Personality, Perception

Personality and Perception

Personality

Definition and Overview: Personality is derived from the Greek word “persona,” meaning “to speak through.” It represents the combination of characteristics or qualities that form a person's unique identity, essentially the role one plays in public. Personality is a major determinant of behavior, influencing how individuals think, feel, and act.

Influences on Personality: Personality traits are influenced by two major factors:

• Inherited Characteristics:
  • Traits inherited from parents or ancestors.
  • Examples: Eye color, race, shape of the nose, shape of earlobes.
• Learned Characteristics:
  • Traits acquired through observation, practice, and learning from surroundings.
  • Examples: Perception, values, attitude, personality patterns.

Major Personality Traits: Psychologists have identified five major personality traits that categorize individuals:

• Extroversion: Outgoing and social behavior.
• Neuroticism: Tendency towards emotional instability.
• Openness: Openness to experience and new ideas.
• Agreeableness: Cooperative and compassionate behavior.
• Conscientiousness: High levels of thoughtfulness, organization, and dependability.

Major Personality Attributes Influencing Organizational Behavior:

• Locus of Control:
  • Internals: Believe they control their own fate; seek information, take initiative, and excel in complex tasks.
  • Externals: Believe their lives are controlled by external forces; follow instructions and do well in structured tasks.
• Machiavellianism:
  • Practical, emotionally distant, and manipulative.
  • High-Machs prefer direct interactions, are persuasive, and focus on outcomes rather than emotions.
• Self-Esteem:
  • High self-esteem: Confidence in abilities, more likely to take on challenges.
  • Low self-esteem: Seek approval from others, susceptible to external influences.
• Self-Monitoring:
  • High self-monitoring: Adapt behavior to social situations, can present different personas.
  • Low self-monitoring: Consistent behavior across situations, straightforward.
• Risk Taking:
  • Affects decision-making processes and willingness to embrace uncertainty.
  • Important to align risk-taking propensity with job demands.

Perception

Definition: Perception is the intellectual process of transforming sensory stimuli into meaningful information. It involves interpreting what we see or hear to judge and respond to situations, people, and groups.

Types of Perception:

• Of Sound: Identifying vibrations as sound.
• Of Speech: Understanding and interpreting language sounds.
• Touch: Identifying objects through tactile sensations.
• Taste: Identifying flavors through taste buds.
• Other Senses: Perception through body sensations like balance, pain, time, etc.
• Of the Social World: Understanding people and groups in social contexts.

Perceptual Process: The stages of perception include:

• Receiving:
  • Collecting information through sense organs.
  • The initial stage of perception.
• Selecting:
  • Selectively focusing on certain information based on interests or needs.
  • Influenced by external factors (intensity, size, contrast, movement, etc.) and internal factors (psychological needs, experience, interest, etc.).
• Organizing:
  • Arranging the selected information in a coherent manner.
  • Organizing methods include grouping by similarity, establishing figure-ground relationships, and maintaining perceptual constancy.
• Interpreting:
  • Assigning meaning to the organized information.
  • Interpretation involves categorizing information and can include stereotyping and the halo effect.

Importance of Perception in Organizational Behavior:

• Understanding Tasks:
  • Perception helps employees understand their roles and tasks clearly.
• Associated Importance:
  • Recognizing the significance of tasks assigned.
• Preferred Behavior:
  • Understanding the expected behavior to complete tasks.
• Clarifying Role Perceptions:
  • Ensures each member in a group is clear about their responsibilities (e.g., programmer writes code, tester checks it).

By comprehending personality and perception, organizations can better understand individual behaviors and improve overall performance, efficiency, and satisfaction.