Summary: Mike interviews Tanya Menon about a series of studies she and Leigh Thompson conducted that examine people's perceptions of interpersonal threat. They introduce the phenomenon of threat immunity, where people believe that they are more threatening to others than others are to them. She explains how understanding threat immunity can enhance both performance feedback and negotiations. Tanya Menon is an Associate Professor of Managerial and Organizational Behavior at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. She earned her PhD in Organizational Behavior from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Dr. Menon was the recipient of an American Marshall Memorial Fellowship, a Kaufman Foundation Grant for research on Entrepreneurship, and a Stanford Center for Conflict and Negotiation Fellowship. She was the winner of Chicago GSB's 2006 Faculty Excellence Award and the 2007 Phoenix Award, for contributions inside and outside the classroom. You can download the podcast by clicking here. Date of the interview: October 25, 2007 Recommended further readings: Frank, R.H. (1985). Choosing the Right Pond: Human Behavior and the Quest for Status. New York: Oxford University Press. Menon, T., & Thompson, L. (2007). Don't hate me because I'm beautiful: Self-enhancing biases in threat appraisal. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 104, 45-60. Thompson, L. (2003). Making the Team: A Guide for Managers. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Michael Johnson is an Assistant Professor in Department of Management and Organization at the University of Washington. He can be reached via mdj3@u.washington.edu
