Personality and Attitudes

Concept of Personality
• The term ‘Personality' has been
derived from the Latin term ‘Persona'
which means to 'speak through'.

• Therefore a very common meaning of
the term personality is the role which
the person (actor) displays to the
public.

A few definitions (4) of personality are as given as:

1. According to Gordon Allport:"Personality is the dynamic organization within
the individual of those psychological systems
that determine his unique adjustment to his
environment.
2. According to Floyd L. Ruch:"Personality includes external appearance and
behaviour, inner awareness of self as a
permanent organizing force and the particular
pattern or organization of measurable traits,
both inner and outer.
Jayant Isaac,Asso.Profesor –Mkt.,Sys.,&
HRM

3. According to Fred Luthans :"Personality means how a person affects others and
how he understands and views himself as well as the
pattern of inner and outer measurable traits and the
person-situation interaction.
4. According to Salvatore Maddi:"Personality is a stable set of characteristics and
tendencies that determine those commonalities and
differences in the psychological behaviour (thoughts,
feelings and actions) of people that have continuity
in time and that may not be easily understood as the
sole result of the social and biological pressures of
the moment.
HRM

Values & Attitudes in Personality

• Perception: A process by which people organize, interpret,
experience and process materials received from the external
environment.
• Values: Individual’s standards or ideas about what a person ,
object, event or activity ought to be .
• Attitudes: Individuals feelings about or inclinations towards
other persons ,objects , events or activities.

Values

Attitudes

Perception
Wrong

Right
Personality
HRM

1. Locus of Control : Individuals
who think that their own
actions and behaviors have an
impact in determining what
happens to them have an
internal locus of control.
• Individuals who believe that
outside forces are largely
responsible for their fate have
an external locus of control.
• Internals are more easily
motivated and need less direct
supervision than externals.
HRM

2. Self Esteem: Self-esteem is
the extent to which people
have pride in themselves and
their capabilities.
• Individuals
with
high
self-esteem believe in their
abilities and tend to set higher
goals and perform more
difficult
tasks,
whereas
individuals
with
low
self-esteem are full of
self doubt and apprehension.

• Still, people with low selfesteem may be just as capable
as those with high self-esteem.

HRM

Personality Development
•
•
•
•
•

Growth in personal nature.
Growth in personal character.
Physical and Psychological make-up.
Progress, evolution and maturing.
Disposition(character) and persona(role)

Personality development is a process and not a
result, therefore it is continuous……….
HRM

Theories of Personality Development
1. The Psychoanalytic Theory
2. Traits Theories
– A. Gordon Allport”s trait theory
• i. Cardinal traits
• ii. Central traits
• iii. Secondary traits

– B. Raymond Cattell‟s trait theory

3. Self–Theories
– A. Self Actualization
– B. The self-concept
• Self worth (or self-esteem)
• Self-image
• Ideal self

1. The Psychoanalytic Theory
• The Psychoanalytic Theory of personality has held the interest of
psychologists and psychiatrists for a long time.
• Sigmund Freud, its formulator, was quite an influence. It attends to
emphasizes three main issues i.e. the id, the ego and the superego.
Psychoanalysts say that all human personality is comprised of these
closely integrated functions.

• The id is considered as mostly biological or physical in
function -- unfettered, compelling and lacking morality,
selfish and intolerant of tension. It functions on the
principle of pleasure before anything else.
• The ego is the rationally functioning element of human
personality. It exerts conscious control, trying always to
be the mediator between the id and the superego.
Though the id seeks pleasure blindly, based on the
pleasure principle, the ego seeks pleasure using
rationality instead of irrationality. Its main quirk is
rationality, and is always conscious.
• The superego represents our moral system. It strives to
put a right or wrong tag on our behaviour, often
triggering conflict among the three divisions. Its main
quirk is morality. The SUPER- Ego is that aspect we
present to the "outside" -- it is our persona our celebrity.

