Chapter 07 – Social Perception and Attributions
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CHAPTER SEVEN: Social Perception and Attributions
LEARNING OJBECTIVES
See Slides 7-2, 7-3
When you finish studying the material in this chapter, you should be able to:
• Describe perception in terms of the social information processing model.
• Explain seven managerial implications for social perception.
• Explain, according to Kelley’s model, how external and internal causal
attributions are formulated.
• Demonstrate your familiarity with the demographic trends that are creating an
increasingly diverse workforce.
• Identify the barriers and challenges to managing diversity.
• Discuss organizational practices used to manage diversity.
CHAPTER SUMMARY
Chapter 7 defines and discusses the stages of information-processing, which include
selective attention/comprehension, encoding and simplification, storage and retention,
and retrieval and response. This chapter discusses stereotypes and how they are
formed and maintained. This chapter also discusses the self-fulfilling prophecy. Finally,
attribution theory is discussed including the factors that contribute to individuals
assigning internal or external causes of behavior. Attribution tendencies can distort
one’s interpretation of observed behavior.
Perception is a cognitive process that allows us to interpret and understand our
surroundings. Social cognition is the study of how people perceive one another. The
four-stage sequence presented in Figure 7-1 presents a basic information-processing
model. The four stages include: selective attention/comprehension, encoding and
simplification, storage and retention, and retrieval and response. Since we do not have
the mental capacity to fully comprehend all of the stimuli within the environment, we
selectively perceive portions of environmental stimuli. Attention is the process of
becoming consciously aware of something or someone. We tend to pay attention to
salient stimuli. Encoding and simplification involves interpreting or translating raw
information into mental representations. These mental representations are then
assigned to cognitive categories. Categories are defined as a number of objects that
are considered equivalent. As part of the categorization process, people, events and
objects are compared with schemata. A schema represents a person’s mental picture
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or summary of a particular event or type of stimulus. The third phase of information
processing involves storage of information in long-term memory. Long-term memory
consists of separate but connected categories. The final stage requires drawing on,
interpreting, and integrating categorical information to form judgments and decisions.
The social information process has profound managerial implications on hiring,
performance appraisal, leadership and communication.
The social information process is susceptible to various errors including halo, leniency,
central tendency, recency, and contract effects (see Table 7-2). Person perception also
is prone to the formation of stereotypes. A stereotype is an individual’s set of beliefs
about the characteristics or attributes of a group. Stereotypes may or may not be
accurate and are not always negative. Stereotyping is a four-step process that begins
by categorizing people into groups according to various criteria. Next, we infer that all
people within a particular group possess the same traits or characteristics. Then, we
form expectations of others and interpret their behavior according to our stereotypes.
Finally, stereotypes are maintained by (a) overestimating the frequency of stereotypic
behaviors exhibited by others, (b) incorrectly explaining expected and unexpected
behaviors, and (c) differentiating minority individuals from oneself. Stereotypes based
on sex-role, age, race, or disability may create biases in organizations. To reduce the
extent to which stereotypes influence decision making and interpersonal processes
throughout the organization, a firm should use education and training to inform its
workforce about the problem of stereotyping and it should engage in a broad effort to
reduce stereotyping through interpersonal contact among mixed groups. The firm
should use valid individual differences to differentiate successful performers and
remove promotional barriers. Top management commitment is needed to eliminate the
organizational practices that support or reinforce stereotyping and discriminatory
decisions.
People’s expectations or beliefs determine their behavior and performance through the
self-fulfilling prophecy and the Galatea effect, and thus serve to make their expectations
come true. The self-fulfilling prophecy occurs when someone’s high expectations for
another person result in high performance while the Galatea effect occurs when an
individual’s high self-expectations lead to high performance. Figure 7-2 presents a
model of the self-fulfilling prophecy showing how supervisory expectations affect
subordinate performance. First, high supervisory expectancy produces better
leadership, leading employees to develop higher self-expectations. Higher expectations
motivate employees to exert greater effort, ultimately increasing performance and
supervisory expectancies. Finally, successful performance also improves an
employee’s self-expectancy for achievement. Managers must harness the potential of
the self-fulfilling prophecy by building a hierarchical framework that reinforces positive
performance expectations.
