Deck 3: Perceiving Ourselves and Others in Organizations

Question 1

Michael is a professor who is quick to mention this when he first meets other people.He also tends to perceive himself and other professors in a more favourable way than non-professorial staff.Which concept best explains Michael perceptual process?

A) Attribution theory
B) Social identity theory
C) Self-delusion
D) Self-promotion
E) Extroversion

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Compared with those who have a low self-esteem,employees with a high self-esteem:

A) tend to be better conversationalists
B) have difficulty controlling their temper
C) have more of an external locus of control
D) are less influenced by others.
E) tend to be better conversationalists and have more of an external locus of control

Answer 2

D

Question 3

In most work situations,employees perform better when they have:

A) a more internal locus of control
B) a strong external locus of control
C) no locus of control
D) a weak internal locus of control
E) None of the answers apply.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Social identity theory says that:

A) we define ourselves in terms of our membership in certain groups and our differences with people who belong to other groups.
B) we tend to believe our own actions are caused by motivation or ability rather than the situation.
C) our expectations about another person cause that person to act in a way that is consistent with those expectations.
D) we quickly form an opinion of people based on the first information we receive about them.
E) our emotions screen out large blocks of information that threaten our beliefs and values.

Question 5

According to the authors,the motivation to promote and protect a self-view of being competent,attractive,lucky,ethical,valued,and so forth is called

A) Self-enhancement
B) Self-glorification
C) Narcissism
D) Self-esteem
E) Self-efficacy

Question 6

_____________ refers to an individual's self-beliefs and self-evaluations.

A) Self-concept
B) Self-verification
C) Self-implication
D) Self-adulation
E) Self-efficacy

Question 7

Which of these statements about self-enhancement is FALSE?

A) People tend to rate themselves above average.
B) People tend to recall positive feedback while forgetting negative feedback.
C) We tend to attribute out successes to personal motivation or ability.
D) We blame the situation for our mistakes.
E) We empathize with others when they experience failure.

Question 8

Which of the following is a fundamental component of self-concept and represents a global self-evaluation?

A) Self-efficacy
B) Self-enhancement
C) Self-verification
D) Self-involvement
E) Self-esteem

Question 9

The social identity theory attempts to explain

A) how we compare ourselves with people who do not belong in our groups.
B) why we homogenize others by believing people within a group share common traits.
C) how we defining ourselves in terms of the groups in which we can be identified.
D) All of the answers are correct.
E) how we compare ourselves with people who do not belong in our groups and defining ourselves in terms of the groups in which we can be identified.

Question 10

The process of receiving information about and making sense of the world around us is called:

A) perception.
B) projection.
C) social learning.
D) social identity.
E) personal identity.

Question 11

Which of the following is NOT one of the organizational behaviour implications of self-verification mentioned in your text?

A) Employees are more likely to remember information that is consistent with their self-concept.
B) Employees are motivated to interact with others who affirm their self-concept.
C) The more confident employees are in their self-concept, the less they will accept positive or negative feedback.
D) Supervisors should avoid giving feedback that is inconsistent with their employees' self-concepts.
E) All the above are correct.

Question 12

When Green Corp.recently acquired Orange Corp.,employees in each company began to privately complain about the behaviour and performance of employees at the other organization.For example,Orange employees would claim that Green employees lacked customer service skills,whereas Green employees claimed that they were more responsive to customer needs.Employees would also label each other by their former colour ('She's a Greenie').This incident mainly describes which of the following concepts?

A) Social identity theory
B) Self-enhancement
C) Corporate identification theory
D) Disagreeableness trait
E) None of the above

Question 13

People function better when their ____________ has many elements that are compatible with each other and relatively clear.

A) Self-concept
B) Self-verification
C) Self-implication
D) Self-esteem
E) Self-efficacy

Question 14

According to the perceptual process model,what happens immediately after environmental stimuli are received by our senses?

