INDIVIDUAL

DIFFERENCES,
MENTAL ABILITY AND
PERSONALITY

Chapter 2
Learning Objectives

■ At the end of the session, Students

should be able to:
– Determine individual differences, mental
ability and personality
– Reflect on genderlect theory
Individual Differences
Refer to the variation in how people
respond to the same situation based on
personal characteristics.
Consequences of
Individual Differences
■ People differ in productivity
■ People differ in the quality of their work;
■ People react differently to empowerment;
■ People react differently to any style of
leadership
■ People differ in terms of need for contract
with other people
■ People differ in terms of commitment to the
organization
■ People differ in terms of level of
self-esteem
People are different from each
other:
■ Demographics
■ Aptitude and ability; and
■ Personality
Demographic Diversity

■ Source:
– Gender
– Generational differences and age
– Culture
■ Gender Differences:

– Problem solving abilities

– Analytical skills
– Competitive drive
– Motivation
– Learning ability
– Sociability
■ Generational and Age- Based
Differences.
– A worker that belongs to a certain
generation may behave differently from a
worker who belongs to another.
■ Culture.
– Refers to the learned and shared ways of
thinking and acting among a group of
people or society.

Two Dimensions:
– Social Culture:
– Organization Culture:
Two Dimension

■ Social Culture - which refers to the social

environment of human- created beliefs,
customs, knowledge and practices that
define conventional behavior in a society.
■ Organization Culture: is a set of values,
beliefs, and norms that is shared among
members of an organization.
Stages of PINOY Development
Stages of PINOY Development

■ Filipino is one of the most complex

human being of this planet.
– It is not easy to analyze how Filipino
develop his values and attitudes towards
social sphere and those of his organization
Factors of the development of
Filipino attitudes and values:
■ Value Diversity
– Filipino is the making of four cultural
influences that made him a complex
individual.
• Spanish Time
• American Imperialist
• Japanese Regime
• Period of Liberation and Independence
Filipino Culture:

■ The culture of “BAHALA NA”

■ PAKIKISAMA
■ PALAKASAN
■ PALUSOT system
■ MAMAYA NA Syndrome
■ Extended Family Centeredness
The culture of “BAHALA NA
■ The word came from the concept that BATHALA
or God will provide everything we need. It is a
religious belief that was handed to us for so many
decades.
– Even started before the coming of the
Spaniards when we kept our destiny in the
hands of the gods.
The culture of “BAHALA NA
Negative
■ This could be the strands
to block the progress that
comes his way. He trust
that the Lord Almighty will
always be there for him
as he uses the wisdom
He has given him.
■ This negative values
made him unprepared to
accept positions of higher
category as he does not
prepare himself to accept
responsibility
Positive
■ Could be the strongest
weapon of those with
courage to try new things
as he puts himself
prepared for any position
that comes his way.
■ He trust that the Lord
almighty will be there for
him as he uses the
wisdom He has given
him.
Pakikisama at the Workplace and
Social Setting
■ We find difficulty in finding employment if we
are not connected with the powers. We need
MAKISAMA with them as group of alliance. It
is not what you know but whom you are
connected with, as a dictum of the society we
live in.
– Good worker who leave for foreign countries to
prove that their worth is rewarded.
■ In effect hamper the development of our
economy as it contributes to our brain drain.
Palakasan

■ Political support is the way to be connected.

Support a political candidate and the
re-payment is the LAKAS or connections to
amass contracts or concession for more
projects of even ghost projects.
■ An illegal instrument of the corrupt in their
greed for money and integrity at work.
Palusot System

■ Goods and other imported materials

pass through Bureau of Customs
through the system of PALUSOT in
order not to pay taxes which go to the
social and educational benefits of the
FILIPINO.
Mamaya na Syndrome
■ “Mamaya na lang o kaya ay bukas nalang”
■ We are people who cannot be rushed for
things to happen.
■ We always find reasons to evade work.
■ This contributed to our low productivity and
economic growth
– Could be attributed to the Spanish influence of
Siesta
Development of Extended Family
Centeredness
■ Due to the unpleasant experience of our
countrymen in the implementation of the laws,
that are supposed to be for the benefit of all the
governed, FILIPINOS develop a system of
extended family.
– The system develop a common shield for protection, as
he perceived that the government could do nothing to
protect his personal and social interest.
– Birth of rules of hiya
APTITUDE and ABILITY

■ Aptitude defined as the capacity of a

person to learn or acquire skills.
■ Ability refers to an individual’s capacity
to perform the various tasks in the job.
Physical Ability

■ Refers to the capacity of the individual

to do the tasks demanding stamina,
dexterity and similar characteristics.
NINE PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES:
1. Dynamic Strength
2. Trunk Strength Individuals will
3. Static Strength differ as to the
4. Explosive Strength extent by which
5. Extent Flexibility they can perform
6. Dynamic Flexibility any cited activities.
7. Body Coordination
8. Balance
9. Stamina
INTELLECTUAL or MENTAL
ABILITIES
■ Also referred to as INTELLIGENCE
■ is one of the major sources of individual
differences.
■ Refers to the capacity to do mental
activities, such as thinking, reasoning
and problem solving.
DIMENSION OF
INTELLECTUAL ABILITY
Four Subparts:
■ COGNITIVE
■ SOCIAL
■ EMOTIONAL
■ CULTURAL
Cognitive
■ Refers to the
capacity of a
person to acquire
and apply
knowledge
including solving
problems.
Social Intelligence