Attribution theory holds that people attempt to infer causes for their own and others’
observed behavior. Kelley’s model of attribution is based on the premise that behavior
can be attributed to either internal factors within a person (e.g., ability) or to external
factors within the environment (e.g., task difficulty). To make attributions, we gather
information along three behavioral dimensions: consensus, distinctiveness, and
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consistency. Consensus involves a comparison of an individual’s behavior with that of
his or her peers. Distinctiveness is determined by comparing a person’s behavior on
one task with his or her behavior on other tasks. Consistency is decided by judging if
the individual’s performance on a given task is consistent over time. According to
Kelley, people attribute behavior to external causes when they perceive high
consensus, high distinctiveness, and low consistency. Internal attributions are made
when the observed behavior has low consensus, low distinctiveness, and high
consistency.
The fundamental attribution bias reflects one’s tendency to attribute another person’s
behavior to his or her personal characteristics rather than to situational factors. The
self-serving bias represents one’s tendency to take greater personal responsibility for
success than for failure. Attribution processes and biases in attributions have important
implications for managers. Men and women may have different attributions regarding
the causes for being promoted. In addition, managers tend to disproportionately
attribute behavior to internal causes, which may result in inaccurate performance
evaluations, and thus reduce employee motivation. Also, since managers’ responses to
employee performance vary according to their attributions, attributional biases may lead
to inappropriate managerial actions. Finally, an employee’s attributions for his or her
own performance can have dramatic effects on subsequent motivation, performance,
and personal attitudes such as self-esteem.
LECTURE OUTLINE
I. An Information-Processing Model of Perception
i) Perception Overview
(1) Perception: the cognitive process that enables us to interpret and
understand our surroundings. See Slide 7-4
(2) Social perception is different than object perception and it involves a four-
stage information processing sequence.
ii) Four-Stage Sequence and a Working Example
(1) Figure 7-1: Perception: An Information-Processing Model describes
the four phases of information processing. See Slide 7-5
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iii) Stage 1: Selective Attention/Comprehension See Slide 7-6
(1) Stage 1 Overview
(a) People are constantly bombarded by physical and social stimuli in the
environment.
(b) They do not have enough mental capacity to fully comprehend all of
this information—they selectively perceive subsets of environmental
stimuli.
(c) Attention: the process of becoming consciously aware of something
or someone.
(d) Attention can be focused on information either from the environment or
from memory.
(2) Salient Stimuli
(a) Something is salient when it stands out from its context.
(b) People pay attention to salient stimuli.
(c) Research shows that people have a tendency to pay more attention to
negative than positive information, leading to a negativity bias.
iv) Stage 2: Encoding and Simplification See Slide 7-8
(1) Stage 2 Overview
(a) Observed information is not stored in memory in its original form but is
encoded.
(b) Encoding: information is interpreted or translated into mental
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representations.
(c) During encoding, perceivers assign pieces of information to cognitive
categories.
(d) Cognitive category: mental depositories for storing information.
(e) People, events, and objects are interpreted and evaluated by
comparing their characteristics with information contained in schemata.
(2) Schema
(a) Schema: a person’s mental picture or summary of a particular event or
type of stimulus. See Slide 7-8
(b) Script: a mental picture of an event.
(c) Table 7-1: Restaurant Schema profiles a script for going out to dinner
at a restaurant. See Slide 7-9
(3) Encoding Outcomes
(a) We use the encoding process to interpret and evaluate our
environment.
(b) This can lead to differing interpretations and evaluations of the same
person or event for four key reasons:
(i) People possess different information in the schemata used for
interpretation.
(ii) Our moods and emotions influence our focus of attention and
evaluations of others.
(iii)People tend to apply recently used cognitive categories during
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encoding.
(iv)Individual differences influence encoding.
v) Stage 3: Storage and Retention See Slide 7-10
(1) Stage 3 Overview
(a) This phase involves storage of information in long-term memory.
(b) Long-term memory is made up of three compartments containing
categories of information about events, semantic materials, and
people.
(2) Event Memory
(a) Composed of categories containing information about both specific and
general events.
(3) Semantic Memory
(a) Refers to general knowledge about the world. It functions as a mental
dictionary of concepts.
(b) Concepts stored in semantic memory are stored as schemata.
(4) Person Memory
(a) Categories within this compartment contain information about a single
individual or groups of people.
(b) People are more likely to remember information about a person, event,
or an advertisement if it contains characteristics that are similar to
something stored in the compartments of memory.
(c) The Real World/Real People: Nutrisystem and Unilever Use
Everyday People Instead of Celebrities in Their Ads profiles
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companies who use “regular” people rather than celebrities in their ads
because people don’t identify with celebrities.
vi) Stage 4: Retrieval and Response See Slide 7-11
(1) People retrieve information from memory when they make judgments and
decisions.
