BUSI 240: QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS; LATEST UPDATED VERSION,
ALREADY GRADED A+
Describe the elements of self-concept and explain how each affects an individual's behavior and well-
being.
Self-concept includes an individual's self-beliefs and self-evaluations. It has three structural
characteristics—complexity, consistency, and clarity—all of which influence employee well-being,
behavior, and performance. People are inherently motivated to promote and protect their self-concept
(self-enhancement) and to verify and maintain their existing self-concept (self-verification). Self-
evaluation consists of self-esteem, self-efficacy, and locus of control. Self-concept also consists of both
personal identity and social identity. Social identity theory explains how people define themselves in
terms of the groups to which they belong or have an emotional attachment
Outline the perceptual process and discuss the effects of categorical thinking and mental models in
that process.
Perception involves selecting, organizing, and interpreting information to make sense of the world
around us. Perceptual organization applies categorical thinking—the mostly nonconscious process of
organizing people and objects into preconceived categories that are stored in our long-term memory.
Mental models—knowledge structures that we develop to describe, explain, and predict the world
around us—also help us make sense of incoming stimuli
Discuss how stereotyping, attribution, self-fulfilling prophecy, halo, false-consensus, primacy, and
recency effects influence the perceptual process.
Stereotyping occurs when people assign traits to others based on their membership in a social category.
This assignment economizes mental effort, fills in missing information, and enhances our self-concept,
but it also lays the foundation for prejudice and systemic discrimination. The attribution process involves
deciding whether an observed behavior or event is caused mainly by the person (internal factors) or the
environment (external factors). Attributions are decided by perceptions of the consistency,
distinctiveness, and consensus of the behavior. This process is subject to self-serving bias and
fundamental attribution error. A self-fulfilling prophecy occurs when our expectations about another
person cause that person to act in a way that is consistent with those expectations. This effect is
stronger when employees first join the work unit, when several people hold these expectations, and
when the employee has a history of low achievement. Four other perceptual errors commonly noted in
organizations are the halo effect, false consensus effect, primacy effect, and recency effect.
Discuss three ways to improve perceptions, with specific applications to organizational situations.
1. One way to minimize perceptual biases is to become more aware of their existence. Awareness of
these biases makes people more mindful of their thoughts and actions, but this training sometimes
reinforces rather than reduces reliance on stereotypes and tends to be ineffective for people with
deeply held prejudices.
2. A second strategy is to become more aware of biases in our own decisions and behavior. Self-
awareness increases through formal tests such as the implicit association text (IAT) and by applying the
Johari Window, which is a process in which others provide feedback to you about your behavior, and
, you offer disclosure to them about yourself.
3. The third strategy is meaningful interaction, which applies the contact hypothesis that people who
interact will be less prejudiced or perceptually biased toward one another. Meaningful interaction is
strongest when people work closely and frequently with relatively equal status on a shared meaningful
task that requires cooperation and reliance on one another. Meaningful interaction helps improve
empathy, which is a person's understanding and sensitivity to the feelings, thoughts, and situations of
others
Outline the main features of a global mindset and justify its usefulness to employees and
organizations.
A global mindset refers to an individual's ability to perceive, know about, and process information across
cultures. This includes (1) an awareness of, openness to, and respect for other views and practices in the
world; (2) the capacity to empathize and act effectively across cultures; (3) an ability to process complex
information about novel environments; and (4) the ability to comprehend and reconcile intercultural
matters with multiple levels of thinking. A global mindset enables people to develop better cross-
cultural relationships, to digest huge volumes of cross-cultural information, and to identify and respond
more quickly to emerging global opportunities. Employees develop a global mindset through self-
awareness, opportunities to compare their own mental models with people from other cultures, formal
cross-cultural training, and immersion in other cultures
attribution process
Def: The perceptual process of deciding whether an observed behavior or event is caused largely by
internal or external factors.
categorical thinking
Def: Organizing people and objects into preconceived categories that are stored in our long-term
memory.
confirmation bias
Def: The process of screening out information that is contrary to our values and assumptions and to
more readily accept confirming information.
contact hypothesis
Def: A theory stating that the more we interact with someone, the less prejudiced or perceptually biased
we will be against that person.
empathy
Def: A person's understanding of and sensitivity to the feelings, thoughts, and situations of others.
false consensus effect
Def: A perceptual error in which we overestimate the extent to which others have beliefs and
characteristics similar to our own.
fundamental attribution error
ALREADY GRADED A+
Describe the elements of self-concept and explain how each affects an individual's behavior and well-
being.
