Chapter 4 Personality and Emotions
SHORT DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
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| SHORT DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
131. List and describe the three determinants of personality. (Pages 94-95) Personality is determined by heredity, environment, and the situation. Heredity refers to those factors that were determined at conception. The heredity approach argues that the ultimate explanation of an individual’s personality is the molecular structure of the genes, located in the chromosomes. Among the factors that exert pressures on our personality formation are the culture in which we are raised; our early conditioning; the norms among our family, friends, and social groups; and other influences that we experience. These environmental factors play a substantial role in shaping our personalities. The situation influences the effects of heredity and environment on personality. An individual’s personality, although generally stable and consistent, does change in different situations. The different demands of different situations call forth different aspects of one’s personality. 132. Identify the five key traits in the Big Five personality model. (Page 97) The five key traits in the Big Five personality model are extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness to experience. Extroversion captures one’s comfort level with relationships. Agreeableness refers to an individual’s propensity to defer to others. Conscientiousness is a measure of reliability. Emotional stability taps a person’s ability to withstand stress. Openness to experience addresses one’s range of interests and fascination with novelty. 133. What is locus of control? What is the difference between an internal and external locus of control? (Pages 97-98) A person’s perception of the source of his or her fate is termed locus of control. Those who believe that they control their destinies have been labeled internals. Those who see their lives as being controlled by outside forces have been called externals. 134. Describe the Type A personality and its relationship to success. (Pages 101-102) The Type A personality is always moving, walking, and eating rapidly; feels impatient with the rate at which most events take place; strives to think or do two or more things at once; cannot cope with leisure time; and is obsessed with numbers, measuring their success in terms of how many or how much of everything they acquire. Despite the Type A’s hard work, the Type B’s are the ones who appear to make it to the top. 135. What is the “myth of rationality?” (Page 105) The myth of rationality is one possible explanation for little attention paid to emotions in the field of OB. Emotions such as frustration, fear, anger, love, hate, and joy were the antithesis of rationality. Researchers and managers tried to create organizations that were emotion-free. We learned, however, that this was not possible since emotions are an inseparable part of everyday life. 136. What is the difference between felt emotions and displayed emotions? (Pages 106-107) You can better understand emotions if you separate them into felt versus displayed. Felt emotions are an individual’s actual emotions. In contrast, displayed emotions are those that are organizationally-required and considered appropriate in a given job. The key point here is that felt and displayed emotions are often different. Download 108 Kb. Share with your friends:
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