A) We organize the information into categories.
B) We form an attitude towards the source of the information.
C) We engage in behaviours in response to the environmental stimuli.
D) We filter the information through the selective attention process.
E) We form attributions and other interpretations of the information.

Question 15

According to social identity theory,people tend to:

A) perceive themselves as members of several groups.
B) perceive that their own actions are due to the situation, whereas the behaviours of other people are mainly due to their motivation and ability.
C) believe that people in their own groups share common traits and people in comparison groups share a different set of traits.
D) All of the answers are correct.
E) perceive themselves as members of several groups and believe that people in their own groups share common traits and people in comparison groups share a different set of traits.

Question 16

Employees who feel that they are very much in charge of their own destiny have:

A) a self-monitoring personality
B) an agreeableness personality
C) an internal locus of control personality
D) an emotionally unstable personality
E) All of the answers are correct.

Question 17

In what way does self-verification differ from self-enhancement?

A) It differs because we prefer feedback that is consistent with our self concept even when that feedback is unflattering.
B) Self-verification is used only to enhance our self-concept.
C) Self-verification is a process which suppresses counterproductive behaviour.
D) Self verification helps us find ways to justify our actions.
E) It does not allow for self-improvement

Question 18

A person's belief that he or she has the ability,motivation,correct role perceptions,and favourable situation to complete a task successfully is called:

A) self-control.
B) locus of control.
C) self-efficacy.
D) self-concept.
E) self-identity.

Question 19

Selective attention and environmental stimuli are two components of:

A) attribution theory.
B) the perceptual process.
C) the Johari Window.
D) the 'Big Five' personality dimensions.
E) the self-fulfilling prophecy model.

Question 20

A perception of one's competence to perform across a variety of situations indicates:

A) an external locus of control.
B) a high level of introversion.
C) an advanced personality deficiency.
D) a high level of self-efficacy.
E) an internal locus of control.

Question 21

Stereotyping is based on which of the following?

A) Social identity theory
B) Self-fulfilling prophecy
C) Selective attention
D) Attribution
E) None of the answers apply.

Question 22

The process of assigning traits to people based on their membership in a social category refers to:

A) recency effect.
B) halo effect.
C) projection bias.
D) empathy.
E) stereotyping.

Question 23

One way employees can break out of their existing mental models is by:

A) changing jobs on a regular basis.
B) being mindful of their tendencies.
C) engaging in more sense making.
D) working with people from diverse backgrounds.
E) reduce categorical thinking.

Question 24

How do values and attitudes affect the selective attention process?

A) Values and attitudes don't affect how people deal with information at all.
B) People tend to only absorb information that is unrelated to their values and attitudes.
C) People pay attention to information that is consistent with their values and attitudes.
D) People pay attention to information that conflicts with their values and attitudes.
E) People pay attention to information only when it describes things for which they have no values or attitudes.

Question 25

Which of the following statements about stereotyping is FALSE?

A) People can improve the perceptual process by preventing the activation of stereotypes.
B) Stereotyping causes us to ignore or misinterpret behaviours that are inconsistent with the stereotype we assign to a person.
C) Stereotypes do not accurately describe everyone assigned to that stereotype.
D) Stereotypes generally have some inaccuracies.
E) Stereotyping can potentially become the foundation for prejudice.

Question 26

Mental models are _____________ that guide perceptions and behaviour.

A) stereotypes
B) forms of punishment
C) self-fulfilling prophecies
D) internal representations of the external world
E) action learning practices

Question 27

Our likelihood of noticing a person or object depends on its:

A) novelty.
B) intensity.
C) motion.
D) size.
E) All of the answers are correct.

Question 28

Categorical thinking and related perceptual organization activities:

A) occur very quickly and mostly unconsciously.
B) are usually avoidable when you are aware of them.
C) tend to occur after you have a moment to think carefully about the information received.
D) are mostly unconscious and occur slowly over several days.
E) do not occur in most people.

