MBA 635 chapter 3

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May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in
part.
Personality,
Perception, and
Attribution

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Learning Objectives
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1 Describe individual differences and their
importance in understanding behavior.
2 Define personality.
3 Identify several personality characteristics and their
influences on behavior in organizations.
4 Give examples of each personality characteristic
from your own work experience and how you
would apply your knowledge in managing
personality differences.
5 Discuss Carl Jung’s contribution to our
understanding of individual differences, and explain
how his theory is used in the Myers–Briggs Type
Indicator (MBTI®) instrument.
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Learning Objectives continued
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6 Evaluate the importance of the MBTI® to
managers.
7 Define social perception and explain how
characteristics of the perceiver, the target, and
the situation affect it.
8 Identify five common barriers to social
perception.
9 Explain the attribution process and how
attributions affect managerial behavior.
10 Evaluate the accuracy of managerial
attributions from the standpoint of attribution
biases and errors.
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Individual Differences
• Individuals are unique in terms of their
• Skills
• Abilities
• Personalities
• Perceptions
• Attitudes
• Emotions
• Ethics
• No two people are completely alike
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Interactional Psychology
• Behavior is a function of the person and the
environment
• B = f (P,E)
• B = behavior
• P = person
• E = environment
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Propositions of Interactional Psychology
• Behavior is a function of a continuous,
multidirectional interaction between the
person and the situation
• The person is active in this process, and both
changes and is changed by situations
• People vary in many characteristics, including
cognitive, affective, motivational, and ability
factors
• Two interpretations of situations are important:
the objective situation and the person’s
subjective view of the situation
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Skills and Abilities
• General mental ability or GMA is an
individual’s innate cognitive intelligence
• Evidence indicates that GMA is the single
best predictor of work performance across
many occupations
• GMA also relates to economic, physical, and
subjective well-being
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Personality
Personality : a relatively stable set of
characteristics that influence an
individual’s behavior
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Trait
theory
Integrative
approach

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Trait Theory
• To understand individuals we must break
down behavior patterns into a series of
observable traits
• The Big Five traits:
• Extraversion
• Agreeableness
• Conscientiousness
• Emotional stability
• Openness to experience
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Integrative Approach
• Personality is described as a composite of the
individual’s psychological processes
• Personality dispositions include
• Emotions
• Cognitions
• Attitudes
• Expectancies
• Fantasies
• Considers both the person and situational
variables as combined predictors of behavior
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Personality Characteristics in Organizations
• Core Self Evaluations (CSE), is a broad set of
personality traits that refers to self-concept
• Self-monitoring is the extent to which
people base their behavior on cues from
other people and situations
• Positive/negative effect describes the extent
to which individuals focus on the positive or
negative aspects of themselves, other
people, and the world in general
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Core Self-Evaluation
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Locus of
control
Self-esteem
Generalized
self-efficacy
Emotional
stability

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Locus of Control
• Locus of control: an individual’s generalized
belief about internal versus external control
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Internal
• Believe they
control what
happens to
them
External
• Believe
circumstances
or others
control their
fate

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Self-Efficacy
• General self-efficacy: a person’s overall view
of himself/herself as being able to perform
effectively in many situations
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High self-efficacy
results in more
confidence
Low self-efficacy
results in self-
doubt

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Self- Esteem
• Self-esteem: a person’s general feeling of
self worth
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Positive
view of self
Negative
view of self

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Self-Monitoring
• Self-monitoring: the extent to which people
base their behavior on cues from other
people and situations
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High self-
monitors
• Act less
consistently
based on
situational cues
Low self-
monitors
• Act more
consistently
based on
internal cues

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Positive/Negative Affect
• Positive affect: an individual’s tendency to
accentuate the positive aspects of
himself/herself, other people, and the world
• Negative affect: an individual’s tendency to
accentuate the negative aspects of
himself/herself, other people, and the world
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Measuring Personality
• Self-report questionnaire: a series of
questions designed to assess individual
personality
• Projective test: a personality test that
involves responses to abstract stimuli
• Behavioral measures: personality
assessments that involve observing behavior
in a controlled situation
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The MBTI Instrument
• Human similarities and differences can be
understood by combining preferences
• Extraverted/Introverted
• Sensing/Intuition
• Thinking/Feeling
• Perceiving/Judging
• Briggs & Myers developed the MBTI to
understand individual differences by
analyzing the combinations of preferences
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Social Perception
• Perception involves the way we view the
world around us
• Social perception is the process of
interpreting information about another
person
• Our perception of another person is
influenced by
• Characteristics of ourselves as perceivers
• Characteristics of the target person
• Characteristics of the situation
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Barriers to Social Perception
• Selective perception
• Stereotyping
• First-impression error
• Projection
• Self-fulfilling prophecies
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Impression Management
• Impression management: the process by which
people attempt to control the impressions
others have of them
• Self-enhancing techniques: name dropping, looking
the part, self-descriptions
• Other-enhancing techniques: flattery, favors,
agreement with opinions
• Social identify-based impression management:
managing others’ impressions of some basic
aspect of an individuals’ identity
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Attribution in Organizations
• Attribution theory explains how we pinpoint
the causes of our own behavior and those of
other people
• Internal attributions are made to something
within the individual’s control
• External attributions are made to sources
beyond the individual’s control
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Attributional Biases
• The tendency to make attributions to
internal causes when focusing on someone
else’s behavior
Fundamental attribution error
• The tendency to make attributions to
internal causes when focusing on one’s own
behavior
Self-serving bias
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Chapter 3: Reflect & Discuss
Because I Said So Video Clip
• Which Big-Five personality traits best describe Daphne?
Give examples of behavior from the film scene to support
your observations.
• Which Big-Five personality traits best describe Millie?
Give examples of behavior from the film scene to support
your observations.
• Review the discussion of the “Myers-Briggs Type
Indicator® instrument” earlier in this chapter. Assess both
Daphne and Millie with the content of Table 3.3,
“Characteristics Frequently Associated with Each Type.”
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