Individual behavior is influenced by both external and internal stimuli. It is shaped by factors like perception, attitudes, personality, and emotions. Perception is the process by which individuals interpret sensory impressions to understand their environment. It involves sensation, selection, organization, and interpretation of stimuli. Several factors can influence perception, including personal characteristics, the perceived object, and the context of the situation.

1. Foundation of Individual
Behaviour
Unit- 3

2. Individual Behaviour
Individual behavior can be defined as a mix of
responses to external and internal stimuli(some
thing that influences). It is the way a person
reacts in different situations and the way
someone expresses different emotions like
anger, happiness, love, etc.
Human behavior refers to the range of
activities exhibited by humans and which are
influenced by culture, attitudes, emotions,
values, ethics, authority, and genetic factors.

3. The factors influencing individual
behavior are
Perception − It is the result of various senses like
feeling, seeing, hearing etc.
Attitude − We can either have a positive attitude
or negative attitude
Personality − For example, some people seem to
be very friendly, while there are some who
take time to open up.
Emotions − There are happy moments we
cherish and the sad moments like anger,
frustration, etc. that we try to forget.

4. • Test for self acceptance true/false
-I received all the love from my parents
-I am no more self conscious than the average person
- I seldom feel terribly critical of people
- I have about as many friends as I would like
- It doesn’t bother me much when people I know do
something really stupid
- I think I have got about as much as I deserve in my life
- I have not been bothered by many physical or emotional
symptoms
- I tend to trust most people without too much difficult
- Politicians are as much as honest an average person
- I am probably no more sensitive than most people
- It seldom occurs to me – people might be laughing at me
- Most people won’t let you down

5. Key
• - if you checked all as true – tremendous self
acceptance
• 10 = high degree of self acceptance
• 8 = very good degree of self acceptance
• 6=average
• Less than 6 = weak self image

6. Individual Differences
Dissimilarity is principle of nature.
No two persons are alike. All the individuals
differ from each other in many a respects.
Children born of the same parents and even
the-twins are not alike. This differential
psychology is linked with the study of
individual differences.

7. This change is seen in physical forms like in
height, weight, colour, complexion strength
etc., difference in intelligence, achievement,
interest, attitude, aptitude, learning habits,
motor abilities, skill. Each man has an
intellectual capacity through which he gains
experience and learning.

8. Causes of Individual Differences
 Heredity
 Environment
 Race and Nationality
 Gender
 Age
 Education

9. Heredity
Some heretical traits bring a change from one
individual to other. An individual’s height, size,
shape and color of hair, shape of face, nose,
hands and legs so to say the entire structure
of the body is determined by his heretical
qualities. Intellectual differences are also to a
great extent influenced by hereditary factor.

10. Environment
Environment brings individual differences in
behaviour, activities, attitude, and style of life
characteristics. Personality etc. Environment
does not refer only physical surroundings but
also it refers the different types of people,
society, their culture, customs, traditions,
social heritage, ideas and ideals.

11. Race and Nationality
Race and Nationality is one cause of individual
difference. Indians are very peace loving,
Chinese are cruel; Americans are very frank
due to race and nationality.

12. Gender
Due to gender variation one individual differs
from other. Men are strong in mental power.
On the other hand women on the average
show small superiority over men in memory,
language and aesthetic sense(sense of looking
beautiful). Women excel the men in
shouldering social responsibilities and have a
better control over their emotions.

13. Age
Age is another factor which is responsible in
bringing individual differences. Learning ability
and adjustment capacity naturally grow with
age. When one grows in age can acquire
better control over our emotions and better
social responsibilities. When a child grows
then this maturity and development goes side
by side.

14. Education
Education is one major factor which brings
individual differences. There is a wide gap in
the behaviors of educated and uneducated
persons. All traits of human beings like social,
emotional and intellectual are controlled and
modifies through proper education.
This education brings a change in our
attitude, behaviour, appreciations, Personality.
It is seen that uneducated persons are guided
by their instinct and emotions where as the
educated persons are guided by their reasoning
power.