2.Trait* theory
• Trait theory is the biggest area of research in
personality development. Trait theories are
therefore, primarily concerned with the
differences in people with regards to their
own set of personality traits.
• We all characterize the traits we see in people
all the time, for example we might say, "My
father is outgoing, fun-loving, and extremely
active for his age."
*Traits:- A distinguishing quality or characteristics

(A) Gordon Allport”s trait theory
• The psychologist Gordon Allport based his
three-tier theory of traits in 1936, when he
discovered over 4,000 listed personality traits.
Trait categories according to Gordon Allport:
• i. Cardinal traits
• ii. Central traits
• iii. Secondary traits

i. Cardinal traits
• Cardinal traits are very dominating traits that
characterize a person throughout life.
• Many times, people are known by these traits;
for example, we often hear people classified
as Nerd, bad-tempered, drama queen, and so
on.
• According to Gordon Allport, these cardinal
traits usually develop later on in life.

ii. Central traits
• Central traits are not as dominating, yet still
basic for most individuals.
• To illustrate we can say, a Nerd is a special
term often reserved for extremely bright
people; however, a central trait would be
intelligent and this trait is distributed more
evenly among people.
• Other central traits would include: honest,
shy, anxious, happy, resourceful, etc.

iii. Secondary traits
• Secondary traits are traits that appear as a
reaction to a situation; but, may not be overly
dominating the personality of the person
experiencing them.

• For example, a person may be impatient waiting
in a line, or waiting on someone to call, but that
same person may be very patient helping an
elderly individual, or helping a child with his or
her homework.

(B)Raymond Cattell‟s trait theory
• Trait theorist, psychologist, Raymond Cattell, reviewed
Allport‘s 4,000 trait list and reduced personality traits to
171.
• He eliminated most uncommon traits in favor of traits
commonly found among most humans. He utilized what is
known as a factor analysis and by combining traits with
striking similarities; he further reduced the number of traits
down to 16.
• He is known for his famous, Sixteen Personality Factor
Questionnaire (16PF) which is widely used as a personality
test worldwide.

16 personality dimensions described by Cattell.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.

Abstractedness: Imaginative versus practical
Apprehension: Worried versus confident
Dominance: Forceful versus submissive
Emotional Stability: Calm versus high strung
Liveliness: Spontaneous versus restrained
Openness to Change: Flexible versus attached to the familiar
Perfectionism: Controlled versus undisciplined
Privateness: Discreet versus open
Reasoning: Abstract versus concrete
Rule Consciousness: Conforming versus non-conforming
Self-Reliance: Self-sufficient versus dependent
Sensitivity: Tender-hearted versus tough-minded.
Social Boldness: Uninhibited versus shy
Tension: Impatient versus relaxed
Vigilance: Suspicious versus trusting
Warmth: Outgoing versus reserved

Self–Theories
• Carl Rogers was a humanistic psychologist agreed with
most of what Maslow believed, but added that for a
person to "grow", they need an environment that
provides them with genuineness (openness and selfdisclosure), acceptance (being seen with unconditional
positive regard), and empathy (being listened to and
understood).
• According to Rogers basic ingredients of personality:
– A. Self Actualization
– B. The self-concept
• Self worth (or self-esteem)
• Self-image
• Ideal self

A. Self Actualization
• Carl Rogers believed that humans have one basic
motive that is the tendency to self-actualize - i.e.
to fulfil one's potential and achieve the highest
level of 'human-being-ness' we can.

• Like a flower that will grow to its full potential if
the conditions are right, but which is
constrained by its environment, so people will
flourish and reach their potential if their
environment is good enough.

B. The self-concept
• Self-concept is defined as "the organized, consistent
set of perceptions and beliefs about oneself".
• The self is the humanistic term for who we really are as
a person. The self is influenced by the experiences a
person has in their life, and out interpretations of those
experiences.
• Two primary sources that influence our self-concept
are childhood experiences and evaluation by others.
The self-concept includes three components: Self
worth (or self-esteem) , Self-image , Ideal self

• Self worth (or self-esteem) – what we think about
ourselves. Rogers believed feelings of self-worth
developed in early childhood and were formed from the
interaction of the child with the mother and father.
• Self-image – How we see ourselves, which is important
to good psychological health. Self-image includes the
influence of our body image on inner personality. At a
simple level, we might perceive ourselves as a good or
bad person, beautiful or ugly. Self-image has an effect
on how a person thinks feels and behaves in the world.
• Ideal self – This is the person who we would like to be.
It consists of our goals and ambitions in life, and is
dynamic – i.e. forever changing. The ideal self in
childhood is not the ideal self in our teens or late
twenties etc.