Question 29

Which of the following is NOT one of the characteristics of the person or object that influences selective attention?

A) Intensity
B) Novelty
C) Motion
D) Size
E) Color

Question 30

_____________ is a mostly unconscious process of organizing people and objects into preconceived groups stored in memory.

A) Selective attention
B) Halo effect
C) Attribution
D) Categorical thinking
E) Projection

Question 31

___________ is the process of filtering information received by our senses.

A) Personal identity
B) Social learning
C) Projection
D) Stereotyping
E) Selective attention

Question 32

Screening out information that is contrary to our values and assumptions is called:

A) confirmation bias
B) selective attention
C) screening bias
D) value-affirmation
E) None of the above is correct

Question 33

Mental models cause us to:

A) perceive events as though people are acting on a theatrical stage.
B) select and organize stimuli in ways that are consistent with our broad world views.
C) believe the behaviour of others is caused more by their ability or motivation than the situation.
D) perceive ourselves as members of several groups that are different from people in other groups.
E) change our personality whenever we develop new mental models.

Question 34

Which of the following is an example of selective attention?

A) You notice that two employees are arguing in the company's quiet library.
B) You conclude that the person near the cash register is a sales clerk.
C) You assume that an employee is lazy because she works in a department with lazy people.
D) All of the answers are correct.
E) None of the answers apply.

Question 35

Social identity theory helps us to explain:

A) the attribution process.
B) stereotyping.
C) recency effect.
D) the 'Big Five' personality dimensions.
E) locus of control.

Question 36

Mental models are mainly related to:

A) Perceptual organization and interpretation.
B) Learning orientation.
C) Attribution.
D) Self-fulfilling prophecy.
E) Selective attention.

Question 37

Which of the following is NOT directly an example of categorical thinking?

A) You see someone standing near a group of similar-looking people and assume that person is associated with the group.
B) You notice three weeks of weaker sales and conclude that sales will continue to weaken.
C) You pay more attention to the most recent information received.
D) You learn that another student in your project team comes from a country which is stereotypically viewed as hard-working, so you believe that this student is also hard-working.
E) A basketball player has scored more than usual over the past three games, so you conclude that the player is on a winning streak.

Question 38

The process of stereotyping includes:

A) identifying with people who belong to the groups that you don't belong to.
B) believing that other people have the same beliefs and behaviours that you have.
C) determining whether a person's behaviour is due either to his or her motivation or factors beyond his or her control.
D) assigning the cluster of traits from a social category to a person identified with that social category.
E) All of the answers are correct.

Question 39

Companies can try to break out of their existing mental models by:

A) promoting people within the organization.
B) giving every employee the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test.
C) engaging in external attribution.
D) engaging in selective attention.
E) hiring people with diverse backgrounds and from other industries.

Question 40

George believes that women have difficulty coping with the stress of executive decisions.Sally is promoted into a senior management position and George soon complains that Sally won't be able to cope with this job.George is exhibiting which of the following perceptual errors?

A) Attribution error
B) Stereotyping
C) Projection bias
D) Halo effect
E) Recency effect

Question 41

Jim has just arrived late for work.This is the third time over the past five days that he has arrived more than 30 minutes late.However,you conclude that Jim's lateness is due to factors beyond his control because most other employees who also take Jim's route to work have also been late to work on these days.According to attribution theory,what attribution have you made of Jim's lateness and based on what attribution rule?

A) Internal attribution due to high conscientiousness.
B) External attribution due to high consistency.
C) Internal attribution due to high distinctiveness.
D) External attribution due to high conscientiousness.
E) External attribution due to high consensus.

Question 42

In attribution theory,the question "Does the person act this way in other settings?" relates directly to:

A) self-confidence.
B) distinctiveness
C) consistency
D) external attribution
E) consensus

Question 43

Prejudice and discrimination are most closely tied to which of these concepts?

