Linking individuals to workplaces – Personality, Perception, and Decision-Making

You may have heard the adage or quote associated with George Eliot, “Don’t judge a book by its cover”. Generally, we can interpret this as that you shouldn’t judge someone or something based only on what you see on the outside or only on what you perceive without knowing the full situation. However, is there validity to this saying?

Myth or Science?

    We Can Accurately Judge Individuals’ Personalities a Few Seconds After Meeting Them

Surprisingly, this statement appears to be true.

Research indicates that individuals can accurately appraise others’ personalities only a few seconds after first meeting them, or sometimes even from a photo. This “zero acquaintance” approach shows that regardless of the way in which people first meet someone, whether in person or online, their first judgments about the other’s personality have validity. In one study, for example, individuals were asked to introduce themselves in, on average, 7.4 seconds. Observers’ ratings of those individuals’ extraversion were significantly correlated with the individuals’ self-reported extraversion. Other research suggests personalities can be surmised from online profiles at zero acquaintance as well. One study even found that participants were able to determine the personality traits of individuals at the ends of the trait spectrum from viewing only photos.

Some traits, such as extraversion, are easier to perceive than others upon initial acquaintance, but less obvious traits like self-esteem are also often judged fairly accurately by others. Even being forced to make intuitive, quick judgments rather than deliberate evaluations does not seem to undermine the accuracy of the appraisals.

Situations make a difference in the accuracy of the judgments for some personality traits. For example, although neuroticism is perhaps the most difficult trait to detect accurately, a recent study found neuroticism could be judged much more accurately when the situation made the individual react nervously. This makes sense when you consider that some situations activate or draw out a trait much more readily than others. Almost everybody looks calm when they’re about to fall asleep!

The moderate accuracy of “thin slices” helps to explain the moderate validity of employment interviews, which we discuss in Chapter 17. Specifically, research shows that interviewers make up their minds about candidates within 2 minutes of first meeting them. While this is hardly an ideal way to make important employment decisions, the research on personality shows these judgments do have some level of validity. It is important to keep in mind, however, that though we can ascertain people’s personalities quickly, we should still keep an open mind and suspend judgment. There is always more to people than first meets the eye.

Sources: A. Beer, “Comparative Personality Judgments: Replication and Extension of Robust Findings in Personality Perception Using an Alternative Method,” Journal of Personality Assessment 96, no. 6 (2014):610–18; S. Hirschmueller, B. Egloff, S. C. Schmukle, S. Nestler, and M. D. Back, “Accurate Judgments of Neuroticism at Zero Acquaintance: A Question of Relevance,” Journal of Personality 83, no. 2 (2015): 221–28; S. Hirschmüller, B. Egloff, S. Nestler, and D. Mitja, “The Dual Lens Model: A Comprehensive Framework for Understanding Self–Other Agreement of Personality Judgments at Zero Acquaintance,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 104 (2013): 335–53; J. M. Stopfer, B. Egloff, S. Nestler, and M. D. Back, “Personality Expression and Impression Formation in Online Social Networks: An Integrative Approach to Understanding the Processes of Accuracy, Impression Management, and Meta-Accuracy,” European Journal of Personality 28 (2014): 73–94.

Additional resources:

12 things people decide within seconds of meeting you by. Business Insider https://www.businessinsider.com/things-people-decide-about-you-in-seconds-2016-11Links to an external site.

How Accurate Are You at Judging Personality? Psychology Today https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/fulfillment-at-any-age/201706/how-accurate-are-you-at-judging-personalityLinks to an external site.

Summary Paper

1. Explain your viewpoint and experience with the concept of “zero-acquaintance.”
2. How might the use of artificial intelligence (AI) be used for identifying personality and perception? Are there AI or machine learning products available to companies to assess and predict their employees’ behaviors, personalities, or perceptions? Highlight a pro and con with current research (within one year) on AI and briefly describe the findings in a short paragraph.
3. Overall Take-Away and Linking it all Together: Analyze how individual differences in personality and perception influence decision making. Why are these topics important to consider as a manager or leader?