Deck 12: Foundations of Individual Behavior

Question 1

The ability to control one's own emotions is an important component in emotional intelligence.

Answer 1

True
Explanation: Controlling one's emotions and impulses is termed self-management.

Question 2

Employees with high self-esteem tend to be more satisfied with their jobs than low SEs.

Answer 2

True
Explanation: High SE individuals tend to correlate with high job satisfaction, perhaps because they are able to derive more fulfillment out of the work itself rather than the praise they get from doing the work.

Question 3

According to John Holland's theory, a realistic personality type might be well suited to be an economist.

Answer 3

False
Explanation: A realistic personality type would tend to prefer physical activities, something that an economist typically would not do. Therefore, the statement is false.

Question 4

The goals of organizational behavior (OB) are to explain, predict, and document behavior.

Question 5

A worker with an external locus of control would tend to blame failure on him- or herself.

Question 6

Individuals try to reconcile attitudes and behavior so they are both rational and consistent.

Question 7

Attitudes are evaluative statements concerning objects, people, or events.

Question 8

Organizational behavior is primarily concerned with group interactions.

Question 9

A person who is risk-averse might do well as a stock trader.

Question 10

Research shows that there is a fairly strong correlation between high satisfaction and high productivity.

Question 11

Cognitive dissonance arises when people feel that their behavior and attitudes are consistent.

Question 12

A low self-monitoring employee would be likely to be a good poker player.

Question 13

Emotional intelligence and academic intelligence are virtually identical.

Question 14

One of the challenges in understanding organizational behavior is that it addresses issues that aren't obvious.

Question 15

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® test can identify thousands of different basic personality types.

Question 16

In the Big Five model, emotional stability was positively related to job performance.

Question 17

The discomfort that results from high dissonance can be reduced when an individual feels that he or she has a choice in the matter.

Question 18

A high Mach person tends to think that ends justify means.

Question 19

According to John Holland, the key to job success is how well an individual's personality matches his or her job.

Question 20

Personality is defined as a unique combination of behavioral, emotional, and thinking patterns that each person has.

Question 21

When a manager praises an employee for a job well done, she is providing positive reinforcement.

Question 22

People from the Middle East tend to believe that life is not predetermined and they can control their own destiny.

Question 23

Attribution theory is primarily concerned with identifying one's own behavior.

Question 24

Distinctiveness refers to whether an individual displays a behavior in many situations or whether it's particular to one situation.

Question 25

Operant behavior deals only with learned behavior.

Question 26

Skinner would argue that a dog responding to a whistle is an innate or unlearned behavior.

Question 27

Gen Y individuals are those people who were born after 1997.

Question 28

Classical conditioning can explain why a visit from headquarter managers is associated with activities such as cleaning and rearranging at a local outlet of a retail company.

Question 29

Social learning theory maintains that models who are different from ourselves have the greatest influence on our behavior.

Question 30

Negative reinforcement penalizes an individual for an undesired behavior.

Question 31

Distortion of perception can only come from the person who is perceiving.

Question 32

In operant conditioning, if behavior is positively reinforced, it is less likely to repeat.

Question 33

U.S. workers, more than Chinese workers, tend to be less conscientious and more agreeable in nature.

Question 34

Individuals tend to attribute their own successes to external factors.

Question 35

In stereotyping, observers use group characteristics to judge individuals.

Question 36

Perceptual shortcuts are not necessarily distorted.

Question 37

The fundamental attribution error states that individuals tend to overestimate the influence of external factors in others.

Question 38

Negative reinforcement is the withdrawal of something unpleasant.

Question 39

Gen Y individuals tend to be comfortable with new types of electronic technology.

Question 40

A fundamental idea of perception is that all people interpret and distort reality in some way.

Question 41

The degree to which an employee identifies with his or her job or actively participates in it refers to the employee's ________.

A) job involvement
B) organizational commitment
C) global commitment
D) job satisfaction

Question 42

When you stand at attention during the playing of the national anthem, you are revealing which component of your attitude toward your country?

A) cognitive
B) affective
C) metacognitive
D) behavioral

Question 43

________ is a performance measure of both efficiency and effectiveness of employees.

A) Employee productivity
B) Organizational citizenship behavior
C) Job satisfaction
D) Turnover

Question 44

After deciding that she likes the architect's new building design this morning, this afternoon Wendy has decided to go ahead with the project. Which component of attitude did she use this afternoon?

A) cognitive
B) behavioral
C) emotive
D) affective

Question 45

After carefully examining the architect's plans yesterday, today Wendy has decided that she loves the new design. Which component of forming an attitude did she carry out today?

A) cognitive
B) affective
C) behavioral
D) informational

Question 46

When managers influence employee behavior, they ________.

A) predict what employees will do
B) steer it in a particular direction
C) understand why a behavior occurs
D) try not to change a behavior

Question 47

After spending several hours looking over an architect's plans, Wendy formed a new impression for a new building design. Which component of attitude did she change?

A) affective
B) behavioral
C) emotive
D) cognitive

Question 48

Hidden aspects of an organization that OB provides insight into include ________.

A) strategies
B) attitudes
C) structure
D) objectives

Question 49

The ________ component of attitude is based on emotions.

A) cognitive
B) behavioral
C) affective
D) action

Question 50

Of the six behaviors that managers focus on, which behavior typically is the most troubling to an organization?

