Chapter 5

Perception, Attitudes,
and Personality
 Learning Goals
• Understand human perceptual processes and
how people form impressions of others
• Describe types of perceptual error and their
effects on information people get from their
environment
• Explain attribution processes and their
effects on perception and attitudes
 Learning Goals (Cont.)
• Discuss the nature of attitudes, how they
form and how they change
• Explain the different views of human
personality development
• Discuss some dimensions of personality and
several personality types
• Recognize the effects of different cultures
on perception, attitudes, and personality
 Chapter Overview
• Introduction
• Perception
• Attitudes
• Personality
• International Aspects of Perception,
Attitudes, and Personality
• Ethical Issues in Perception, Attitudes, and
Personality
 Perception, Attitudes,
and Personality
Perception Attitudes

Chapter 5

Personality
 Perception
• A cognitive process: lets a person make
sense of stimuli from the environment
• Affects all senses: sight, touch, taste, smell,
hearing
• Includes inputs to person and choice of
inputs to which the person attends
• Stimulus sources: people, events, physical
objects, ideas
• Helps adaptation to a changing environment
 Perception (Cont.)
• Perceptual process
– Target: object of the person’s perceptual
process
– Threshold: minimum information from target
for the person to notice the target
• Detection threshold: point at which person notices
something has changed in her or his environment
• Recognition threshold: point at which person can
identify the target or change in the target