Perception
• Perception is the process by which organisms
interpret and organize sensation to produce a
meaningful experience of the world.

• Sensation usually refers to the immediate, relatively
unprocessed result of stimulation of sensory
receptors in the eyes, ears, nose, tongue or skin.
• Perception, on the other hand, better describes one‘s
ultimate experience of the world and typically involves
further processing of sensory input.
• In practice, sensation and perception are virtually
impossible to separate, because they are part of one
continuous process.

Nature of perception
• The following ideas clarify the nature of
perception:
1. Perception is the process by which an
individual gives meaning to the environment.
2. People‘s actions, emotions, thoughts and
feelings are triggered by their perceptions of
their surroundings.
3. Perception is an almost automatic process
and works in the same way within each
individual.

ATTITUDE
• An attitude is a
– Mental stage of readiness
– Learned and organized through experience
– Exerting a specific influence on a person’s
response to people, objects, and situations
with which it is related.

• “A persistent* tendency to feel and
behave in a particular way toward some
object.”
HRM

*never-ceasing

COMPONENTS OF ATTITUDE
1.Attitudes are evaluative statements that are either favorable or
unfavorable concerning objects , people, or events.
2.Attitudes are not the same as values, but the two are
interrelated.
3. Three components of an attitude:
– Cognition(psychological feature)
– Affect
– Behavior
• The belief that “discrimination is wrong” is a value statement
and an example of the cognitive component of an attitude.
• If someone purposefully do discrimination it is an example of
the affect component of attitude.
• And if someone has the nature of discrimination it is an
example of the behavior component of attitude.
HRM

Factors in Attitude formation
1. Group Factors:
1. Family
2. Reference groups
3. Social Class

2.

Personality Factors

HRM

Attitudes relevant for OB
• As discussed earlier that people develop
attitude towards other persons, objects and
ideas.
• The important attitude towards the following
aspects related to the behavior of employees
in the organization are:
– Job Satisfaction
– Job involvement
– Organizational Commitment
HRM

JOB SATISFACTION
• Definition: It is an individual’s general attitude
toward his/her job.
• A high level of job satisfaction equals positive
attitudes toward the job and vice versa.
• Employee attitudes and job satisfaction are
frequently used interchangeably.

• Often when people speak of “employee attitudes”
they mean “employee job satisfaction.”
HRM

Job satisfaction
• Job satisfaction is the collection of feelings and beliefs
people have about their current jobs.
• In addition to attitudes about a job as a whole, people
can have attitudes about various aspects of their jobs,
such as the kind of work, co-workers, or pay.
• Job satisfaction is an important work attitude in
organizational behavior because it affects a wide range
of behaviors and contributes to workers’ well-being
HRM

Job Satisfaction and Employee Performance
• Satisfaction and Productivity
• Satisfaction and Absenteeism
• Satisfaction and Employee Turnover

HRM

Attitudes Associated with Job Satisfaction
• Job Satisfaction represents
several related attitudes.
–
–
–
–
–

The work itself
Pay
Promotion opportunities
Supervision
Coworkers

• Outcomes of Job Satisfaction
–
–
–
–

Satisfaction and Productivity
Satisfaction and Turnover
Satisfaction and Absenteeism
Satisfaction and Citizenship
Behavior
HRM

Job Satisfaction and Customer Satisfaction
1.Evidence indicates that satisfied
customer satisfaction and loyalty.

employees

increase

2.Customer retention and defection are highly dependent on
how front-line employees deal with customers. Satisfied
employees are more likely to be friendly, upbeat, and
responsive. Customers appreciate that.
3.Dissatisfied customers can also increase an employee’s
dissatisfaction. The more employees work with rude and
thoughtless customers, the more likely they are to be
dissatisfied.
HRM

Organizational Commitment
• Definition: A state in which an employee identifies
with a particular organization and its goals, and
wishes to maintain membership in the organization.
• Research evidence demonstrates relationships
between organizational commitment and both
absenteeism and turnover.
• An individual’s level of organizational commitment is a
better indicator of turnover than the far more
frequently used job satisfaction predictor because it is
a more global and enduring response to the
organization as a whole than is job satisfaction.
HRM

Personality and Attitudes

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