(2) Our ultimate judgments and decisions are either based on the process of
drawing on, interpreting, and integrating categorical information stored in
long-term memory or on retrieving a summary judgment that was already
made.
vii) Managerial Implications
(1) Hiring See Slide 7-12
(a) An interviewer’s perceptions of how well an applicant fits the perceived
requirements of a job may be made on the basis of implicit cognition,
resulting in biased decisions.
(b) Implicit cognition: any thoughts or beliefs that are automatically
activated from memory without our conscious awareness.
(c) To reduce the problem of implicit cognition:
(i) Managers can be trained to understand and reduce this type of
hidden bias.
(ii) Bias can be reduced by using structured as opposed to
unstructured interviews, and by relying on evaluations from multiple
interviewers rather than just one or two people.
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(2) Performance Appraisal See Slide 7-13
(a) Employee performance appraisals can be inaccurate when schemata
about what constitutes good versus poor performance are faulty.
(b) Managers should accurately identify the behavioral characteristics and
results indicative of good performance at the beginning of a
performance review cycle.
(c) Managers should use objectively based measures of performance as
much as possible because subjective indicators are prone to bias and
inaccuracy.
(d) Since memory for specific instances of employee performance
deteriorates over time, managers need a mechanism for accurately
recalling employee behavior.
(3) Leadership See Slide 7-14
(a) Employees’ evaluations of leader effectiveness are influenced strongly
by their schemata of good and poor leaders.
(b) A leader will have a difficult time influencing employees when he or
she exhibits behaviors contained in employees’ schemata of poor
leaders.
(c) Leaders who assigned specific tasks to group members, told others
that they had done well, set specific goals for the group, let other group
members make decisions, tried to get the group to work as a team,
and maintained definite standards of performance were perceived as
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good leaders.
(4) Communication and Interpersonal Influence
(a) Social perception is a screening process that can distort
communication, both coming and going.
(b) Because people interpret oral and written communications by using
schemata developed through past experiences, one’s ability to
influence others is affected by information contained in others’
schemata regarding age, gender, ethnicity, appearance, speech,
mannerisms, personality, and other personal characteristics.
(5) Counterproductive Work Behaviors
(a) Employees exhibit a variety of counterproductive work behaviors when
they perceived that they are treated unfairly.
(b) Perceptions of fairness are in the eye of the beholder.
(6) Physical and Psychological Well-Being
(a) Perceptions of fear, harm, and anxiety are associated with the onset of
illnesses.
(b) We should all attempt to avoid the tendency of giving negative
thoughts too much attention.
(7) Designing Web Pages
(a) Researchers have recently begun to explore what catches viewers’
attention on Web pages.
II. Stereotypes: Perceptions about Groups of People
i) Stereotypes Overview
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(1) Table 7-2: Commonly Found Perceptual Errors describes five common
perceptual errors that influence our judgment about others. See
Slide 7-20
(2) Managers need to guard against the following perceptual errors:
(a) Halo: a rater forms an overall impression about an object and then
uses that impression to bias ratings about the object.
(b) Leniency: a personal characteristic that leads an individual to
consistently evaluate other people or objects in an extremely positive
fashion.
(c) Central tendency: the tendency to avoid all extreme judgments and
rate people and objects as average or neutral.
(d) Recency effects: the tendency to remember recent information.
(e) Contrast effects: the tendency to evaluate people or objects by
comparing them with characteristics of recently observed people or
objects.
ii) Stereotype Formation and Maintenance
(1) Stereotype: an individual’s set of beliefs about the characteristics or
attributes of a group. See Slide 7-16
(2) Stereotypes are not always negative and may or may not be accurate.
See Slide 7-17
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(3) Unfortunately stereotypes can lead to poor decisions; can create barriers
for women, older individuals, people of color, and people with disabilities;
and can undermine loyalty and job satisfaction.
(4) Four step process for stereotyping: See Slides 7-18, 7-19
(a) Categorizing people into groups according to various criteria.
(b) We infer that all people within a particular category possess the same
traits or characteristics.
(c) We form expectations of others and interpret their behavior according
to our stereotypes.
(d) Our stereotypes are maintained by: See Slide 7-19
(i) Overestimating the frequency of stereotypic behavior exhibited by
others.
(ii) Incorrectly explaining expected and unexpected behaviors.
(iii)Differentiating minority individuals from oneself.
