Chapter 10
Understanding
Individual Behavior
Attitudes: The ABC Model
 Affect
» Feelings for an object
 Behavioral
Intentions
» Potential Behavior toward it
 Cognition
» Beliefs about it
Other Attitudes

Job Satisfaction
 Enjoyment of your specific job

Organizational Commitment
 Positive feelings, Pride, Loyalty, etc.
concerning the organization as a whole

Organizational Citizenship
 Behaviors to help the organization that
are outside of one’s job duties
Attitude Change Techniques

Persuasion
» Cognition -> Behavior

Conditioning
» Affect -> Cognition -> Behavior

Cognitive Dissonance Production
» Behavior -> Cognition
Perception
“The link between the person and the
environment”
 Broadly defined, includes Social
Perception (impressions of people)

Perception

Why are perceptions often distorted?
» Why do people not always perceive things as
they are?
» Why do people perceive things differently?
– Different people
– Same person at different times
Sources of Perceptual
Distortions/Differences

Selectivity (perceiving only part of envir. or
attending to some parts more than others)
» External Factors (i.e., in physical envir.)
– Similarity
– Size
– Nearness
– Motion
» Internal Factors
– Experience
– Motivation
Sources of Perceptual
Distortions/Differences

Closure (adding to your perception)
» Stereotyping
» Halo Effects
» Attribution
Attributions
Perceived causes of behavior
 Major concern: whether caused by
internal or external factors

(the person or the environ.)

Our judgments based on 1) whether a
person acts like other people do and
2) whether a person does something
repeatedly and in a variety of
situations
Common Attributional Errors

Fundamental Attribution Error
» We Perceive others’ behaviors as
more Internally caused than they are

Self-Serving Bias
» We perceive our own:
–Success as Internal
–Failure as External
Personality
Internal State
 Uniqueness
 Consistency
 Stability

Personality Theories

Developmental Stage (Psychodynamic)
» (Freud, etc.)

Trait-Based (“Big Five”, etc.)
» e.g., Neurotic, Extraversion, Authoritarian (Eysenck)

Motive-Based
» e.g., Achievement, Affiliation, Power (McClelland)

Belief-Based
» e.g., Internal vs. External Locus of Control (Rotter)
Locus of Control
» People who believe that individuals are
in control of their own lives have an
Internal locus of control.
» People who think that forces beyond
their control dictate what happens to
them have an External locus of control.
Emotional Intelligence
Dimensions
1)
2)
3)
4)
Knowing one’s own emotions
Controlling one’s emotions
Recognizing others’ emotions
(Empathy)
Social Skill - Controlling others’
emotions
Emotional Intelligence
Author Daniel Goleman says
incompetence in management occurs
more often from lack of EQ than lack
of IQ.
EQ skills are essential in managing
conflict
Types of Learning

Shaping
» Learn by doing
» Small, Reinforced Steps

Modeling (Social Learning)
» Learn by observing someone else
» Consequences to Model are important
Mental Ability

General Intelligence (g factor)
» Correlation with Job Performance

Specific Intelligences (s factors)
» Correlation with Job Satisfaction
Testing Intelligence
and Personality
When using in selection and
placement: Back up with validity
studies.
 In General:

» Intelligence - Moderate Validity
» Personality - Low Validity
Cognitive (ProblemSolving) Styles

How do we gather information?
» Sensing - Look at the facts, details.
» Intuiting - Brainstorm, get a general overview.

How do we choose between alternatives?
» Thinking - Analyze objectively, reason.
» Feeling - Consider the impact on people.
Cognitive Styles

Sensation / Thinking (ST) (e.g., technician)

Intuitive / Thinking (NT) (e.g., planner)

Sensation / Feeling (SF) (e.g., salesperson)

Intuitive / Feeling (NF) (e.g., artist)
Myers-Briggs Test

Has 4 dimensions (incl. Sensation vs.
Intuition and Thinking vs. Feeling)

Also Includes:
» Extraversion vs. Introversion
» Judger vs. Perceiver
– (decisive vs. flexible)
The Myers-Briggs
Framework
Higher and lower positions in each of
the dimensions are used to classify
people into one of sixteen different
personality categories.
Consequences of Stress

Psychological
» moodiness, depression, emotional fatigue

Physiological
» cardiovascular diseases
» ulcers, sexual dysfunction, headaches

Behavioral
» poor performance, accidents
» absenteeism
» workplace aggression
Sources of Stress

Experience
» Job Conditions
» Job Events
» Life Events
» Life Conditions

Personal Characteristics
» Personality
» Coping Behaviors
(These and other factors influence how
people much stress people feel.)
Sources of Stress
 Job
Conditions
» Intrinsic to the Job
» Being in the Organization
» Roles in the Organization
» Career Development
» Relations within the Organization
» Organization interface with the
outside
Sources of Stress
 Intrinsic
to the Job - Examples
» Making decisions
» Unstructured tasks
» Constant monitoring
» Repeated exchange of info with others
» Dealing with the public
» Unpleasant physical conditions
Sources of Stress
 Job
Events & Life Events
» Even “good” things can be
stressful, because change is
generally stressful.
Sources of Stress
 Life
Conditions
» Urban Stress Test
–Measures: Population Change,
Crowding, Education, Violent Crime,
Unemployment, Per Capita Income,
Birth Rate, Air Quality, Hazardous
Wastes, Water Supply & Quality,
Wastewater Treatment
–Does not include: Climate, Cultural
Offerings, NFL Football
Sources of Stress
 Personality
» Type A Behaviors
–Highly Competitive
–Impatient
–High Job Involvement
» Determinants of Type A Personality
–Sensitive Nervous System
–Demanding Parents (love contingent
upon achievement)
Coping with Stress
DESCRIPTIONS
 Primary Prevention
EXAMPLES
 Primary Prevention
» Change how you do
things to remove
stressors from your life

Secondary Prevention
» Time management, skill
enhancement,
delegation, job redesign

» Prepare yourself to
withstand stressors

Treatment
» Treat the stress effects
you already have
Secondary Prevention
» Exercise, diet,
recreation, sleep,
relaxation, meditation

Treatment
» Professional help,
social support