A) Halo effect
B) Locus of control
C) Attribution theory
D) Self-fulfilling prophecy
E) Stereotyping

Question 44

___________ is the tendency to attribute our favourable outcomes to internal factors and our failures to external factors.

A) Fundamental attribution error
B) Halo effect
C) Self-serving bias
D) Stereotyping
E) Self-fulfilling prophecy

Question 45

Consistency,consensus and distinctiveness are:

A) three elements of behaviour modification.
B) three elements of the selective attention process.
C) the three rules determining whether to make an internal or external attribution.
D) three of the four quadrants in the Johari Window.
E) the main causes of self-fulfilling prophecy.

Question 46

Which of these is NOT a step in the self-fulfilling prophecy process?

A) Supervisor forms expectations about employee.
B) Supervisor forms an impression based on the most recent information about the employee.
C) Expectations affect supervisor's behaviour toward employee.
D) Supervisor's behaviour affects employee's abilities and self-confidence.
E) Employee's behaviour becomes consistent with supervisor's expectations.

Question 47

Which of the following statements about prejudice and discrimination is FALSE?

A) There are still examples of prejudice in Canadian organizations.
B) Prejudice may lead to employment discrimination.
C) Prejudice arises from deeply held stereotypes.
D) Prejudice refers to unfounded negative emotions that we hold towards people belonging to a particular group.
E) Removing prejudice has the effect of removing all discrimination in the workplace.

Question 48

Which of the following perceptual activities involves making inferences about the causes of a person's actions?

A) Attribution
B) Stereotyping
C) Projection
D) Selective attention
E) Self-fulfilling prophecy

Question 49

The greatest concern about stereotyping is that it can lead to:

A) prejudice.
B) unbiased opinions.
C) just behaviour.
D) limited mental modelling.
E) none of the above.

Question 50

How might self-serving bias be observed in a corporate annual report?

A) The report would say more about the company's problems and less about its successes.
B) The report would emphasise the role of competition, inflationary pressures and other external causes of problems in the organization's performance.
C) The report would exclude any bad news about the organization's performance.
D) The report would acknowledge that competition, the economy and other external factors should be credited for some of the company's recent success.
E) The report would acknowledge some of management's mistakes, but suggest that management in other companies have been making the same mistakes.

Question 51

The concept of prejudice is most closely related to:

A) behaviour modification.
B) stereotyping.
C) Johari Window.
D) attribution process.
E) social learning theory.

Question 52

The tendency to attribute the behaviour of other people to internal factors rather than external factors refers to:

A) recency bias.
B) projection bias.
C) fundamental attribution error.
D) primacy effect.
E) self-serving bias.

Question 53

If John takes credit for work that he completes on time,but blames his co-workers for his delays,he is exhibiting:

A) fundamental attribution error.
B) primacy effect.
C) self-fulfilling prophecy.
D) self-serving bias.
E) projection bias.

Question 54

According to the fundamental attribution error:

A) people seldom make attributions about their own behaviour.
B) the likelihood of making an error attributing the behaviour of another person increases with your familiarity of that other person.
C) we tend to believe that other people have the same beliefs and behaviours that we have.
D) we tend to believe the behaviour of other people is caused more by their motivation and ability than by factors beyond their control.
E) we tend to believe that colleagues perform their jobs better than we perform our job.

Question 55

Which of these questions is directly considered when making attributions?

A) Has the employee ever shown his or her true emotions in the workplace?
B) How often does the employee interact with people from different backgrounds?
C) How often did the employee act this way in the past?
D) All of the answers are correct.
E) None of the answers apply.

Question 56

Self-serving bias is associated with which perceptual process?

A) Attribution theory
B) Halo effect
C) Social identity theory
D) Stereotyping
E) Self-fulfilling prophecy

Question 57

Which process involves deciding whether an observed behaviour or event is largely caused by internal or external factors?

