class 7 jd snof

Class 7: Perceiving Ourselves and Others 

Self-Concept:

[ Self concept refers to people’s beliefs and evaluations about themselves ] 

• Guide people’s decisions and actions 

• (“Who am i? How do I feel about myself?” )

Four Processes shaping Self-concept:  

• Self Enhancement, Self-Verification, Self-Evaluation, and the Social Self 

1. Self-Enhancement

• Drive to promote and protect a positive self-view 

   [Competent, Attractive, Lucky, Ethical, Valued] 

Consequences: 

• Better mental and physical health, higher motivation 

• Riskier decisions, inflated perceived personal causation, slower to recognize mistakes 

2. Self-Verification 

• Motivation to confirm and maintain our self-concept

• Stabilizes our self-concept

- We seek confirming feedback 

Consequences:   

• Drives selective attention 

• Dismiss feedback contrary to self-concept 

• Motivated to interact with those who affirm our self-view 

3. Self-Evaluation

Self Esteem: 

• Extent to which people like, respect, and are satisfied with themselves 

• High self-esteem: less influenced by others, more persistent, more logical thinking 

Self-Efficacy: 

• Belief that one can successfully perform a task (“can-do” attitude) 

• With more energy (motivation), ability, clear expectations and resources to perform the task 

Locus of Control: 

• General belief about personal control over life events 

• Life events are mainly caused by their personal characteristics [internal LC], or believes that life’s outcome are beyond their control [external LC] 

• Higher self-evaluation with internal locus of control 

4. Social Self: 

Social identity Theory: (1979) 

• Social identity is a complex combination of many memberships, and certain social identity become salient depending on situations/ context 

[ People are motivated to maintain & enhance their positive self-concept ] 

• Association with the group makes us feel better about ourselves 

(ex. I work Lululemon vs I work at Monsanto) 

• Once their group identity is established, people make the distinction stronger by exaggerating/ distorting their perceptions (Us vs. Them/ ingroup-Outgroup) 

Perception process: Selective attention & perceptual grouping 

Perception: the process of receiving information and making sense of the word around us 

• The underlying mechanism. Our brian: 

1. Prefers easy and simple things (vs. difficult and complex): 

2. Works in a way that favors our self-concepts 

Perception leads to attitudes and behavior 

Selective Attention: 

• The process of attending to some information received by our senses and ignoring other information 

• Affected by characteristics of perceiver and object perceived 

• Prone to biases (ex. Confirmation Bias) 

Perceptual Grouping (organization) 

• Simplifying our understanding of world by reducing information volume and complexity [nonconscious “energy-saving” process] 

• Categorical thinking: organizing people or things into preconceived categories 

• Assumptions about missing information by relying on past experiences 

Why understanding perception processes matter in org. Context

• A simple explanation for perception is that which you PERCEIVE, or take in from an experience. Ten people can be exposed to exactly the same stimuli and have ten different experiences because each one perceives the experience through a unique way of seeing the world. Biases, preferences, past experiences, and whatever catches their attention is what they perceive and then interpret to mean something.