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Attitudes and Perceptions

CHAPTER343 Attitudes andPerceptions Jeffrey Pickens, PhDLearning OutcomesAfter completing this chapter, the student should be able the importance of Attitudes to understanding the three components of how Attitudes can be how Perceptions allow individuals to simplify the four stages of the perception social perception and the various the importance of using objective methods foremployee selection. OVERVIEWThis chapter explains how understanding the psychology of attitudesand Perceptions can help us better manage the employees of the healthservices organizations in which we work. Psychological principles, whenapplied to organizational behavior issues, can assist healthcare managersDr. Jeffrey Pickens is an Associate Professor of Psychology in the Department of Social Sciences andCounseling at St.

interactions, however, may cause a conflict between a person’s attitude and behavior. This conflict is referred to as cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance refers to any inconsistency that a person perceives between two or more of one’s attitudes or between one’s behavior and attitudes.

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1 CHAPTER343 Attitudes andPerceptions Jeffrey Pickens, PhDLearning OutcomesAfter completing this chapter, the student should be able the importance of Attitudes to understanding the three components of how Attitudes can be how Perceptions allow individuals to simplify the four stages of the perception social perception and the various the importance of using objective methods foremployee selection. OVERVIEWThis chapter explains how understanding the psychology of attitudesand Perceptions can help us better manage the employees of the healthservices organizations in which we work. Psychological principles, whenapplied to organizational behavior issues, can assist healthcare managersDr. Jeffrey Pickens is an Associate Professor of Psychology in the Department of Social Sciences andCounseling at St.

2 Thomas University in Miami, Florida. He earned a Master of Science in Psychologyfrom the University of Florida and a PhD in Psychology from Florida International University. Prior tojoining St. Thomas University, Dr. Pickens served as Research Director for Family Central Inc., a largemental health and family services organization, and as Associate Dean of the Touch Research Instituteat Nova Southeastern University. From 1993 to 1998, Dr. Pickens served as Associate Professor in theDepartment of Psychology at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. 3/9/05 4:49 PM Page 4344 CHAPTER3 Attitudes ANDPERCEPTIONSto deal with staff fairly, make jobs interesting and satisfying, and moti-vate employees to higher levels of productivity. By the end of this chap-ter, you will gain some key insights into Attitudes and perception andhow they relate to human behavior.

3 ATTITUDESWhat is an attitude? Allport (1935) defined an attitude as a mental or neu-ral state of readiness, organized through experience, exerting a directiveor dynamic influence on the individual s response to all objects and sit-uations to which it is related. A simpler definition of attitude is a mind-set or a tendency to act in a particular way due to both an individual sexperience and temperament. Typically, when we refer to a person s Attitudes , we are trying to ex-plain his or her behavior. Attitudes are a complex combination of thingswe tend to call personality, beliefs, values, behaviors, and an example, we understand when someone says, She has a positiveattitude toward work versus She has a poor work attitude. When wespeak of someone s attitude, we are referring to the person s emotions andbehaviors.

4 A person s attitude toward preventive medicine encompasseshis or her point of view about the topic ( , thought); how he or she feelsabout this topic ( , emotion), as well as the actions ( , behaviors) heor she engages in as a result of attitude to preventing health is the tri-component model of Attitudes (see Figure 3-1). An attitudeincludes three components: an affect (a feeling), cognition (a thought orbelief), and behavior (an action). Attitudes help us define how we seesituations, as well as define howwe behavetoward the situation or object. As illustrated in the tri-component model, Attitudes include feelings, thoughts, and actions. Attitudesmay simply be an enduring evaluation of a person or object ( , I likeJohn best of my coworkers ), or other emotional reactions to objects andto people ( , I dislike bossy people or Jane makes me angry ).

