BU288 - Midterm 1: Important Topics

Topics that could show up on final: Midterm 1: Lecture 2 - Research (Slides 1-4) Lecture 3 - Personality (Slides 5-11) Lecture 4 - Learning (Slides 12-15) Lecture 5 - Perception (Slides 16-35 Lecture 6 - Values, Attitudes, and Work Behaviour (Slides 36-59)

What is the difference between an Independent Variable (IV) and a dependent variable (DV) ?

• An Independent variable is a predictor

• A Dependent variable is the outcome

→ An independent variable predicts the dependent variable

What is a mediating variable?

A mediating variable explains a relationship between an IV and DV

Ex:

Sleep → Alertness → Performance

• Sleep (IV) increases alertness (mediating) which increases performance (DV)

What is a moderating variable?

Moderating variables CHANGE a relationship between an IV and DV

Ex: Sleep or work motivation is zero, performance is going to be zero

What is the Hawthorne Effect?

• Refers to a favorable response of subjects in an experiment to a factor other than the IV or treatment

• Research subjects tend to change their behaviour because they’re being studied.

What is Personality?

• How they think, feel and behave - psychological characteristics influence how they act

• Predicts behaviour

  • Ex: Performance

How to describe personality?

• The most researched ‘comprehensive model’ of personality suggests that there are 5 major dimensions of personality

• “The Big Five”

What is the Five-Factor Model of Personality?

1. Openness to Experience

   • Curious, imaginative, artistic, and original

2. Conscientiousness

   • Responsible, dependable, persistent, and organized

3. Extraversion

   • Sociable, gregarious, and assertive

4. Agreeableness

   • Good-natured, cooperative, and trusting

5. Neuroticism

   • Nervous, depressed, and insecure under stress

→ All on their own continuum from low to high

Ex: Introversion to extraversion

What is the Locus of Control?

Locus of Control: A set of beliefs about whether one’s behavior is controlled mainly by internal or external factors

→ Internals believe that the opportunity to control their own behaviour resides within themselves

→ Externals believe that external forces determine their behaviour

What is self-esteem?

• The degree to which a person has a positive self-evaluation

• People with high self-esteem have favourable self-images

• People with low self-esteem have unfavourable self-images

What is General Self-Efficacy?

• Refers to an individual’s beliefs in his or her ability to perform successfully in a variety of challenging situations

What are implications of Employee’s Personalities?

• Person-Job Fit

  • Match/compatibility of individuals’ traits and job requirements (tasks) is important for performance

• Person-Organizational Fit

  • Match/compatibility of individuals’ traits and organization’s values and culture is important for satisfaction, (decreased) turnover, and a number of other work outcomes.

What is the Operant Learning Theory:

• Uses rewards and punishment to modify behaviour

• People repeat behaviours that bring them satisfaction and pleasure, and stop those that bring them dissatisfaction and pain

Explain more about decreasing and reinforcing behaviour in the Operant Learning Theory:

• Increase probability of behaviour: 2 ways to reinforce behaviour

• Decrease probability of behaviour: 2 ways to decrease behaviour

What is Social Cognitive Theory?

• Emphasizes the role of cognitive processes in regulating people’s behaviour

• People Learn by:

  • Observing the behaviours of others and regulating their own behaviour

• Personal Factors and environmental factors work together and interact to influence people’s behaviour

What are the components of SCT?

• Observational Learning

  • Process of imitating the behaviour of others

• Self-Regulation

  • The use of learning principles to regulate one’s own behaviour

• Self efficacy beliefs

What is Perception?

Process used to organize and interpret sensory impressions to give meaning to the environment

• Perception is the basis for understanding others and their behaviour

• Often bias or flawed

What are factors that influence perception?

1. The Context

   1. Time, Work Setting, Social Setting, etc.

2. The Target

   1. Size, Background, Proximity, Similarity, Motion, etc.

3. The Perceiver

   1. The attitudes, motives, experience, expectations, interests, social identity, etc.

What are the Basic Biases in Perception?

• Primacy and Recency Effects

• Reliance on Central Traits

• Implicit Personality Theories

• Projection

• Stereotyping

What is the Primacy Effect?

• The reliance on early cues

  • Primacy often has a lasting impact

What is the Recency Effect?

• The tendency for a perceiver to rely on recent cues or last impressions

What are Central traits?

• Central traits are personal characteristics of a target person that are of particular interest to a perceiver

  • Common central traits: Physical appearance, height, weight

What is an Implicit Personality Theory?

Personal theories that people have about which personality characteristics go together

• Perhaps you expect hardworking people to also be honest, or people of average intelligence to be most friendly

What is Projection?

Projection: The tendency for perceivers to attribute their own thoughts and feelings to others.

• Sensible perceptual strategy

• Can serve as a perceptual defence

What is Stereotyping?

Stereotyping: The tendency to generalize about people in a social category and ignore variations among them.

• Race, gender, ethnic

What are some consequences of Stereotyping?

• Can result in unfairness for individuals

• Can result in decreased organizational performance

What is the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy?