A) Attribution
B) Social identity
C) Selective attention
D) Personality
E) Self-fulfilling prophecy

Question 58

Suppose that Jamie,your supervisor,makes a fundamental attribution error when evaluating your job performance.Which of the following is most likely to occur?

A) Jamie would tend to give you a lower appraisal rating because she thinks your good performance is due mainly to her effective leadership over you.
B) Jamie will tend to rate you high or low on all performance dimensions based mainly on her overall impression of you.
C) Jamie would tend to give you a higher appraisal rating because she thinks your performance is due to ability and motivation rather than external conditions (such as helpful colleagues).
D) Jamie will likely rate you based on her initial impression of your potential ability.
E) Performance evaluation decisions are unaffected by attribution errors.

Question 59

Several errors were reported by customers who submitted their film for processing.Jasmine,who owns these stores,discovered that the errors seemed to occur when a particular new employee operated the film-processing machine.The new employee claimed that the machine wasn't working properly,so Jasmine investigated further.She learned that these processing errors did not occur while other people operated the machine.Also,when the new employee worked one day at another store,the same film-processing errors occurred.What perception will Jasmine likely develop from this information?

A) Jasmine will likely make an internal attribution about the new employee's performance.
B) Jasmine will likely make a self-fulfilling prophecy error.
C) Jasmine will likely engage in action learning.
D) Jasmine is less likely to engage in self-serving bias.
E) Jasmine will likely make an external attribution about the new employee's performance.

Question 60

Which of the following is an element determining whether to make an internal or external attribution?

A) Similarity
B) Consensus
C) Conscientiousness
D) Consciousness
E) None of the above

Question 61

Halo effect is more likely to occur when:

A) we know the target person and have a good opportunity to measure his or her job performance.
B) we have low expectations of the target person.
C) we have a high level of learning orientation.
D) we are very good at delaying the formation of first impressions.
E) we lack concrete information about the target person and we are not motivated to search for it.

Question 62

Which of these popular sayings best reflects the primacy effect?

A) Birds of a feather flock together.
B) First impressions are lasting impressions.
C) It takes one to know one.
D) If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
E) You can't tell a book by its cover.

Question 63

When supervisors create a positive self-fulfilling prophecy,they tend to change employee behaviour by:

A) showing more emotional support to the employee through non-verbal cues.
B) providing more frequent and valuable feedback and reinforcement.
C) assigning more challenging goals to the employee.
D) All of the answers are correct.
E) providing more frequent and valuable feedback and reinforcement and assigning more challenging goals to the employee.

Question 64

Someone who is new to the job and has a low sense of achievement is:

A) less likely to engage in stereotyping.
B) more likely to engage in fundamental attribution error.
C) more likely to have a strong learning orientation.
D) more vulnerable to the supervisor's self-fulfilling prophecies of that employee.
E) more likely to engage in behaviour modification.

Question 65

A perceptual error in which we tend to believe that other people hold the same beliefs and attitudes that we do refers to:

A) self-serving bias.
B) recency effect.
C) false-consensus effect.
D) self-fulfilling prophecy.
E) personal identity.

Question 66

All of the following are perceptual errors in organizational settings EXCEPT:

A) primacy.
B) recency.
C) halo.
D) false consensus effect.
E) self-delusion.

Question 67

Engaging in self-fulfilling prophecy can improve organizational effectiveness:

A) never; self-fulfilling prophecy is a perceptual bias that always makes organizations less effective.
B) whenever and wherever it exists in organizational settings.
C) when supervisors demonstrate their hope and optimism in each employee's potential.
D) when supervisors also use stereotyping to determine the employee's potential performance.
E) only when supervisors have a self-serving bias.

Question 68

Which of the following is the first step in self-fulfilling prophecy?

A) Employee behaves in a way consistent with the supervisor's expectations.
B) Supervisor treats the employee in a manner consistent with the supervisor's expectations.
C) Supervisor forms an incorrect impression of the employee.
D) Supervisor attributes employee's good performance to external causes.
E) Employee demonstrates his or her true abilities to the supervisor.

