Perception The process of receivinginformation about and making sense of the world around us.

Selective attention The process of attending to some information received by our senses and ignoring other information. Categorical thinking Organizing people and objects into preconceived categories that are stored in our longterm memory. Mental models Visual or relational images in our mind that represent the external world. Social Identity and Stereotyping In the previous chapter, you learned that social identity is an important component of a persons self-concept. We define ourselves to a large extent by the groups to which we belong or have an emotional attachment. Along with shaping our self-concept, social identity theory explains the dynamics of social perception how we perceive others. 14 Social perception is influenced by three activities in the process of forming and maintaining our social identity: categorization, homogenization, and differentiation. Categorization. Social identity is a comparative process, and the comparison begins by categorizing people into distinct groups. By viewing someone (including yourself) as a Texan, for example, you remove that persons individuality and, instead, see him or her as a prototypical representative of the group Texans. This categorization then allows you to distinguish Texans from people who live in, say, California or New Hampshire. Homogenization. To simplify the comparison process, we tend to think that people within each group are very similar to each other. For instance, we think Texans collectively have similar attitudes and characteristics, whereas Californians collectively have their own set of characteristics. Of course, every individual is unique, but we tend to lose sight of this fact when thinking about our social identity and how we compare to people in other social groups. Differentiation. Social identity fulfills our inherent need to have a distinct and positive self-concept. To achieve this, we do more than categorize people and homogenize them; we also differentiate groups by assigning more favorable characteristics to people in our groups than to people in other groups. This differentiation is often subtle, but it can escalate into a good-guybad-guy contrast when groups are in conflict with each other. stereotyping The process of assigning traits to people on the basis of their membership in a social category.

Attribution process The perceptual process of deciding whether an observed behavior or event is caused largely by internal or external factors. Atrribution errors Fundamental attribution error The tendency to see the person rather than the situation as the main cause of that persons behavior. Self-serving bias The tendency to attribute our favorable outcomes to internal factors and our failures to external factors.

Self-fulfilling prophecy The perceptual process in which our expectations about another person cause that person to act in a way that is consistent with those expectations Positive organizational behavior A perspective of organizational behavior that focuses on building positive qualities and traits within individuals or institutions as opposed to focusing on what is wrong with them. Other Perceptual Errors Halo effect A perceptual error whereby our general impression of a person, usually based on one prominent characteristic, colors our perception of other characteristics of that person. Primacy effect A perceptual error in which we quickly form an opinion of people on the basis of the first information we receive about them Recency effect A perceptual error in which the most recent information dominates our perception of others. False-consensus effect A perceptual error in which we overestimate the extent to which others have beliefs and characteristics similar to our own.

Johari Window A model of mutual understanding that encourages disclosure and feedback to increase our own open area and reduce the blind, hidden, and unknown areas. Contact hypothesis A theory stating that the more we interact with someone, the less prejudiced or perceptually biased we will be against that person. Empathy A persons understanding of and sensitivity to the feelings, thoughts, and situations of others. Learning A relatively permanent change in behavior (or behavioral tendency) that occurs as a result of a persons interaction with the environment.

Tacit knowledge Knowledge that is embedded in our actions and ways of thinking and is transmitted only through observation and experience. Behavior modification A theory that explains learning in terms of the antecedents and consequences of behavior. Antecedents are events preceding the behavior, informing employees that certain behaviors will have particular consequences. Contingencies of Reinforcement Behavior modification identifies four types of consequences, called the contingencies of reinforcement, that increase, maintain, or reduce the probability that behavior will be repeated. Positive reinforcement occurs when the introduction of a consequence increases or maintains the frequency or future probability of a specific behavior. Receiving a bonus after successfully completing an important project is considered positive reinforcement because it typically increases the probability that you will use that behavior in the future. Punishment occurs when a consequence decreases the frequency or future probability of a behavior. This consequence typically involves introducing something that mployees try to avoid. For instance, most of us would consider being demoted or being ostracized by our co-workers as forms of punishment. Negative reinforcement occurs when the removal or avoidance of a consequence increases or maintains the frequency or future probability of a specific behavior. Supervisors apply negative reinforcement when they stop criticizing employees whose substandard performance has improved. When the criticism is withheld, employees are more likely to repeat behaviors that improved their performance. Notice that negative reinforcement is not punishment. Whereas punishment extinguishes behavior by introducing a negative consequence, negative reinforcement actually reinforces behavior by removing the negative consequence. Extinction occurs when the target behavior decreases because no consequence follows it. In this respect, extinction is a do-nothing strategy. Generally, behavior that is no longer reinforced tends to disappear; it becomes extinct. For instance, research suggests that performance tends to decline when managers stop congratulating mployees for their good work. Social learning theory A theory stating that much learning occurs by observing others and then modeling the behaviors that lead to favorable outcomes and avoiding behaviors that lead to punishing consequences. Behavior modeling. People learn by observing the behaviors of a role model on a critical task, remembering the important elements of the observed behaviors, and then practicing those behaviors.

Learning behavior consequences. People learn the consequences of behavior through logic and observation, not just through direct experience. self-reinforcement Reinforcement that occurs when an employee has control over a reinforcer but doesnt take it until completing a self -set goal.

Learning orientation An individual attitude and organizational culture in which people welcome new learning opportunities, actively experiment with new ideas and practices, view reasonable mistakes as a natural part of the learning process, and continuously question past practices. From Individual to Organizational Learning Knowledge acquisition. This includes extracting information and ideas from the external environment as well as through insight. Knowledge sharing. This aspect of organizational learning involves distributing knowledge to others across the organization. Knowledge use. The competitive advantage of knowledge comes from applying it in ways that add value to the organization and its stakeholders.