See text book Figure 5.1

 Perception (Cont.)
• Perceptual process (cont.)
– Target emerges from its surrounding context
sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly
– Quickly discriminate a high-contrast target
from its background; an ambiguous target takes
more time to see
– Contrast can come from the target's size, color,
loudness, or smell
 Perception (Cont.)
• Perceptual process (cont.)
– People attend more quickly to positively valued
stimuli than to negatively valued stimuli
– Example: achievement-oriented employees
notice announcements about promotion
opportunities faster than an employee with less
achievement motivation
 Perception (Cont.)
• Perceptual defense: shield self from
negatively valued stimuli
– Example: block out annoying sounds
– Organizational example: block some feedback
from a supervisor or coworker when it is
negative
 Perception (Cont.)
• Perceptual errors: mistakes in the
perceptual process
– Perceptual set
• Beliefs about a target based on information about
the target or previous experiences with it
• Information about the target from any source
• Beliefs act like instructions for processing stimuli
from the target
 Perception (Cont.)
• Perceptual errors (cont.)
– Stereotype: beliefs and perceived attributes
about a target based on the target’s group
– Examples
• American university students: energetic and
spontaneous
• Russian university students: orderly and obedient
 Self-Perception:
A View of Self
• Self-perception: process by which people
develop a view of themselves
• Develops from social interaction within
different groups, including groups
encountered on the Internet
• Self-perception has three parts: self-
concept, self-esteem, self-presentation
 Self-Perception:
A View of Self (Cont.)
• Self-concept:
– Set of beliefs people have about themselves
– View people hold of their personal qualities and
attributes
– Factors affecting a person's self-concept
• Observations of behavior
• Recall of past significant events
• Effect of the surrounding social context
 Self-Perception:
A View of Self (Cont.)
• Self-concept (cont.)
– Observations of behavior
• People see their behavior, and their situation, in the
same way they see the behavior of other people
• Person believes the behavior occurred voluntarily:
concludes the behavior happened because of some
personal quality or attribute
 Self-Perception:
A View of Self (Cont.)
• Self-concept (cont.)
– Observations of behavior (cont.)
• People learn about themselves by comparing
themselves to other people with similar qualities
• Example: you may want to assess your abilities to
hold a supervisory position. You compare yourself
to people with backgrounds similar to yours who
have had recent promotions
 Self-Perception:
A View of Self (Cont.)
• Self-concept (cont.)
– Recall of past significant events and effect of
the surrounding social context
• Recall events important in their lives; not error free
• Tend to recall events they attribute to themselves
and not to a situation or other people
• Often overestimate their role in past events
• Place more weight on the effects of their behavior
and less on the surrounding situation or other people
 Self-Perception:
A View of Self (Cont.)
• Self-esteem
– Emotional dimension of self-perception
– Positive and negative judgments people have of
themselves
– People with low self-esteem tend to be
unsuccessful; do not adapt well to stressful
events
– Those with high self-esteem have the opposite
experiences
 Self-Perception:
A View of Self (Cont.)
• Self-awareness
– People differ in degree of self-awareness
– Two forms
• Private self-consciousness: behave according to
attend to inner feelings and standards
• Public self-consciousness: behave according to
social standard correct for the situation
 Self-Perception:
A View of Self (Cont.)
• Self-presentation
– Behavioral strategies people use to affect how
others see them
– How they think about themselves
– Goals of self-presentation
• Affect other people's impressions to win their
approval
• Increase the person's influence in a situation
• Ensure that others have an accurate impression of
the person
 Self-Perception:
A View of Self (Cont.)
• Self-presentation (cont.)
– Highly conscious of public image: change
behavior from situation to situation. Readily
conform to situational norms
– People who want others to perceive them in a
particular way behave consistently in different
situations. They act in ways they perceive as
true to themselves with little regard for the
norms of the situation
 Social Perception:
A View of Others
• Social perception: process by which
people come to know and understand each
other
• Forming impression of a person: perceiver
first observes the person, the situation, and
the person's behavior
 Social Perception:
A View of Others (Cont.)
• Form a quick impression by making a snap
judgment about that person, or
• Make attributions and integrate the
attributions to form a final impression
• Confirmation biases lead the perceiver to
hold tenaciously to it
 Social Perception:
A View of Others (Cont.)
• Elements of social perception
– Three sets of clues help form the impression of
another person
• Person
• Situation surrounding the person
• Observed behavior of the person
 Social Perception:
A View of Others (Cont.)
• Elements of social perception (cont.)
– Developing first impressions
• Use different physical aspects of the person: height,
weight, hair color, eyeglasses
• Stereotypes based on physical features
– Thin men: tense, suspicious, stubborn
– Blond women: fun loving
– Neatly dressed people: responsible
• Stereotypes result from attributing qualities to
people based on previously formed perceptions
 Social Perception:
A View of Others (Cont.)
• Elements of social perception (cont.)
– Preconceptions about the situations in which we
see the behavior of other people
– Develop from experience with the same or
similar situations
– Situation raises expectations about behavior the
situation should cause
– Example: when two people are introduced, we
expect both parties to acknowledge the other
and probably to shake hands
 Social Perception:
A View of Others (Cont.)
• Attribution processes
– People use attribution processes to explain the
causes of behavior they see in others
– Begins with a quick personal attribution
followed by adjustment based on the
characteristics of the situation
 Social Perception:
A View of Others (Cont.)
• Personal attribution
– Characteristics of the person such as beliefs,
disposition, or personality, and not the situation,
caused the person's behavior
– Example: when you conclude that another
student spends many hours completing a project
because he likes to work hard or values hard
work, you are making a personal attribution
 Social Perception:
A View of Others (Cont.)
• Situational attribution
