OB - Social Perception

Partially based on the Kreitner/Kinicki (2009, McGraw Hill/Irwin) textbook with updated data from a variety of cited sources.

1. Chapter 7 – Social Perception
BUSA 220
Wallace Winter 2012

2. Perception
•Environmental
Interpretation
•Social perception:
Observing and
interpreting others to be
able to understand and
respond appropriately.
•4 Stages of Information
Processing

3. Information Processing Model
Competing
environmental
stimuli
 People
 Events
 Objects
Interpretation
and
categorization
Memory
Judgments
and
decisions
A
B
C
D
E
F
A
C
F
C
Stage 1
Selective
Attention/Comprehension
Stage 2
Encoding and
Simplification
Stage 3
Storage and
Retention
Stage 4
Retrieval and
Response
Source: Krietner/Kinicki, 2009

4. What Do You Think?
Implicit Cognition: Automatic thought or belief.
•How are hiring decisions and performance evaluations
affected by one’s perceptual process?
•Based on social perception research, which of the
following would NOT be advised?
a.Use mostly subjective measures of performance.
b.Be aware of actions that could be perceived as unfair.
c.Train interviewers and managers on how best to objectively
evaluate others.

5. What Do You Think?
•Jamie is a brand-new salesperson who has just
graduated from college. Her first task is to sell
consulting services to a new potential client. Based
on your knowledge or experience of social perception,
which of the following would NOT be advised?
a.Check her cell phone to show that she is busy and
important
b.Convey a positive attitude
c.Dress professionally

6. Stereotypes
•A Stereotype is an
individual’s set of
beliefs about the
characteristics of a
group of people whether
true or not.
•What examples of
stereotypes have you
experienced?

7. Stereotypes – Male or Female?
Emotional 90%
Affectionate 86%
Talkative 78%
Patient 72%
Creative 65%
Easygoing 38%
Intelligent 36%
Ambitious 33%
Courageous 27%
Aggressive 20%
Emotional 3%
Affectionate 5%
Talkative 10%
Patient 19%
Creative 15%
Easygoing 45%
Intelligent 21%
Ambitious 44%
Courageous 50%
Aggressive 68%

8. Stereotyping: Mental Shortcuts
1)Begins by categorizing people
2)Infer categorized people possess similar traits
3)Form expectations of others and interpret their
behavior according to stereotypes
4)Stereotypes are maintained by
a)Overestimating the frequency of stereotypic behaviors
exhibited by others
b)Incorrectly explaining expected and unexpected behaviors
c)Differentiating minority individuals from oneself

9. Stereotyping Characteristics
•Not always negative
–Women are nurturing
–Asians are smart
•Based on often inaccurate
generalizations
–Older workers are more accident prone
–Disabled workers cost a lot of money to
accommodate
–Women are more emotional
•Can lead to poor decisions and
discrimination

10. What Do You Think?
•Under what conditions would the use of stereotypes
be less likely?
1.(A) You have more knowledge; or
(B) You have less knowledge about the individuals you
work for or with.
2.(A) You encourage similar people to work together; or
(B) You offer opportunities for a diverse set of
individuals to gain important job experience.

11. Perceptual Errors
Source: Krietner/Kinicki, 2009

12. Perceptual Errors
Source: Krietner/Kinicki, 2009

13. What Do You Think?
•Josie is a hard-working administrative assistant. She has
a low attention to detail and sometimes handles
customer’s calls unprofessionally. However, Josie never
misses a day of work and is always on time. As a result,
her manager rates her positively on many aspects of her
performance. This is an example of which perceptual
error?
a.Contrast
b.Recency
c.Halo
d.Leniency
e.Central Tendency

14. Self-fulfilling Prophecy
•Pygmalion Effect
–Someone’s high expectations for
another person result in high
performance
•Galatea Effect
–An individual’s high self-
expectations lead to high
performance
•Golem Effect
–Loss in performance due to low
leader expectations

15. Self-fulfilling Prophecy Model
Supervisor
expectancy
6
3
Motivation
4
Performance
5 1
Leadership
Subordinate
self-
expectancy
2
Source: Krietner/Kinicki, 2009

16. What Do You Think?
•Based on the self-fulfilling prophecy, which of the
following would not be advised?
a.Instill confidence in your staff
b.Identify errors in employee’s performance, no matter
how minor, and discuss them frequently
c.Treat all new employees as if they have outstanding
potential
d.Set high performance goals

17. Causes of Behavior
•Internal factors – Personal
characteristics that cause
behavior (e.g., ability,
effort)
•External factors –
Environmental
characteristics that cause
behavior (e.g., task
difficulty, good/bad luck)

18. Attributions
Causal Attributions: Suspected/inferred behavior causes.
•Andreas has a history of turning in his monthly reports
on time and with 100% accuracy. This month
Andreas’ reports were accurate but a week late. Why?
a.Andreas doesn’t know how to do monthly reports.
b.Andreas is lazy.
c.The information he needed was not available to meet the
deadline.