15. MODELS OF MAN
A study of human behaviour is both rewarding
and necessary to managers and managements all
over the world. It is doubtful whether the
management can perform its functions
successfully without having understanding
why people behave as they do.
The fact remains that individual differences
among people cause differences in
their behaviour. Based on individual differences
among people, individuals are classified into
certain models or types. The following are the
important models of man observed in the
organisations: -

16. 5 Models of Individual Behavior in an
Organization
 Rational Economic Man
 Social Man
 Organisational Man
 The Self Actuating Man
 Complex Man

17. Rational (balanced) Economic Man
From the organisational perspective, managers
had, for a long time, viewed their employees as
rational beings who are primarily motivated by
money. They took the ‘ECONOMIC MAN’ and
‘RATIONAL MAN’ approach to understand and
predict the human behaviour.

18. The basic assumptions of the concept of
‘Rational Economic Man’ are as follows:
 People are motivated primarily by economic
incentives. They will do things which get them
the greatest economic gain.
 As the organisation controls the economic
incentives, human beings are essentially
passive(taking no action) agents, who are
manipulated, motivated and controlled by the
organisation

19.  The feelings of the people are essentially irrational
and must be controlled to achieve rationality and
self interest.
 Organisations can and must be designed in such a
way so as to neutralize and control people’s feelings
and therefore their unpredictable traits(trend).
In this model, people are induced to produce more
by providing them with economic incentives. In this
case, there is no organisation-employees conflict
because both are satisfying their needs
simultaneously. Management is getting more
production and people are getting more money.

20. Drawbacks
 The economic incentives can work till the man is
not reasonably satisfied by the need of money.
Though, the need of money is
inexhaustible and the man will never have
enough, but after a certain stage, only money will
not be sufficient for him. He will have some
psychological needs also, which cannot be
fulfilled by the organisation in this case.
Therefore, it can be stated that the whole
assumption of Rational Economic man are not
sufficient in understanding and predicting human
behaviour.

21. Social Man
there is a lot more to human behaviour than just
being social man economic and rational.
man is a part of the social group he is
influenced by the social forces and seeks
satisfaction of the needs which are related to the
maintenance of his social relationships.

22. following assumptions about human
beings can be drawn
 Human beings are basically motivated by social
needs and all their efforts are directed towards getting
this satisfaction by maintaining relationships with
others.
 A human being is more responsive to the pressures
and sanctions of his social group than to the
incentives and controls of the management. The
reason is that he values social relationship higher than
his economic motives which are directly under the
control of management.

23.  The amount of work to be done by a worker is not
determined by his physical capacity or by the
management but by the social norms.
 Management should change and organize work in
such a way that it provides more belongingness not
only in terms of interpersonal and group
relationships, but also man’s relationship with his job.

24. Organisational Man
Organisation man is an extension of social man. The
concept of organisation man was introduced by
William Whyte. He believed that it is very
important for a person to be loyal to the
organisation and cooperative with the fellow
workers. Any person who believes in this value
system and acts in this way is an organisation
man. The basis of this concept is and that every
individual should sacrifice his individuality for
the sake of the group and the organisation.

25. Whyte had explained three major propositions, on
which this concept of organisation man is based.
These propositions (ideas) are as follows:
 The first proposition is that individual by himself is
isolated (alone) and meaningless. The group is the
source of activity. Individuals create only when they
move in a group. A group helps to produce a whole
that is greater than the sum of its parts.
 The ultimate need of every individual is
belongingness. He wants to belong to his families,
friends, relatives, colleagues and other members of
the society as a whole. Whyte says that there should
be no conflict between man and society.

26. The organisation man concept emphasis, that there is
no conflict between the individual interest and the
interest of the organisation. Even if there is any
conflict, individual interest will be sacrificed in
favour of the group interest to remove the conflict.
However, there is a basic assumption behind this
concept.
The assumption is that management will take
care of the individual interests. It would be the duty
of the management to satisfy the needs of the
individuals. People will be willing to sacrifice their
interests for the organisation only if they are positive
that the organisation would take care of them.