A) absenteeism
B) workplace misbehavior
C) organizational citizenship behavior
D) employee productivity

Question 51

Which of the following are the goals of organizational behavior?

A) to explain, document, and control behavior
B) to control and influence behavior
C) to explain, predict, and influence behavior
D) to predict, understand, and document behavior

Question 52

Which of the following is a visible aspect of an organization?

A) attitudes
B) interpersonal conflicts
C) intergroup conflicts
D) objectives

Question 53

In everyday parlance, the term attitude refers only to the ________ component of attitude.

A) cognitive
B) informational
C) behavioral
D) affective

Question 54

Which of the following best defines organizational behavior?

A) the actions of organizations in the workplace
B) the study of the workplace
C) the study of organizations
D) the study of the actions of people at work

Question 55

This "behavior" is really an attitude.

A) job satisfaction
B) turnover
C) workplace misbehavior
D) employee productivity

Question 56

A manager would most likely be interested in employees' attitudes about which of the following?

A) family responsibility
B) personal responsibility
C) job satisfaction
D) past jobs

Question 57

All of the following are included in the six behaviors that managers try to explain, predict, and influence EXCEPT ________.

A) productivity and absenteeism
B) workplace attitudes and perceptions
C) workplace misbehavior and turnover
D) organizational citizenship behavior and job satisfaction

Question 58

Organizational behavior focuses on ________.

A) individual behavior and group behavior
B) group behavior only
C) individual behavior only
D) neither group behavior nor individual behavior

Question 59

The three elements that make up an attitude are its ________ components.

A) cognitive, affective, and behavioral
B) affective, effective, and defective
C) cognitive, component, and affective
D) behavioral, cognitive, and misbehavioral

Question 60

The component of attitude that is made up of knowledge and information is ________.

A) cognitive
B) behavioral
C) affective
D) practices

Question 61

Taking a job in a repressive country that you disapprove of politically might cause discomfort from dissonance unless ________.

A) the job suits you well
B) the job offers enormous pay
C) the job offers little pay
D) the job does not suit you well

Question 62

Which of the following would you expect to see in a company that had highly engaged employees?

A) lower employee retention rates
B) greater employee retention rates
C) a diverse workforce
D) a homogeneous workforce

Question 63

Generally, most people try to achieve ________ between their attitudes and their behavior.

A) contrast
B) synergy
C) functionality
D) consistency

Question 64

After the disappointment of not getting a new position, an employee states, "That job looks like a real headache, anyway." This is an example of ________ to reduce discomfort from dissonance.

A) reducing importance
B) increasing importance
C) reducing influence
D) increasing influence

Question 65

To reduce dissonance in the workplace, managers are advised to hold ________ responsible for the causes of the dissonance.

A) employees
B) both employees and management
C) fellow workers
D) external forces

Question 66

A person who is being hypocritical about something that has high importance in her life would be likely to experience ________ discomfort from cognitive dissonance.

A) low
B) no
C) high
D) minimal

Question 67

An employee who brags about her company to friends and recommends all company products as gifts is likely to have high ________.

A) job involvement
B) organizational commitment
C) personal commitment
D) organizational citizenship

Question 68

A person who is experiencing cognitive dissonance might justify the dissonance if he has ________ control over his actions.

A) some
B) total
C) almost total
D) little or no

Question 69

Which of the following is typically the most important reason for why managers want to increase positive job attitudes?

A) lower rates of turnover and absenteeism
B) higher rates of turnover and absenteeism
C) to decrease worker unhappiness
D) to increase worker happiness

Question 70

The thinking versus feeling scale on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® determines whether a person is oriented ________.

A) logically or emotionally
B) toward gathering data or the big picture
C) outwardly or inwardly
D) toward planning or flexibility

Question 71

Rather than try to make employees happy, managers might do well to focus on making work ________.

A) easy to accomplish
B) challenging and interesting
C) challenging and difficult
D) simple rather than complex

Question 72

Cognitive dissonance theory states that a person feels ________ when his or her attitudes and actions don't match.

A) comfortable
B) uncomfortable
C) confused
D) confident

Question 73

With respect to employee engagement in a job, this seems to be the most important factor to employees around the world.

A) base pay
B) respect
C) benefits
D) type of work

Question 74

The cognitive dissonance theory proposes that the factors that can mitigate the discomfort caused by dissonance are ________.

A) importance, influence, and rewards
B) influence, rewards, and goals
C) importance, goals, and status
D) influence, reinforcement, and rewards

Question 75

________ is the unique combination of psychological traits that describe a person.

A) Character
B) Intelligence
C) Behavior
D) Personality

Question 76

The extroversion versus introversion scale on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® determines whether a person is oriented ________.

A) outwardly or inwardly
B) toward gathering data or the big picture
C) logically or emotionally
D) toward planning or flexibility

Question 77

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) is based on ________ that are revealed in a 100-item questionnaire.

A) two dimensions
B) four dimensions
C) four personality types
D) eight personality types

Question 78

The sensing versus intuition scale on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® determines whether a person is oriented ________.

A) outwardly or inwardly
B) toward gathering data or the big picture
C) logically or emotionally
D) toward planning or flexibility

Question 79

Studies show that the statement, "Happy workers are productive workers," is ________

A) completely false
B) completely true
C) fairly true
D) largely false

Question 80

The judging versus perceiving scale on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® determines whether a person is oriented ________.

A) outwardly or inwardly
B) toward gathering data or the big picture
C) toward planning or flexibility
D) logically or emotionally