Personality, Perception, and Attribution LEARNING OBJECTIVES After reading this chapter, you should be able to do the following: 4 Describe individual differences and their importance in understanding behavior, ® Define personality Explain four theories of personality, Identify several personality characteristics and their influences on behavior in organizations. Explain how personality is measured 4 Discuss Carl Jung's contribution to our understanding of individual differ- ences, and explain how his theory is used in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. ® Define sociaf perception and explain how characteristics of the perceiver, the target, and the situation affect it 1 Identify five common barriers to social perception, Explain the attribution process and how attributions affect managerial behavior, OPENING SPOTLIGHT Celebrating Individual Differences at Southwest Airlines S outhwest Airlines presented the accompanying recruiting advertisement in its inflight magazine, Spirit. Coloring outside the lines is encouraged at Southwest; in fact. the airline specifically seeks to hire creative people. Although the staf at Southwest has grown 97 percent in four years, the informal hiring process remains the same. In addition to creative people, Southwest looks for self-starters who will pitch in on any task, even blowing up balloons for celebra- tions." Southwest stresses a spirit of teamwork but places a premium on individ- vality. On Southwest flights, chances are that you may hear the traditional instructions to pissenyers to prepare for landing sung to the tune ofthe theme2 PART L_Indiidval Processes and Behavior individual differences The way in which factors such as skills, abilities, personalities, percep- tions, attitudes, values, and ethics differ from one individual to another. interactional psychology ‘The psychological approach that emphasizes that in order to under- stand human behavior, we must know something about the person and about the situation, B FIGURE 3.1 Variables Influencing Individual Behavior song from The Beverly Hilliles. An in-flight contest may’ be held in which the winner is the passenger who displays the most holes in his or her socks. Humor is a crucial ingredient in Southwest’ organizational culture. In the Closing Spot- light, we'll explore how Southwest emphasis on encouraging individuais to he themselves is translated into “Positively Outrageous Service.” Individual Differences and Organizational Behavior . In this chapter and continuing in Chapter 4, we explore the concept of indi- vidual differences. Individuals are unique in terms of their sills abilities, per sonalities, perceptions, atitudes, values, and ethics. These are just afew of the ‘ways individuals may be similar to or different from one another. Individual dif- ferences represent the essence of the challenge of management, hecause no to individuals are completely alike. Managers face the challenge of working with people who possess a multitde of individual characteristics, o the more man- agers understand individual differences, the hetter they ean work with others Figare 3.1 illustrates how individual differences affect human behavior. ‘The basis for understanding individual differences stems from Lewin’s early contention that behavior isa function ofthe person and the environment? Lewin expressed this idea in an equation: B=f(P, B), where B=behavior, P=person, and E=environment, This ides has been developed by the interactional psychology approach.’ Basically, this approach says that in order to understand humen bochovior, we mast know something aboot the person and something about the situation. There are four basic propositions of interactional psychology: 1, Behavior isa function of a continuous, multidirectional interaction between the person and the situation, 2. The person is active in this process and both is changed by situations and changes situations. 3. People vary in many characteristics, inclading cognitive, affective, motivi- tional, and ability factors. 4. Two interpretations of situations are imporcant: the objective situation and the person’s subjective view of the situation.* Lesa [chen ‘hearveoer an Sesto fates sete Attitudes: ob a aniseCHAPTER 3 Personality, Perception, and Attrition B ‘The interactional psychology approch points out the need to study both per- sons and situations. We will focus on personal and situational factors through- out the text. The person consists of individual differences such 2s those we emphasize in this chapter and Chapter 4: personality, perception, attribution, artitudes, values, and ethics. The situation consists of the environment the per- son operates in, and it can include things like the organization, work group. per sonal life situation, job characteristics, and many other environmental influ- ences. One important and fascinating individual difference is personality Personality ME Whar makes an individual behave in consistent waysin a variety of situations? Personality is an individual difference that lends consistency toa person's behav- ior. Personality is defined as relatively stable set of characteristics that influ- ‘ence an individual's behavior. Although there is debate about the determinants ‘of personality, we conclude that there are several origins. One determinant is heredity, and some interesting studies have supported this position. Identical twins who are separated at birth and raised apart in very different situations have been found to share personality eraits and job preferences. For example, about half of the variation in traits like extraversion. impulsiveness, and flexibility was found to be genetically determined; tha is, identical twins who grew up in dif- ferent environments shared these traits.’ In addition, the owins held similar jobs. Thus, there does appear co be a genetic influence on personality Another determinant of personality isthe environment a person is exposed to. Family influences, culeural influences, edueacional influences, and other envi- ronmental forces shape personality: Personslity is therefore shaped by both heredity and environment. Personality Theories Four major theories of personality are the trait theory, psychodynamic theory, humanistic theory, and the integrative approach. Each theory has influenced the study of personality in organizations, TRAIT THEORY Some exrly personality researchers believed that to under- stand individuals, we must break down behavior patterns into a series of observ able traits. According to trait theory, combining these traits into a group forms an individual’ personality. Gordon Allport, a leading tes theorist, saw traits as broad, general guides that lend consistency to behavior.” Thousands of traits have been identified over the years. Raymond Cattell, another prominent trait theorist, identified sisteem traits that formed the basis for differences in individ- ual behavior, He described traits in bipolar adjecsive combinations such as self assured/apprehensive, reserved/outgoing, anc submissive/dominant.* More recently, researchers have argued that ail traits can be reduced to five basic factors. The “big five” traits include extraversion, agreeableness, conscien- tiousness, emotional stability, and openness to experience.” Although there is evidence to support the existence of the big five traits, research is needed co see whether these five traits actually predict behavior. Preliminary results indicate that one of the big five, conscientiousness, is related to job performance. Across five different occupations, people who were responsible, dependable, persistent, and achievement-oriented performed better -han people who lacked conscien- tiousness The trait approach has been the subject of considerable criticism. Some the= orists argue that simply identifving traits is not enough; instead, personality is personality A celatively table set of characteris- tics that influences an individual's behavior trait theory The personality theory that states that in order to understand individu als, we must break down behavior patterns into a series of observable trait.m4 PART I Individual Processes and Behavior psychodynamic theory ‘The personality theory that empha- sizes the unconscious determinants ‘of behavior. humanistic theory The personality theory that empha- sizes individual growth and improvement, integrative approach ‘The broad theory that describes per- sonality 2s a composite of an individ val’ psychological processes. locus of control ‘An individual's generalized beliet about internal control (self-control) ‘versus external control (control by the situation or by others), dynamic and not completely stable, Further. trait theorists tended ta ignore the influence of situations. PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORY | Based on the work of Sigmund Freud, psycho dynamic theory empliasizes the unconscious determinants of behavior." Freud saw personality asthe interaction herween three clements of personality: the id, ego, and superego. The id 1s the most primitive element, the source of drives and impulses that operates in an uncensored manner. The superego, similar to what we know as conscience, contnins values and the “shoulds and should nots” of the personality, There is an ongoing conflict herween the icl and the super= ‘ego. The ego serves to manage the conflict hetween the id and the superego. In this role, the ego compromises, and the result is the individual’ use of defense ‘mechanisms such as denial of realty. The contribution of psychodrnamie the- ory to our understanding of personality is its focus on unconscious influences on behavior. HUMANISTIC THEORY Carl Rogers believed that all people have a basic drive toward self-actualization, which is the quest to be all you ean be.!? The humanistic theory focuses on individual growth and improvement. It is dis- tinctly people centered and also emphasizes the individual’ view of the world. ‘The humanistic approach contributes an understanding of the self to personal- ity theory and contends that the self-concept is the most important part of an individual’s personality INTEGRATIVE APPROACH Recently, researchers have taken a hroader, more integrative approach to the scudy of personalicy.'’ To capture its influence on behavior, personality is described as a composite of the individual’ psychologi- cal processes. Personality dispositions include emotions, cognitions, attitudes, expectancies, and fantasies.!* Dispositions, in this approach, simply means the tendencies of individuals to respond to situations in consistent ways. Influenced by both genetics and experiences, dispositions can be modified. The integrative approach focuses on both person (dispositions) and situational variables as com= bined predictors of behavior Personality Characteristics in Organizations ‘Managers should learn as much as possible about personality in order to under- stand their employees. Hundreds of personality characteristics have been identi~ fied. We have selected five characterises because oftheir particular influences on individual behavior in organizations: locus of contol, self-esteem, self-efficacy, self-monitoring, and positive/negative affect. LOCUS OF CONTROL An individual’ generalized belief about internal (self) versus external (situation or others) contro is called locus of control. People who believe they control what happens to them are said to have an internal locus of control, whereas people who believe that circumstances or other people con- trol their fate have an external locus of control.!