Self-concept includes an individual's self-beliefs and self-evaluations. It has three structural
characteristics—complexity, consistency, and clarity—all of which influence employee well-being,
behavior, and performance. People are inherently motivated to promote and protect their self-concept
(self-enhancement) and to verify and maintain their existing self-concept (self-verification). Self-
evaluation consists of self-esteem, self-efficacy, and locus of control. Self-concept also consists of both
personal identity and social identity. Social identity theory explains how people define themselves in
terms of the groups to which they belong or have an emotional attachment
Outline the perceptual process and discuss the effects of categorical thinking and mental models in
that process.
Perception involves selecting, organizing, and interpreting information to make sense of the world
around us. Perceptual organization applies categorical thinking—the mostly nonconscious process of
organizing people and objects into preconceived categories that are stored in our long-term memory.
Mental models—knowledge structures that we develop to describe, explain, and predict the world
around us—also help us make sense of incoming stimuli
Discuss how stereotyping, attribution, self-fulfilling prophecy, halo, false-consensus, primacy, and
recency effects influence the perceptual process.
Stereotyping occurs when people assign traits to others based on their membership in a social category.
This assignment economizes mental effort, fills in missing information, and enhances our self-concept,
but it also lays the foundation for prejudice and systemic discrimination. The attribution process involves
deciding whether an observed behavior or event is caused mainly by the person (internal factors) or the
environment (external factors). Attributions are decided by perceptions of the consistency,
distinctiveness, and consensus of the behavior. This process is subject to self-serving bias and
fundamental attribution error. A self-fulfilling prophecy occurs when our expectations about another
person cause that person to act in a way that is consistent with those expectations. This effect is
stronger when employees first join the work unit, when several people hold these expectations, and
when the employee has a history of low achievement. Four other perceptual errors commonly noted in
organizations are the halo effect, false consensus effect, primacy effect, and recency effect.
Discuss three ways to improve perceptions, with specific applications to organizational situations.
1. One way to minimize perceptual biases is to become more aware of their existence. Awareness of
these biases makes people more mindful of their thoughts and actions, but this training sometimes
reinforces rather than reduces reliance on stereotypes and tends to be ineffective for people with
deeply held prejudices.
2. A second strategy is to become more aware of biases in our own decisions and behavior. Self-
awareness increases through formal tests such as the implicit association text (IAT) and by applying the
Johari Window, which is a process in which others provide feedback to you about your behavior, and
, you offer disclosure to them about yourself.
3. The third strategy is meaningful interaction, which applies the contact hypothesis that people who
interact will be less prejudiced or perceptually biased toward one another. Meaningful interaction is
strongest when people work closely and frequently with relatively equal status on a shared meaningful
task that requires cooperation and reliance on one another. Meaningful interaction helps improve
empathy, which is a person's understanding and sensitivity to the feelings, thoughts, and situations of
others
Outline the main features of a global mindset and justify its usefulness to employees and
organizations.
A global mindset refers to an individual's ability to perceive, know about, and process information across
cultures. This includes (1) an awareness of, openness to, and respect for other views and practices in the
world; (2) the capacity to empathize and act effectively across cultures; (3) an ability to process complex
information about novel environments; and (4) the ability to comprehend and reconcile intercultural
matters with multiple levels of thinking. A global mindset enables people to develop better cross-
cultural relationships, to digest huge volumes of cross-cultural information, and to identify and respond
more quickly to emerging global opportunities. Employees develop a global mindset through self-
awareness, opportunities to compare their own mental models with people from other cultures, formal
cross-cultural training, and immersion in other cultures
attribution process
Def: The perceptual process of deciding whether an observed behavior or event is caused largely by
internal or external factors.
categorical thinking
Def: Organizing people and objects into preconceived categories that are stored in our long-term
memory.
confirmation bias
Def: The process of screening out information that is contrary to our values and assumptions and to
more readily accept confirming information.
contact hypothesis
Def: A theory stating that the more we interact with someone, the less prejudiced or perceptually biased
we will be against that person.
empathy
Def: A person's understanding of and sensitivity to the feelings, thoughts, and situations of others.
false consensus effect
Def: A perceptual error in which we overestimate the extent to which others have beliefs and
characteristics similar to our own.
fundamental attribution error