27. The Self Actuating Man
The concept of self actuating man is a further
extension of social man and the organisation
man models. The social man concept assumes
that the formation of social groups is the basis
of satisfaction for the individuals. But as
against this the self actuating man assumes that
man’s inherent need is to use his capabilities
and skills in such a way that he should have
the satisfaction of creating certain things. The
earlier models do not allow him to satisfy his
self actuating needs.

28. Following are the main assumptions about the
self actuating man:
The basic assumption about this concept is that
the various needs of a man can be put in the
order of priority. For example, MASLOW has
put various needs in a hierarchy.
Every unsatisfied need is a
motivational factor for him. Self actualization is
the ultimate goal, because it is last in the
hierarchy and by the time his goal is achieved, all
the other needs of the man are also satisfied.

29.  In the process of self actualization, there are
various changes in the behaviour of the
individual and he moves from immaturity to
maturity.
 Another assumption is that a man is primarily
self motivated and self controlled. Any incentives
given by the management cannot motivate him
after a certain level and any control imposed on
him cannot threaten him.

30. COMPLEX MAN
• As stated earlier, Behaviour of individuals is
caused and individual differences make it
unpredictable. Given the two persons having the
same needs, still they may behave differently
because the variable that determine
human behaviour are themselves unpredictable.
Thus, human being is quite complex and so is his
behaviour.
• Therefore,managers need to take clues for their
managerial actions realizing that no single action
can be utilized successfully in all situations, but
depending upon complexities of variables
affecting human behaviour

31. Theories of Personality
What exactly is personality? Where does it come
from? Does it change as we grow older? These
are the sorts of questions that have long held
the fascination of psychologists and which
have inspired a number of different theories
of personality.

32. Defining Personality
Personality is broadly described as the
characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings,
and behaviors that make a person unique. In
plain English, it is what makes you.

33. Characteristics of Personality
Personality is organized and consistent.
We tend to express certain aspects of our
personality in different situations and our
responses are generally stable.
Although personality is generally stable, it can
be influenced by the environment.1
For example, while your personality might
lead you to be shy in social situations, an
emergency might lead you to take on a more
outspoken and take-charge approach.

34. Personality causes behaviors to happen. You
react to the people and objects in your
environment based on your personality.1
From your personal preferences to your
choice of a career, every aspect of your life is
affected by your personality.

35. Theories of Personality
 type
 trait
Psychoanalytic

36. Type theory
According to this theories, people are grouped into
identifiable categories. One basis for classifying
personalities is the structure of the body.
in type theories, a relationship was sought to
be established between features of face or body
and personality.
Thus, a short, plump person was said to be
sociable, relaxed and even tempered

37. A tall, thin person is characterised as
restrained(reserved/unemotional), self-conscious
and fond of solitude ( likes loneliness)
A heavy set muscular individual was described as
noisy, callous (cruel disregard) and fond of
physical activity.
although a person’s physique may have some
influence on personality, the relationship is much
more subtle(important) than this sort of
classification implies. Thus, classification of
personalities on a physical basis is subjective.

38. Another basis to type personalities is
psychological factors.
Swiss psychologist Carl Jung, divided all
personalities into introverts and extroverts.
These terms are normally associated with an
individual’s sociability and interpersonal
orientation.
extroverts are gregarious( fond of company),
sociable individuals, while introverts are shy,
quiet.

39. In a more technical sense, introverts are
characterized by a greater sensitivity and
concern for feelings and are more comfortable
dealing with things.
extroverts are more oriented towards other
people, events and objects.
type theories are simple as they are based on
physical attributes or psychological factors for
categorisation of personalities. But the theories
fail to reveal all complexities of a personality.

40. Trait theory
A personality trait is understood as being an
enduring attribute of a person that appears
consistently in a variety of situations.
A trait differentiates one from another in a
relatively permanent or consistent way. A trait of
an individual is abstracted from his behaviour
and serves an useful unit of analysis to
understand personality.

41. Trait theory assumes that a personality can be
described by its position on a number of
continuous dimensions or scales, each of which
represents a trait.
it is important to remember that traits are
reactions, not something a person possesses.
One does not possess shyness, he feels and acts
shy under certain circumstances. Actually, he
may behave quite forwardly in some other
circumstances or at some other time. What is
important is what he does typically.