® Research on locus of control has strong implications for organizations. Internals (those with an internal locas ‘of control) have been found to have higher job satisfaction, to be more likely to assume managerial positions, and to prefer participative management styles.'6 In addition, intemals have been shown to display higher work motivation, hold stronger beliefs that effort leads to performance, receive higher salaries, and dis- play less anxiety than externals (hose with an external locus of control).17 Knowing about locus of control can prove valuable to managers. Because internals believe they control what happens to them, they will want to exercise control in their work environment. Allowing internals considerable voice in how eeCHAPTER 3. Personality, Perception, and Attribution 7 work is performed is important. Internals will not react well to being closely supervised. Extérnals, in contrast, may prefer a more structured work setting, and they may be more reluctant to participate in decision making. SELF-ESTEEM Self-esteem is an individual’s general feeling of self-worth. Individuals with high self-esteem have postive feelings about themselves, per- ceive themselves to have strengths as well as weaknesses, and believe their strengths are more important than their weaknesses."* Individuals with low self- esteem view themselves negatively. They arz more strongly affected by what other people think of them, and they compliment individuals who give them positive feedback while cutting down people who give them negative feedback.!” ‘A person’s self-esteem affects a host of other attitudes and has important implications for behavior in organizations. People with high self-esteem per- form berter and are more satisfied with their jobs When they are involved in a job search, they seek out higher-starus jobs A work team made up of indi- viduals with high self-esteem is more likely to be suecessful than a tear with lower average sclt-esteem.2? Very high self-esteem may be too much ofa good thing. When people with high self-esteem find themselves in stressful situations, they may brag inappro- priately This may be viewed negatively by others, who see spontaneous boast- ing as egotistical Self-esteem may be strongly affected by situations. Success tends to raise self- esteem, whereas failure tends to lower it. Given that high self-esteem is gener- ally a positive characteristic, managers should encourage employees to raise their self-esteem by giving them appropriate challenges and opportunities for success. One company that believes in self-esteem is Fantastic Foods, as shown in the Organizational Reality feature. SELF-EFFICACY An individual’ beliefs and expectancies about his or her abil- ity to accomplish a specific task effectively is known as self-efficacy.?* Individ- uals with high sel-etficacy believe that they have the ability o get chings done, that they are capable of putting forth the effort to accomplish the task, and that they can overcome any obstacles to their success. There are four sources of seli= efficacy: prior experiences, behavior models (witnessing the success of others), persuasion from vther people, and assessment of current physical and emotional capabilities?* Believing in one’s own capability co get something done is an important facilitator of success. There is strong evidence that self-efficacy leads to high performance on a wide variety of physical and mental tasks.*¢ High self efficacy has also led to suecess in breaking advietions, increasing pain tolerance, and recovering from illnesses ‘Managers can help employees levelop thei self-efficacy. This can be done by providing job challenges, eoaching and counseling for improved performance, and rewarding employees’ achievements. Empowerment, or sharing power with ‘employees, cin be accomplished by interventions that help employees increase their self-esteem and self-efficacy~” Given the increasing diversity of the work force, managers may want to target their efforts toward women and minorities in particular. Research has indicated that women and minorities tend to have lower than average selfefficacy.?® SELF-MONITORING A characteristic with great potential for affecting behav- ior in organizations is self-monitoring—the extent to which people base their behavior on cues from people and situations.2” High self-monitors pay attention to what is appropriare in particular situations and to the behavior of other peo- ple, and they behave accordingly: Low self-monitots, in contrast, are not as vig~ ilant to situational cues and act from internal states rather than paying attention to the situation. Asa result, the behavior of low self-monitors is consistent across self-esteem An individual's general feeling of sel. worth. self-efficacy {An individua’s beliefs and expectan- es about his or her ability to accomplish a specific task effectively self-monitoring ‘The extent to which people base their behavior on cues from other people and situations.Building Fantastic Self-Esteem Employees at Fantastic Foods are satisfied with their jobs and are high performers. The company’s CEO, jim Rosen, believes that helping workers build selt-esteem leads to success, im Rosen, president of Fantastic Foods, learned everything he needed to know ah ‘management in mursery school. The Encrepreneur ofthe Year winner was a Montes- with Sori teacher for twer the Petaluma, California, ple Some of the Montessori ph Scand he ses the same technique iy soup mannfaccuring company: Rosen reasons that “big lirle people who gor big.” recast hy Rosen for the production floor. He ical to emplayee savslactinn ard preatctivity, "With kids, thing is how they fel about