■ Refers to
persons ability
to relate
effectively with
others.
Emotional Intelligence
■ Refers to person’s
qualities such as
understanding one’s
own feelings,
empathy for others,
and the regulation of
emotion to enhance
living.
 Cultural Intelligence
■ Refers to the capacity
to an outsider’s ability
to interpret someone’s
unfamiliar and
ambiguous behaviour
the same way that
person’s compatriot
would.
The Triarchic Theory of
Intelligence
■ Robert Sternberg
■ He maintains that there are three
important parts of intelligence, namely:
– Componential Intelligence - Analytical
– Experiential Intelligence – Creative
– Contextual Intelligence – common sense,
wisdom, street smarts
What is the implication of
Triarchic of intelligence to
Business Organization?
Theory of Multiple Intelligence

■ Howard Garner
■ He proposes 8 different components of
intelligence which the individual
possesses in varying degrees.
1.Linguistic

■ People who possess this component of

intelligence is sensitive to language,
meanings and the relations among
words.
■ Reading, writing and speaking
■ Novelist, poets, copywriter, scriptwriter,
editors, magazine writers, public
relations directors and speech writers.
2. Logical- Mathematical

■ Covers abstract thought, precision,

counting, organization and logical
structure.
■ See relationships between objects
■ Mathematicians, scientist, engineers,
animal trackers, police investigators and
lawyers
3. Musical

■ Capacity to create and understand

meanings made out of sounds and to
enjoy different types of music.
■ Sensitive to pitch, rhythm, timbre, and
emotional power and complex
organization of music.
4. Spatial

■ Enables people to
perceive and
manipulate images
in their brain and to
re-create them
from memory, such
as in making
graphic designs
5. Body-Kinesthetic

■ Enables people to use

their body and perceptual
and motor systems in
skilled ways.
■ Dancing, playing sports,
and expressing emotions
through facial
expressions.
6. Intrapersonal
■ Has highly accurate
understanding of himself or
herself.
■ Sensitive to his or her
values, purpose, feelings,
and has a developed sense
of self.
■ Novelist, counselors, wise
elders, philosophers, gurus
etc.
7. Interpersonal
■ Makes possible for persons to
recognize and make distinctions
among the feeling, motives and
intentions of others as in
managing people and parenting
children.
■ Politicians, teachers, religious
leaders, counselors, salesmen,
managers.
8. Naturalist

■ The ability to seek patterns in the

external physical environment.
What is the implication of
Multiple Intelligences to
Business Organization?
 VARIOUS
THEORIES OF
INTELLIGENCE

Dimensions of Multiple
Triarchic Theory
Intellectual Ability Intelligence Theory

Cognitive, Social, Componential,

Emotional Experiential , The 8 Intelligences
Cultural Contextual
 One Aspect that makes people
different from one another is
personality. The differences
translate into different behaviours,
including those in the workplaces

PERSONALITY
■ Refers to SUM TOTAL of ways in which
an individual reacts and interacts with
others.

■ What influence your PERSONALITY?

■ Its is result from both hereditary and

environmental factors.
HEREDITARY
■ Determined at conception.
– PHYSICAL STATUE
– FACIAL ATTRACTIVENESS
– SEX
– TEMPARAMENT
– MUSCLE COMPOSITION AND
REFLEXES
– ENERGY LEVEL
– BIOLOGICAL RYTHMS
ENVIRONMENTAL

■ Cultural
■ Social Factors
■ Situational Factors
Cultural

■ Which refers to established norms,

attitudes and values that are passed
along from one generation to the next
creates consistency over time
Social

■ Refers to those that reflect family life,

religion and the many kinds of formal
and informal groups in which the
individual participates throughout his
life.
Situational

■ Individual will behave differently in

different situations.
Personality Factors and Traits
 Personality Factors and Traits
1. Emotional Stability – This personality
factor characterize one as calm, self-
confident and secure.
• A person who possess a high degree of
emotional stability can be expected to
withstand stress.
– Opposite: Emotional Instability
characterized by nervousness, depression
and insecurity.
Personality Factors and Traits

2. Extraversion- This is the personality

factor describing someone who is
sociable, gregarious and assertive.
■ Introversion, describes a person who is
who tends to be reserved, timid and
quiet.
Personality Factors and Traits

3. Openness to experience. This a

personality factor describing a person
who is imaginative, cultured, curious,
original, broad- minded intelligent and
artistically sensitive.
▪ Opposite: Person who is conventional
and finds comfort in the familiar
 Personality Factors and Traits
4. Agreeableness. Refers to the person’s
interpersonal orientation. An agreeable person
is cooperative, warm and trusting.
▪ Opposite: Cold, antagonistic
5. Conscientiousness. Refers to a person’s
reliability. Responsible; organized, dependable
and persistent.
▪ Opposite: Distracted, disorganized and
unreliable
 Personality Factors and Traits

6. Self-monitoring behavior. Ability to

adjust his or her behavior to external,
situational or environmental factors. High
self monitors are pragmatic and capable
of putting on different faces for different
audiences.
▪ Opposite: hard to act or behave as the
situation requires.
Personality Factors and Traits

7. Risk taking and thrill seeking. Refers to the

person’s willingness to take risk and pursue
thrills that sometimes are required in the
workplaces.
8. Optimism. Tendency to experience positive
emotional states and to typically believe that
positive outcomes will be forthcoming from most
activities.
▪ Opposite: Pessimis