5 Attitudesalso provide us with internal cognitionsor beliefs and thoughts about peo-ple and objects ( , Jane should work harder or Sam does not likeworking in this department ). Attitudes cause us to behave in a particularway toward an object or person ( , I write clearly in patients chartsbecause it upsets me when I can t read someone else s handwriting ).Although the feeling and belief components of Attitudes are internal to aperson, we can viewa person s attitude from his or her resulting DissonanceAlfred Adler (1870 1937), a Viennese physician who developed the the-ory of Individual Psychology, emphasized that a person s attitude towardthe environment had a significant influence on his or her behavior. 3/9/05 4:49 PM Page 44suggested that a person s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors were trans-actions with one s physical and social surroundings and that the direc-tion of influence flowed both ways our Attitudes are influenced by thesocial world and our social world is influenced by our Attitudes .

6 Theseinteractions, however, may cause a conflict between a person s attitudeand behavior. This conflict is referred to as cognitive dissonance. Cognitivedissonancerefers to any inconsistency that a person perceives betweentwo or more of one s Attitudes or between one s behavior and (1957) stated that any form of inconsistency that is uncom-fortable for the person will prompt the person to reduce the dissonance(conflict). As an example, Harry likes two coworkers, John and Mary,but John does not like Mary ( , inconsistency). Harry needs to elimi-nate the inconsistency. Harry may: (1) try to change John s feelings towardMary, (2) change his feelings about either John or Mary, or (3) sever hisrelationship with either John or Mary (see case study Scott s Dilemma,Case Study 3-1). Case Study 3-1 Scott s DilemmaScott is a licensed physical therapist who works for a national rehabili-tation company.

7 The rehabilitation facility in which Scott works is locatedin an urban Southwest city. He has worked at this facility for 4 years andAttitudes45 ActionsFeelingsBeliefsFigure 3-1 Tri-component Model of 3/9/05 4:49 PM Page 45until recently was satisfied with his working environment and the inter-actions he shared with his coworkers. In addition, Scott received per-sonal fulfillment from helping his patients recover from their disabilitiesand seeing them return to productive lives. Last year the health system went through reorganization with somenew people being brought in and others reassigned. Scott s new boss,George, was transferred from one of the system s Midwest facilities. Almostimmediately upon taking his new position, George began finding faultwith Scott s care plans, patient interactions, etc.

8 Scott began feeling as ifhe couldn t do anything right. He was experiencing feelings of anxiety,stress, and self-blame. Although his previous performance evaluationshad been above average, Scott was shocked by his first performance re-view under George s authority it was an extremely low began trying to work harder, thinking that by working harderhe could exceed George s expectations. Despite the long hours and ad-dressing George s critiques, George continued to find fault with Scott swork. Staff meetings began to be a great source of discomfort and stressbecause George would belittle Scott and single him out in front of began to feel alienated from his family, friends, and colleaguesat work. His eating and sleeping habits were adversely affected as s activities held no joy for him and the career that he had once lovedand been respected in became a source of pain and stress.

9 He began tocall in sick more often and started visualizing himself confronting and evenhurting George, which created even more guilt and anxiety for time went on, George encouraged Scott s coworkers to leave Scottalone to do his work. The perception of the coworkers became moresympathetic to George s point of view. Scott s coworkers mused that per-haps Scott really was a poor worker and that George knew better due tohis position as the supervisor of the rehabilitation department. Eventually,Scott s coworkers began to distance themselves from him, in order toprotect their own interests. They began to see Scott as a outsider, withwhom it was unsafe to associate. In an effort to resolve the situation, Scott spoke to George directly, stat-ing his feelings and expressing an interest in how they might improve thesituation.

10 Rather than making the situation better, what George perceivedas Scott s insubordination served to enrage George, and the personal at-tacks against Scott intensified. Feeling frustrated and helpless, Scott thendecided to take his problem to the Human Resources Department (HRD).A human resources manager listened to Scott s complaints and suggestedthat Scott return with documented evidence of what Scott perceived to beGeorge s mistreatment. In an effort to help ease the situation, the HRDmanager discussed the issue with George, which only stirred the flamesof George s anger and his negative behavior toward Scott. As a last resort, Scott decided to go to George s boss, Rebecca. Rebeccamet with George to get his side of the story. George portrayed Scott as46 CHAPTER3 Attitudes 3/9/05 4:49 PM Page 46an unproductive employee with no respect for authority.


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