themselves, With emplavees vem to have the right aténade, you have to help build sel io cis? Firs, by giving employees cask that stretch chem, they have the ability and toals to achieve their goals, Second, he lets employees ran with their ideas and risk failure. They learn something powerful from sis. Montessori classroom materials Jt children gauge their own progress. At Fantastic Foods, daily production goals are posted in the factory and provide automatic feedhack ‘on performance. Each person evaluates himself or herself, which builds self-esteem, helieves thar selfesteem is he sys, “the mse in How dacs rd making sure runicatons Ine SOURCE: Reprinted through the courtesy af CIO, © 1995 CIO C situations. High self-monitors, because their behavior varies with the situation, appear to be more unpredictable and less consistent. You can use Challenge 3.1 10 assess your own self-monitoring tendencies Research is currently focusing on the effects of self-monitoring in organizs- tions. In one study, the authors tracked the careers of 139 MBAs for five years to see whether high self-monitors were more likely to be promoted, change employers, or make a job-related geographic move. The results were “yes” to each question. High self-monitors get promoted because they accomplish tasks through meeting the expectations of others. However, the high self-monitor’s flexibility may not be suited for every job, and the tendency to move may not fit every organization.*° Although research on self-monitoring in organizations isin it early stages, we can speculate that high self-monitors respond more readily to work group norms, organizational culture, and supervisory feedback than do low self- monitors, who adhere more to internal guidelines for behavior (“I am who I am”). In addition, high self-monitors may be enthusiastic participants in the trend toward work teams because of their ability to assume flexible roles.POSITIVE/NEGATIVE AFFECT Recently, researchers have explored the effects of persistent mood dispositions at work. Individuals who focus on the positive aspects of themselves, other people, and the w « positive affect. In contrast, hose who accentuat selves, others, and the world are said to possess negative affeet (also referred x as negative affectivity);? Interviewers who exhibit positive affect evaluate job candidates more favorably than do interviewers who with negative affect report more work stress.** Individual affect also influences the work group. Negative individual affect produces this leads to less cooperative behavior in the work group. Positive affect is a definite asset in work settings. Managers can do several ings ta promote positive affect, includ g pleasant workis egative group affect, and articipative decision mal to know mare about ‘The characteristics previously described are buca few of the personality char teristics that affect behavior in organizations. Can managers predict the behav- jor of their employees by knowing their personalities? Not completely. You may recall that the interactional psychology model (Figure 3.1) requires both person and situation variables to predict behavior. Another idea to remember in pre- dicting behavior is the strength of situational influences. Some situations are strong situations in that they overwhelm the effects of individual personal ‘These situations are interpreted in the same way by different individwal: agreement on the appropriate behavior in the situation, and provide cus appropriate behavior. A performance appraisal session is an example of astro situation. Employees know to listen to their boss and to contribute when asked todoso, IAPTER3 Personality, erceptios 1 and Artibution ” Like chameleons who change their appearance to blend in with the ‘environment, high self-monitors change their behavior in accordance with cues provided in the situation positive affect {An individuals tendency to accentu- ate the positive aspects of himsetf or ersef, other people, and the world in general negative affect An individua’s tendency to accentu- ate the negative aspects of himself or herself, other people, and the world in general, strong situation A situation that overwhelms the effects of individual personalities by providing strong cues for appropri- ate behavior.76 PART individual Processes and Behavior CHALLENGE BT | Are You a High or Low Self-Monitor? For the following items, circle T (are) if he starement is charcctersi of your behavior. Circle F false) ifthe satement does nt reflec your behavior, 1. 1 find it hard ro imitate the behavior of other people. 2. At parties and social gatherings, I do not attempt to do or say things that others wil like 3. Tan only argue for ideas that T already believe. 4. Tan make imprompra speeches even on tepies abont which I have almost no information. 5, Tguess put ona show to impress or entertain others. 6. 1 would probably make e grod actor 7, In a group of people, 1am rarely the center of attention, 8, Tn different situations and with different people, I ofter act like very different persons. 9. Jam not particulary good at making other people ike ae. 10. Tam not always the person I appear to be. 11. Tould not change my opinions (or the way I do things) in order to please others or win their favor. 12, Thave considered being an entertainer. 13. Ihave never been good st games lke charades or at improvisational acting 14, Thave trouble changing my behovior to suit different people and difer- ent situations. 