-focused culture, valuing persistence, prudence, and thrift.

48
Q

What is Project GLOBE (Global Leadership and OB Effectiveness)?

A

Examines the impact of culture on the effectiveness of various leader attributes, behaviours, and prafctices.

49
Q

What are the nine dimensions that Project GLOBE uses to summarize cultures?

A

-Power distance

-Uncertainty avoidance

-Institutional collectivism: Formalized practices that exist to encourage collective action and distribution of resources.

-Ingroup collectivism: Expression fo pride and loyalty toward specific ingroups.

-Gender egalitarianism: Minimal role differences between men and women.

-Assertiveness: Tolerance for confrontation and aggressiveness in social relationships.

-Future orientation: Engaging in planning and investment into the future, delaying individual/collective gratification.

-Performance orientation: Encouragement and reward for excellence and performance improvement.

-Humane orientation: Encouragement and reward for generosity, care, kindness, fariness, altruism.

50
Q

What cultural dimension is most prevalent in differentiating societies?

A

Individualism-collectivism.

51
Q

What is ethnocentrism?

A

A propensity to view one’s cultural values as “right”, and those of other cultures as “wrong”.

52
Q

Which Big Five trait is most important for job performance?

A

Conscientiousness, which has a strong effect on task performance.

53
Q

Conscientious employees are more ____ and engage in ________, while being unlikely to engage in _________.

A

Motivated; Citizenship Behaviour; Counterproductive Behaviour.

54
Q

Why is conscientiousness related to citizenship behaviour?

A

High propensity of punctuality, good work attendance, work-related effort = More availability and energy in offering “extra mile” contributions.

Greater job satisfaction.

55
Q

Why is conscientiousness negatively correlated with counterproductive behaviours?

A

-Job satisfaction = Less need to leave the organization.

-Dependable, reliable nature.

56
Q

What type of performance is conscientiousness a key driver of?

A

Typical performance, in routine conditions surrounding daily job tasks.

57
Q

What type of performance is ability a key driver of?

A

Maximum performance, in brief, special circumstances requiring for best efforts.

58
Q

How is conscientiousness related to organizational commitment?

A

Conscientiousness has a moderate positive effect on organizational commitment, with greater levels of affective and normative commitment.

Conscientious employees are less likely to engage in withdrawal behaviours and voluntarily leave the organization.

59
Q

Why are conscientious employees more committed?

A

-Persevering nature
-Better stress managers, perceiving lower levels of key stressors, and being less affected by them.

60
Q

What is situational strength?

A

The degree to which a situation has clear behavioural expectations, incentives, or instructions, making personality and the difference between individuals less important.

61
Q

What are integrity tests?

A

Honesty tests. Personality tests focusing on the predisposition to theft, or other counterproductive behaviour.

62
Q

What is trait activation?

A

Principle which states that situational cues trigger the expression of given personality traits.

63
Q

What is the importance of an integrity test?

A

Integrity test scores are more strongly related to job performance than conscientiousness.

64
Q

What is faking?

A

Exaggeration of one’s personality test responses, so that they are socially desirable.

65
Q

Is faking important?

A

Not really, because everyone fakes to some extent.

66
Q

What is work centrality?

A

In personal values, the degree to which work is an individual’s central life interest.