– Aspects of the situation, not qualities of the
person, cause the person's behavior
– Example: a student worked hard because of the
reward of a good grade
 Social Perception:
A View of Others (Cont.)
• Perceiver uses three types of information
when forming an attribution
– Consensus information
– Distinctiveness information
– Consistency information
 Social Perception:
A View of Others (Cont.)
• Consensus information
– Observe other people in the same or a similar
situation
• If other people show the same behavior as the target
person, the situation caused the behavior
• If other people behave differently from the target
person, the person caused the behavior
 Social Perception:
A View of Others (Cont.)
• Distinctiveness information
– Observe the target person in a different
situation
• If the response is different in the new situation, the
situation caused the behavior
• If the response is the same, the person caused the
behavior
 Social Perception:
A View of Others (Cont.)
• Consistency information
– Observe the target person in a similar situation,
but at a different time
• High consistency: same behavior at both times
• Low consistency: different behavior at both times
 Social Perception:
A View of Others (Cont.)
• Combine consensus, distinctiveness, and
consistency information to form attribution
– Personal attribution: behavior high in
consistency; low in consensus and
distinctiveness
– Situational attribution: behavior high in
consensus and distinctiveness; low in
consistency
 Social Perception:
A View of Others (Cont.)
• Fundamental attribution error
– Observer underestimates situation as cause of
behavior; overestimates the as cause
– Explaining their behavior: tend to ascribe
causes to the situation, not to personal qualities
– Explaining other’s behavior: tend to ascribe its
causes to personal qualities, not the situation
 Social Perception:
A View of Others (Cont.)
• False consensus
– Overestimate the degree to which others agree
with the person's view
– Reinforces the view the perceiver has of
another person
 Social Perception:
A View of Others (Cont.)
• Integration of attributions to form final
impression: disposition of perceiver
– Effects of recent experiences: positive or
negative event just before meeting someone for
the first time can affect the impression of the
person
– Mood at time of first meeting:
• Positive impressions in a good mood
• Negative impressions in a bad mood
 Attitudes
• An attitude is “a learned predisposition to
respond in a consistently favorable or
unfavorable manner with respect to a given
object”
• Attitude object: physical objects, issues,
ideas, events, people, places
 Attitudes (Cont.)
• Parts of an attitude
– Cognitive: perceptions and beliefs about an
attitude object
– Affective: feelings about an attitude object
– Behavioral intentions: how the person wants
to behave and what a person says about an
attitude object
 Attitudes (Cont.)
• Common work attitudes
– Organizational commitment
– Satisfaction
– Job involvement
• Play a role in employee turnover
 Attitudes (Cont.)
• Some connection between attitudes and
behavior, although not strong
– People with strong attitudes about an object
will likely behave in accord with their attitude
– Strong positive attitudes about Macintosh©
computers leads to buying one
– Ardent followers of Jesse Jackson will likely
vote for him
 Attitudes (Cont.)
• Attitude formation: affected by the
person’s beliefs about an object and the
amount and type of information the person
has about the object
– Perceives positive attributes: develops positive
attitude
– Perceives negative attributes: develops
negative attitude
 Attitudes (Cont.)
• Attitude formation (cont.)
– Family upbringing
– Peer groups
– Work groups
– General social experiences
 Attitudes (Cont.)
• Attitude change
– Something persuades the person to shift his or
her attitudes (persuasive communication)
– Norms of a social group can affect a person’s
attitude (social norms)
– Person becomes uncomfortable with some
aspects of her or his beliefs (cognitive
dissonance)
 Attitudes (Cont.)
• Persuasive communication
– Advertising
– Tries to change cognitive part of attitude
– Assumes affective part will also change
– Attitude change process
• Win target’s attention
• Understand message
• Accept the influence
• Remember the message
 Attitudes (Cont.)
• Social influence on attitudes
– People are embedded in social groups
– Feel pressures to conform to norms
– If person values membership in group, likely
will align attitudes with the group norms
 Attitudes (Cont.)
• Cognitive dissonance
– Hold multiple beliefs or cognitions about an
attitude object
– Feel tension when discrepancies develop
– Motivated to reduce the tension
– Change one or more cognitions
– Other parts of attitude also change
 Personality
• Set of traits, characteristics, and
predispositions of a person
• Usually matures and stabilizes by about age
30
• Affects how a person adjusts to different
environments
 Personality Theories
• Cognitive theory: people develop their
thinking patterns as their life unfolds
• Learning theories: behavior patterns
develop from the social environment
• Biological theories: personality as
genetically inherited
 Personality Theories (Cont.)
• Cognitive theory
– Develop thinking patterns as life unfolds
– Affects how the person interprets and
internalizes life's events
– Cognitive development stages
• Reflexive behavior of infant
• More complex modes of perception and
interpretation of events
– Neither driven by instincts nor unwittingly
shaped by environmental influences
 Personality Theories (Cont.)
• Learning theories
– Learn behavior from social interaction with
other people
– Young child: early family socialization
– Continuously learn from social environment:
stable behavior forms the personality
– Uniqueness of each personality follows from
variability in social experiences
 Personality Theories (Cont.)
• Biological theories
– Ethological theory
• Develop common characteristics as a result of
evolution
• Behavioral characteristics that have helped survival
over generations become inborn characteristics
 Personality Theories (Cont.)
• Biological theories (cont.)
– Behavior genetics
• Individual's unique gene structure affects personality
development
• Personality develops from interactions between a
person's genetic structure and social environment
 The Big-Five
Personality Dimensions
• Extroversion
– High: talkative, sociable
– Low: reserved, introverted
• Emotional stability
– High: calm, relaxed
– Low: worried, depressed
• Agreeableness
– High: cooperative, tolerant
– Low: rude, cold
 The Big-Five
Personality Dimensions (Cont.)
• Conscientiousness
– High: dependable, thorough
– Low: sloppy, careless
• Openness to experience
– High: curious, intelligent
– Low: simple, conventional