(5) Research shows that the use of stereotypes is influenced by the amount
and type of information available to an individual and his or her motivation
to accurately process information.
(6) People are less apt to use stereotypes to judge others when they
encounter salient information that is highly inconsistent with a stereotype.
(7) People also are less likely to rely on stereotypes when they are motivated
to exert the mental effort to avoid using them.
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iii) Sex-Role Stereotypes
(1) Sex-role stereotype: beliefs about appropriate roles for men and women.
See Slide 7-21
(2) Research indicates that sex–role stereotypes may not influence the hiring
or the performance appraisal process, but gender was significantly related
to promotion potential ratings with men receiving more favorable
evaluations. See Slide 7-22
iv) Age Stereotypes
(1) Age stereotypes depict older employees as less satisfied, not as involved
with their work, and less motivated. See Slide 7-23
(2) Research suggests that these stereotypes are not accurate because as
age increases, so does job satisfaction, job involvement, internal work
motivation, and organizational commitment. See Slide 7-24
v) Racial and Ethnic Stereotypes See Slide 7-25
(1) Micro aggressions: biased thoughts, attitudes, and feelings that exist at
an unconscious level.
(2) Negative racial and ethnic stereotypes are still apparent in many aspects
of life and in many organizations.
(3) The Real World/Real People: Tiger Woods’s Experiences with Racial
Bias recounts some of the golfer’s experiences with racism.
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(4) One study found that black and white managers did not differentially
evaluate their employees based on race, but research also suggests a
same-race bias for Hispanics and blacks in the interview process.
(5) Stereotype threat: the predicament in which members of a social group
(e.g., African Americans, women) must deal with the possibility of being
judged or treated stereotypically, or of doing something that would confirm
the stereotype.
vi) Disability Stereotypes
(1) People with disabilities not only face negative stereotypes that affect their
employability, but they also can be stigmatized by the general population.
(2) People with disabilities are more likely to be unemployed and to make less
money than those without disabilities.
vii) Managerial Challenges and Recommendations See Slide 7-26
(1) Organizations need to educate their employees about the problem of
stereotyping through employee education and training.
(2) Organizations should seek to reduce stereotypes throughout the
organization by increasing the amount of quality contact among members
of different groups.
(3) Managers should identify valid individual differences that differentiate
between successful and unsuccessful performers and use these criteria.
(4) Managers should remove promotional barriers for men and women, for
people of color, and those with disabilities.
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(5) The Real World/Real People: Home Depot Participates in the Ken’s
Kids Program in Attempt to Hire People with Disabilities profiles how
one firm assists people with disabilities with obtaining meaningful work.
(6) It is important to obtain top management’s commitment and support to
eliminate the organizational practices that support or reinforce
stereotyping and discriminatory decisions.
III. Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: The Pygmalion Effect
i) Self-Fulfilling Prophecy Overview
(1) Self-fulfilling prophecy: someone’s high expectations for another person
result in high performance. See Slide 7-27
(2) Galatea effect: an individual’s high self-expectations lead to high
performance. See Slide 7-29
(3) The key process underlying both the Pygmalion and Galatea effects is the
idea that people’s expectations or beliefs determine their behavior and
performance, thus serving to make their expectations come true.
ii) Research and an Explanatory Model
(1) Raising instructors’ and managers’ expectations for individuals can
produce higher levels of achievement and productivity.
(2) Figure 7-2: A Model of the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy integrates the
concepts of the self-fulfilling prophecy, the Galatea effect, and self-efficacy
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and demonstrates how high manager expectations can lead to greater
performance. See Slide 7-28
(3) The self-fulfilling prophecy works in both positive and negative directions.
(4) Golem effect: loss in performance due to low leader expectations.
iii) Putting the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy to Work See Slides 7-30, 7-31
(1) Managerial expectations powerfully influence employee behavior and
performance.
(2) Managers need to harness the Pygmalion effect by building a hierarchical
framework that reinforces positive performance expectations throughout
the organization.
(3) Positive self-expectations are the foundation for creating an
organizationwide Pygmalion effect.
(4) Managers can create positive performance expectations when they:
recognize the potential to increase performance; set high performance
goals; positively reinforce employees; provide constructive feedback;
provide increasingly challenging tasks; communicate high expectations;
provide employees with what they need to achieve their goals; introduce
new employees as if they have outstanding potential; encourage
employees to stay focused; and help subordinates master key skills and
tasks.
IV. Causal Attributions
i) Causal Attribution Overview