Question 69

What perceptual error occurs when a supervisor incorrectly rates an employee at a similar level across all performance dimensions based on an overall impression of that employee?

A) Attribution error
B) Stereotyping
C) Projection bias
D) Halo effect
E) Recency effect

Question 70

A supervisor's negative self-fulfilling prophecy of an employee is more likely to influence that employee's behaviour and performance when:

A) the employee has a history of low achievement.
B) the employee has been working in that job for at least one year.
C) the employee's co-workers have confidence in the employee's potential.
D) All of the answers are correct.
E) the employee has a history of low achievement and the employee has been working in that job for at least one year.

Question 71

___________ occurs when our general impression of a person,usually based on one prominent characteristic,colors our perception of other characteristics of that person.

A) Projection bias
B) Halo effect
C) Selective attention
D) Self-serving bias
E) Stereotyping

Question 72

What is the last step in the self-fulfilling prophecy cycle?

A) The employee's behaviour becomes a source of disappointment for the supervisor.
B) The employee's behaviour becomes inconsistent with the supervisor's expectations.
C) The supervisor's unrealistic expectations cannot be achieved by the employee.
D) The employee's behaviour becomes consistent with the supervisor's expectations.
E) The supervisor's unrealistic expectations results in performance failure by the employee.

Question 73

The recency effect is more common when:

A) making an evaluation involving complex information.
B) the decision maker has considerable experience in that situation.
C) the decision maker believes most employees are above average.
D) evaluating someone who is easily identified with a visible demographic group.
E) the decision maker has a strong learning orientation.

Question 74

Halo effect occurs when:

A) we give more emotional support through non-verbal cues to the target person.
B) we provide more frequent and valuable feedback to the target person.
C) we assign more challenging goals to the target person.
D) we evaluate specific features of the target person based on a general impression of that person.
E) All of the answers are correct.

Question 75

The philosophy of positive organizational behaviour states that:

A) employees are more effective when they experience extinction more than other contingencies of reinforcement.
B) employees are, by nature, good rather than bad in terms of their ethics and care for others in the world.
C) focusing on the positive rather than negative aspects of life will improve organizational success and individual well-being.
D) organizational behaviour knowledge offers more positive than negative information about how to survive in organizations.
E) employees process more quickly positive rather than negative information.

Question 76

The statement "First impressions are lasting impressions" is represented by:

A) primacy effect.
B) self-fulfilling prophecy.
C) projection bias.
D) recency effect.
E) extroversion.

Question 77

Sue habitually talks badly about her supervisors.Whenever colleagues warn that she should refrain from expressing such negative opinions,Sue replies that 'everyone believes the same thing about the supervisor'.Which perceptual error does Sue seem to be experiencing?

A) Fundamental attribution error
B) False-consensus effect
C) Self-fulfilling prophecy
D) Halo effect
E) None of the answers apply.

Question 78

Organizations can encourage positive self-fulfilling prophecy by:

A) training supervisors to ignore new employees who will clearly fail to perform the job well.
B) training supervisors and team leaders to increase employee self-confidence.
C) developing a culture of support and learning.
D) All of the answers are correct.
E) training supervisors and team leaders to increase employee self-confidence and developing a culture of support and learning.

Question 79

Which of the following explains what happens when supervisors develop a high-expectancy self-fulfilling prophecy of a new employee's job performance?

A) They don't act any differently than supervisors with low expectancies.
B) They make it more difficult for the high-expectancy employee to perform well.
C) They let the high-expectancy employee achieve a natural performance level without interference.
D) They are more likely to engage in primacy and recency effect biases.
E) None of the answers apply.

Question 80

If you form a general negative impression of a person based on one prominent characteristic,and it colours your perception of other characteristics of that person,it is called:

A) Projection bias
B) The halo effect
C) Selective attention
D) Self-serving bias
E) Stereotyping