Assess yourself on each dimension

 Personality Types
• Locus of control: people control the
consequences of their actions or are
controlled by external factors
– External control: luck, fate, or powerful
external forces control one’s destiny
– Internal control: believe they control what
happens to them
Assess yourself against each type.
 Personality Types (Cont.)
• Machiavellianism
– Holds cynical views of other people's motives
– Places little value on honesty
– Approaches the world with manipulative intent
– Maintains distance between self and others
– Emotionally detached from other people
– Suspicious interpersonal orientation can
contribute to high interpersonal conflict
 Personality Types (Cont.)
• Machiavellianism (cont.)
– Focus on personal goals, even if reaching them
requires unethical behavior
– Suspicious orientation leads to view of
organizational world as a web of political
processes
 Personality Types (Cont.)
• Type A personality: a keen sense of time
urgency, focuses excessively on
achievement, aggressive
Type B personality: strong self-esteem,
even tempered, no sense of time urgency

Type A: significant risk factor for coronary heart disease.

 Personality Types (Cont.)
• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
– Popular personality assessment device
– Four bi-polar dimensions
• Extroverted (E) - introverted (I)
• Sensing (S) - intuitive (I)
• Thinking (T) - feeling (F)
• Perceiving (P) - judging (J)
– Assigns people to one of sixteen types based on
these dimensions
 Personality Types (Cont.)
• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
(cont.)
– Extroverts look outward; introverts turn inward
– Sensers use data; intuitives use hunches
– Thinkers are objective; feelers are subjective
– Perceivers are flexible; judgers want closure
– ESTJ type: extroverted, sensing, thinking, and
judging
 International Aspects of
Perception, Attitudes,
and Personality
• Culturally based stereotypes
– Swiss: punctual
– Germans: task-oriented
– Americans: energetic
– People who hold these stereotypes experience
surprises when they meet people from these
countries who do not fit the stereotypes
 International Aspects of
Perception, Attitudes,
and Personality (Cont.)
• Culturally based stereotypes (cont.)
– Project aspects of own culture onto people and
situations in a different culture
– Assumes that the new culture mirrors their own
– Example: Korean manager visiting Sweden
assumes all women seated behind desks are
secretaries
– Such behavior would be inappropriate and
possibly dysfunctional in Sweden where many
women hold management positions
 International Aspects of
Perception, Attitudes,
and Personality (Cont.)
• Attitudes about organizational design,
management, and decision making:
– U.S. managers: a hierarchical organizational
design helps solve problems and guides the
division of labor in the organization
– French and Italian managers: a hierarchical
design lets people know authority relationships
in the organization
 International Aspects of
Perception, Attitudes,
and Personality (Cont.)
• Attitudes (cont.)
– Italian managers: bypassing a manager to reach
a subordinate employee is insubordination
– Swedish and Austrian organizations:
decentralized decision making
– Philippine and Indian organizations:
centralized decision making
Conclusion: Organizations that cross national borders and draw
managers from many different countries have high conflict potential.
 International Aspects of
Perception, Attitudes,
and Personality (Cont.)
• Personality characteristics
– People in individualistic cultures (United
States) have a stronger need for autonomy than
people in group-oriented cultures (Japan)
– People in cultures that emphasize avoiding
uncertainty (Belgium, Peru) have a stronger
need for security than people in cultures that are
less concerned about avoiding uncertainty
(Singapore, Ireland)
 Ethical Issues in
Perception, Attitudes,
and Personality
• Stereotypes and workforce diversity
– Can have inaccurate stereotypes about the
ethics of people with different social, racial, and
ethnic backgrounds
– These stereotypes can affect the opinions
people develop about the ethical behavior of
such people in the workplace
 Ethical Issues in
Perception, Attitudes,
and Personality (Cont.)
• Self-presentation
– Deliberately managing self-presentations so
decisions and behavior appear ethical
– Limited experimental evidence suggests one
can favorably manage other people's
impressions of their ethical attitudes
 Ethical Issues in
Perception, Attitudes,
and Personality (Cont.)
• Attribution and accountability
– Individual responsibility is central to ethical
behavior
• Attribution of responsibility to a person: person
behaved ethically or unethically
• Attribution of responsibility to the situation:
individual not held accountable
• Example: observer believed the person had behaved
unethically because of a directive
– Errors in attribution: could conclude that he or
she was not responsible for an unethical act
 Ethical Issues in
Perception, Attitudes,
and Personality (Cont.)
• Ethical attitudes
– Little reliable and valid information about
ethical attitudes
– Some evidence points to the absence of a fixed
set of ethical attitudes among managers
– Attitudes about ethics in organizations and
decision making are situational and varying
– The morality of behavior and decisions is
determined by their social context, not by
abstract and absolute rules