Tendency for someone’s expectations about another to cause that individual to behave in a manner consistent with those expectations

What is the Pygmalion Effect?

“someone's high expectations improves our behavior and therefore our performance in a given area. It suggests that we do better when more is expected of us.”

What is the Golem Effect?

“Low expectations placed on individuals lead to poorer performance.”

What is a Stereotype Threat?

The feeling of being at risk of confirming negative stereotypes about his/her social group

What is Attribution?

Attribution: The process by which we assign causes or motives to explain people’s behaviour

• About understanding why

• Dispositional (internal) or situational (external) factors

Explain Kelley’s Attribution Model:

Motives are judged through:

1. Consensus: Do most people engage in the behaviour, or is it unique to this person?

2. Consistency: Does the person engage in the behaviour regularly consistently?

3. Distinctiveness: Does the person engage in the behaviour in many situations, or is it distinctive to one situation?

What are the Three Biases in Attribution?

Although observers often operate in a rational, logical manner in forming attributions, our attributions are NOT always correct

1. Fundamental attribution error

2. Actor-observer effect

3. Self-serving bias

What is Fundamental Attribution Error?

• To explain other people’s behaviour, we tend to over-emphasize dispositional explanations and under-emphasize situational explanations

  • We blame people first, not the situation

What is Actor-Observer Effect?

• Actors and observers tend to view causes of actor’s behaviour differently

  • Observer: Emphasizing dispositional factors (FAE)

  • Actor: Emphasizing situational factors

What is Self-Serving Bias?

• Tendency to take credit for successful outcomes but not for failures

  • We succeed because of our intelligence; we failed because of bad luck

What are values?

Values: A broad tendency to prefer certain states of affairs over others

• Have to do with what we consider “good” and “bad”

Define Culture:

A shared meaning system that includes norms, values, symbols, and behavioural scripts

What is Work Centrality?

• The valuation of work differs across cultures

• People for whom work was a central life interest work more hours

What are the four basic dimensions of Hofstede’s Study?

1. Power Distance

2. Uncertainty avoidance

3. Masculinity/Femininity

4. Individualism/collectivism

Explain High Power distance Vs. Low Power Distance

High Power Distance: Accept and expect a hierarchy of power, where everyone has their place within the hierarchy (Mexico, China, Russia)

Low Power Distance: Dislike of hierarchy/inequality, prefer to equalize the distribution of power (Canada, U.S.A)

Define Uncertainty Avoidance:

The extent to which a culture feels threatened by, and avoids, uncertainty and ambiguity.

Explain High Uncertainty Avoidance Vs. Low Uncertainty Avoidance:

High Uncertainty Avoidance:

• Stress rules and regulations, hard work, conformity, and security

Low Uncertainty Avoidance:

• Less concerned with rules, conformity, security, and hardwork

• Risk taking is valued

Define Masculinity/Femininity:

The valuing of achievement, competitiveness, assertiveness, and materialism (Masculinity).

Explain More Masculinity Vs. More Femininity:

More Masculine:

• Firmer gender roles, focus on economic performance

More Feminine:

• Looser gender roles, sexual equality, and focus on quality of life

Define Individualism/Collectivism:

The preference to act as individuals rather than as member of groups

Explain Individualistic cultures Vs. Collectivistic cultures:

Individualistic Cultures:

• Stress independence, individual initiative, and privacy

Collectivistic Cultures:

• Favour interdependence and loyalty to one’s group

• Tighter social framework, expectations that group members to look after and protect each other

Define Attitudes:

A tendency to evaluate a specific target in a consistent way

Define Equity Theory:

Individuals compare their job inputs and outcomes with those of others and then respond in ways to eliminate inequities

• Equity is perceived when the following ratio is satisfied:

How do people respond to inequity?

• Change inputs

• Change outcomes

• Adjust perceptions of self

• Adjust perceptions of Others

• Choose a Different Referent

• Leave the field (job, etc.)

Three Basic Kinds of Fairness:

1. Distributive Fairness

2. Procedural Fairness

3. Interactional Fairness

What is Distributive Fairness?

Perceived fairness of outcomes people receive in social relationships

• Allocation of rewards, resources

What is Procedural Fairness?

Perceived fairness of the way/process allocation decisions are made

• Process is consistent, unbiased, allows 2-way communication, welcomes appeals

What is Interactional Fairness?

Perceived fairness of the treatment received during the decision-making process

• Communicated all important information with respect and dignity

Three types of Organizational Commitment:

1. Affective commitment

2. Continuance commitment

3. Normative Commitment

What is Affective Commitment?

• Want to stay

• Interesting, satisfying work

• Meeting expectations

What is Continuance Commitment?

• Need to stay

• Dependent on the job/organization (e.g. money)

• Lack of alternative options for work

What is Normative Commitment?

• Ought to stay

• Identified with the organization, product, service, work team (i.e. loyalty)

• Benefits that build a sense of responsibility to reciprocate; “owing” to the organization.

What are the consequences of Organizational Commitment?

• All three forms of commitment REDUCE turnover intentions and actual turnover

• Affective commitment is positively related to performance