19. Kelley’s Attribution Model
Source: Integrated SocioPsychology

20. Kelley’s Attribution Model
Attribution Consensus Consistency Distinctiveness
Situational High High High
Dispositional Low High Low
Each of these (CCD) can be high or low and the particular
combination of these produced by the situations observed
leads to making dispositional or situational attributions.

According to Kelley, it is important to note that consistency
has to be high before any kind of attribution can be made. In
other words we cannot judge behavior that takes place
irregularly or unpredictably.
Source: Integrated SocioPsychology

21. Kelley’s Attribution Model - Consensus
People
A B C D E
People
A B C D E
Low - Internal High - External

22. Kelley’s Attribution Model
Tasks
A B C D E
Tasks
A B C D E
Low - Internal High – External
Distinctiveness is determined by comparing a person’s behavior on
one task with his or her behavior on other tasks.

23. Kelley’s Attribution Model
Consistency is determined by judging if the individual’s performance
on a given task is consistent over time.
Time Time
Low - External High - Internal

24. Kelley’s Attribution Model
External
•High consensus
•High distinctiveness
•Low consistency
Internal
•Low consensus
•Low distinctiveness
•High consistency
Source: Integrated SocioPsychology

25. What Do You Think (revisited)
•Andreas has a history of turning in his monthly reports
on time and with 100% accuracy. This month
Andreas’ reports were accurate but a week late.
•Which of the following dimensions could we use to
make attributions about Andreas?
a.Consistency
b.Distinctiveness
c.Consensus

26. What Do You Think (revisited)
•Nadia’s performance is declining. Her peers performance
hasn’t changed, it is occurring on several tasks, and has
occurred for the past six months.
1.High (A) or Low (B) for consensus
2.High (A) or Low (B) for distinctiveness
3.High (A) or Low (B) for consistency
4.The attribution her supervisor is likely to make is…
a.Internal
b.External

27. Attributional Tendencies
•Fundamental
Attribution Bias
- ignoring
environmental
factors that affect
behavior
•Your performance is
caused by you
•Self-Serving Bias - taking
more personal responsibility
for success than failure
•My success is because of my
effort/ability
•My poor performance is
caused by something else
(difficulty; bad luck)

28. What Can You Do About Your Biases?
Do not overlook the
external causes of
others’ behaviors
Identify and confront
your stereotypes
Evaluate people based
on objective factors
Avoid making rash
judgments

29. Impressions - Dressing the Part
•Even the most objective interview
process can be influenced by one’s
appearance
•Board of directors have admitted
evaluating CEO candidate’s clothes
when determining who should get
the job
•Female politicians, in particular,
have to be careful because the while
a smart style may not win votes, a
wrong style can lose them.
Binkley, C. Wall Street Journal, Summer/Fall 2008

30. Impressions – Dressing the Part
•In what other ways could
personal appearance affect
people in the workplace?
•In what situations do you
consider the perceptions
caused by your clothing and
appearance?
•How might the organizational
culture affect norms of dress
and associated perceptions?
Binkley, C. Wall Street Journal, Summer/Fall 2008

31. Impressions - Dressing the Part Tips
•Iron your shirts
•Men should wear no more than
three accessories (i.e., belt, wedding
band, watch)
•Dress for the position you want, not
for the one you currently have
•Match the culture of the industry
•The darker the color of women’s
suits the more likely to be perceived
as intimidating – choose carefully
Binkley, C. Wall Street Journal, Summer/Fall 2008

32. Break the Typecast
•Workplace reputations are often
formed superficially.
•Avoid being “boxed” by:
–Paying attention to comments
made about you and asking for
feedback
–Evaluate your image and adjust
your appearance/wardrobe
–Wait before speaking because
words carry weight.

Source: The Jungle, Erin White, Wall Street Journal, Feb. 28, 2006

33. Tying it Together
•How does this chapter
relate to the previous
chapters about
individuals, values and
attitudes?
•How does it relate to our
discussion of self-
monitoring and self-
growth?

Diversity
Values &
Attitudes
Individuals
Social
Perception