15. Ata party I let others keep the jokes and stories going, 16, 1 fee bit awkward in company and da nat show up quite as well 2s I should 17. Tean look anyone in the eye and tell lie witha susighr fe if iis for 4 good cause) 18, Timay deceive people by being friendly when I really dislike them. Sa os 44 44 948 4s4 4444 4a a4 items that you answered T (tue): 4,5, 6,8, 10, 12,17, and 18. Now give yourself point foreach of the following items that you answered F (alse: 1,2, 3, 7,9, 11, 13, 14,15, and 16. Add both subtotals to find your overall score. Ifyou scored 11 of above, you ae probably a high f-manitor If you scored 10 or under, you ae probably la self moniner SOURCE: From Public Apperona, Piste Rete: The Pca of Sel-Monioring by M. Sng- ‘To score this questionnaire, give yourself I point for each of the following | Seah i WH Reon Go Rept oe | ‘A weak situation, in contrast, is one that is open to many interpretations. It provides few cues to appropriate behavior and no obvious rewards for one behavior over another. Thus, individual personalities have a stronger influence in weak situations than in strong situations. An informal meeting without an agenda can be seen 2s a weak situation. (Organizations present combinations of strong and weak situations; therefor personality has a stronger effect on behavior in some sitvations than in others.” Southwest Airlines, as you saw in the Opening Spotlight, chooses to let individ val personalities shine through rather ehan ereating strong cues for behavior. Measuring Personality Several methods can be used to assess personality. These include projective tests, behavioral measures, and self-report questionnaires‘CHAPTER 3. Personality, Perception, ané Atibuton ” ‘The projective test is one method used to measure personality. In these tests, individuals are shown a picture, abstract image, oF photo and are asked to descrihe what they see or to tell a story about what they see. The rationale behind projective tests is that each individual responds to the stimulus in a way that reflects his or her unique personality. The Rorschach ink blot test is a pro- jective test commonly used to assess personaity** Like other projective tests, however, it has low reliability. ‘There are behavioral measures of personality as well. Measuring behavior involves observing an individual's behavior in a controlled situation. We might assess a person’ sociability, for example, by counting the number of times he or she approaches strangers at a patty. The behavior is scored in some manner to produce an index of personality ‘The most common method of assessing personality is the self-report ques- tionnaire. Individuals respond to a series of questions, usually in an agree/dis- agree or true/false format. One of the more widely recognized questionnaires is the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). The MMPI is com- prehensive and assesses a variety of traits, as well as various neurotic or psychotic disorders. Used extensively in psychological conseling to identity disorders, the ‘MMPI is a long questionnaire. The big five waits we discussed earlier are mea- sured by another self-report questionnaire, the NEO Personality Inventory. Another popular self-report questionnaire is the Myers-Briggs Type Indi- cator (MBTD). In the next section, we will introduce the Jungian theory of per- sonality. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is aa instrumens that has been devel- oped to measure Jung’ ideas about individual differences. Many’ organizations use the MBTI, and we will focus on it as an example of how some organizations use personality concepts to help employees appreciate diversity Jungian Theory and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator 1 One approach to applying personality theory in organizations is the Jungian approach and its measurement tool, the MBTI Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung built his work upon the notion that people are fundamentally different, but aiso fundamentally alike, His classic treatise Prycho- Ingica! Types proposed that the population was made up of two basic types— extriverted and introverted.” He went on identify ewo types of perception (ensing and intuiting) and two types of judgraent (thinking and feeling). Per- ception (how we gather information) and judgment (how we make decisions) represent the basic mental functions that everyone uses. ‘Jung suggested that human similarities and d ferences cuuld be understood by combining preferences. We preter and choose one way of doing things over another. We are not exclusively one way or another; rather, we have a preference for extraversion or introversion, justas we have a preference for right-handedness or leichandedness, We may use each hand equally well, bac when a balls thrown at us by surprise, we will reach to catch it with our preferred hand. Jung’ type the- ory argues that no preferences are better than others. Differences are co be under- stood, celebrated, and appreciate. During the 1940s, a mother-daughter tes became fascinated with individual differences among people and with the work of Carl Jung. Katharine Briggs and her daughter, Isabel Briggs Myers, developed the Myers-Brigys Type Indicator to put Jung’ type theory into practical use. The MBTI is used extensively in organizations as a basis for understanding individual differences. More than twenty million people completed the instrument in 1991. The MBTI has been used in career counseling, team building, conflict management, and under- standing management styles.” projective test ‘A personality test that elicits an indi- viduals response to abstract stimuli behavioral measures Personality assessments that involve ‘observing an individual's behavior in 2 controlled situation, self-report questionnaire ‘A common personality assessment that involves an individual's responses to a series of questions, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (BT) An instvument developed to measure Carl Jung's theory of individual differ- ences