42. Psychoanalytic theory
Sigmund Freud propounded this theory

43. Freud likened the mind to an iceberg- only a
small segment of which seen above the
surface of the water. This small portion of the
mind represents the unconscious.
it was this unconscious portion of the mind
that Freud sought to explore.
Freud saw personality as being composed of
three elements- id, ego and super ego

47. What is Perception? Explain which
factors affect Perception.

49. 49
Organizational Behavior /
Perception
The Perceptual Process
1. Sensation
– An individual’s ability to
detect stimuli in the
immediate environment.
2. Selection
– IS the process where a
person uses to eliminate
some of the stimuli that
have been sensed and to
retain others for further
processing.
3.Organization
– The process of placing
selected perceptual
stimuli into a framework
for “storage.”
4.Translation
– The stage of the
perceptual process at
which stimuli are
interpreted and given
meaning.

51. According to Joseph Reitz; “Perception includes
all those processes by which an individual
receives information about his environment—
seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling.”
Uday Pareek said perception can be defined as
“the process of receiving, selecting,
organizing, interpreting, checking, and
reacting to sensory stimuli or data.”

52. According to S. P. Robbins, perception can be
defined as “the process by which individuals
organize and interpret their sensory impressions
in order to give meaning to their environments.”
Perception includes the 5 senses; touch, sight,
taste, smell and sound.

53. In simple terms, perception is understood as the
act of seeing what is there to be seen. But
what is seen is influenced by the individual,
the object, and the situation.
perception may be described as a person’s
view of reality.

54. features
 Sensory:
perception is our sensory experience of
the world around us and involves both the
recognition of environmental stimuli ( thing or
event)
 Subjective:
because, different people may look at the
same event from different angles and
interpret the same in multiple ways. The
world is not same for different people.

55. Are these two lines of the
same size?

56.  filter:
perception is a way of forming impressions
about oneself, other people and daily life
experiences. It serves like a filter through which
information passes before it has an effect on
people.
Unique interpretation:
perception is a unique interpretation of the
situation, not an exact recording of it.
Example president asking for coffee

57. Factors influencing Perception
• External factors influencing perception
• Internal factors influencing perception

58. External factors influencing perception
 size
 Intensity
 Contrast
Repetition
 Movement

59. size
The larger the object, the more likely it will be
noticed. Big televisions, refrigerators in a
shopping mall stand out very clearly and attract
our immediate attention. People often pay more
attention to an exceptionally tall or unusually
short person than to a person of average size.

60. Intensity
The intensity principle of attention states that,
the more intense the external stimulus, the
more likely it is to be perceived. A loud noise
or a bright light will be noticed more than a
soft sound or a dim light.

61. Contrast
Stimuli which contrast with the surrounding
environment are more likely to be selected for
attention than stimuli which blend with the
environment.
Which Blue Circle is Larger?

62. The Blue circle on the left appears much larger
than the one on the right because of the
contrast with the background circles.
both Blue circles are exactly the same size.

63. Repetition
A repeated principles states that a repeated
external stimulus is more attention drawing
than a non-repetitive one. The same
advertisement of a product flashed daily on
television is based on the principle of repetition.

64. Movement
The principle of motion states that a moving
object receives more attention than an object
that is still.

65. Internal factors
These factors reside in person concern . These
include one ’s needs , desires , personality and
experience .
• Needs and desires: an individual ’s perception
about stimuli is influenced by his needs and
desires at that time. Perception varies
depending upon variations in his/her needs
and desires from time to time.

66. Personality
closely related to needs and desires is the
personality of the perceiver , which affects what
is attended to perceived in the given situation. As
mentioned earlier, research studies suggest that
secure individuals tent to understand or perceive
others as warm and self-accepting individuals
perceive themselves as liked , wanted and
accepted by others.
• Personal moods
• Values and beliefs
• Expectations

67. Experience:
experience and knowledge serve as basis
for perception . While one’s successful
experience enhances his/her perceptive ability
,failure destroys his/her self confidence.
Successful experience also helps perceiver
understand stimuli with more accuracy.