CHAPTER TWO: FOUNDATION OF INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR AND LEARNING

IN AN ORGANIZATION

This chapter will focus on the foundation of individual behaviors of an organizational member
and their learning. It includes, Perception, Attribution theory, Attitude, Personality and
Learning.
2.1. Perception
2.1.1. What Is Perception Mean?
Perception may be defined as the process with which individuals detect and interpret
environmental stimuli.
Perception is a process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in
order to give meaning to their environment.
Perception is the process through which people receive, organize, and interpret information from
their environment.
Perception is a way of forming impressions about oneself, other people, and daily life experiences.
Why is perception important in the study of OB? Simply because people’s behavior is based on
their perception of what reality is, not on reality itself. The world as it is perceived is the world
that is behaviorally important.
Components of perception
There are three components are involved in perception as listed below:
Perceiver: is who receive the stimuli
Target: refers to the thing to be perceived
Situation: refers to context (e.g. timing) the perceiver and the target meet
2.1.2. Perceptual Process
The perceptual process is composed of the process of receiving, selecting, organizing,
interpreting, and reacting to sensory stimuli or data.
1. Receiving Stimuli: In this stage the perceiver will get the Stimuli (data). Most stimuli
(data) received through the five senses of organs such as Taste, Smell, Hearing, Sight and
Touch.
2. Organizing: after the stimuli received, these stimuli are organized in some form.

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 3. Selecting Stimuli: It is not possible to pay attention to all the stimuli received by an
individual person. In order to economize on the use of attention, this time, the stimuli are
screened and selected for further processing.
4. Interpreting: after data received and organized, in this case, the perceiver interprets the
data in various ways to find reasons for it. In the case of perception, it is giving clear
meaning about the various data and information received.
5. Responding: It is acting in relation to what has been perceived by the individual.
2.1.3. Factors that Influence Perception
A number of factors operate to shape and sometimes distort perception. These factors can reside
in the perceiver; in the object, or target, being perceived; or in the context of the situation in which
the perception is made.

Factors in the Perceiver:

Attitude: are positive or negative feelings about objects, people, or events. Some workers would
feel and perceive that the prevailing working conditions in the organizations are congenial for
work and it contributes positively while for others, it would be inadequate and demand
improvement. This is indicative of positive and negative attitude patterns.

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Motive is nothing but unsatisfied needs. This exerts considerable influence on perception. Boss
who is insecure perceives subordinate who does well as threat to his position. Personal insecurity
is a threat to personal survival in a job especially if one is frequently transferred.
Interest is persons liking for a particular thing. May be some people get attracted to eyes of a girl
because he has interest in the eyes while other person may be interested in hair style, therefore
different person (perceiver) will perceive a girl based on perceivers’ interest.
Past experience also plays an important role in perception. Just as interest narrows down one’s
perception so does past experience. In contrast past experience nullifies an object interest.
Expectations: is what we are considering to happen. can distort one’s perception in what one sees
and what one expects to see.
Factors in the Target:
Size: The larger the object, the more likely it is to be perceived.
Motion: A moving factor is more likely to be perceived than a stationary factor.
PlayStation games use motion to attract people to play them.
Repetition: A repeated factor is more likely to be noticed than a single factor.
Marketing managers use this principle in trying to get the attention of prospective customers. An
advertisement may repeat key ideas.
Proximity: Objects that are close to each other will tend to be perceived together rather than
separately. As a result of physical or time proximity, we often put together objects or events that
are unrelated.
Similarity: Persons, objects, or events that are similar to each other also tend to be grouped
together. The greater the similarity, the greater the probability we will tend to perceive them as a
common group.
Novelty and familiarity: Either a familiar or a novel factor in the environment can attract
attention, depending on the circumstances. A Korean businessman entered a client’s office in
Stockholm and was greeted by a woman sitting behind a desk. He asked to see the president. The
woman responded by saying that she (the president) would be glad to see him. The Korean was
confused because he assumed that most women are secretaries and not presidents of a
company. The misinterpretation of the situation was caused by a novel situation for him.

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Factors in the Situation
Change in situation leads to incorrect perception about a person. Time is one factor, which
influences the perception. Time is related to work setting and social setting. A person decked up
for party may not be noticeable but the same dress in office would be noticed distinctly, though
the person has not changed. You would have very frequently heard people say that their manager
is different during working hours and opposite while in social setting.
2.1.4 Attribution Theory

Attribution theory tries to explain the ways in which we judge people differently, depending on
the meaning we attribute to a given behavior. It suggests that when we observe an individual’s
behavior, we attempt to determine whether it was internally or externally caused. That
determination, however, depends largely on three factors: (1) distinctiveness, (2) consensus, and
(3) consistency.
Internally caused behaviors are those we believe to be under the personal control of the individual.
Externally caused behavior is what we imagine the situation forced the individual to do. If one of
your employees is late for work, you might attribute that to his partying into the wee hours and
then oversleeping. This is an internal attribution. But if you attribute lateness to an automobile
accident that tied up traffic, you are making an external attribution.
Distinctiveness: refers to whether an individual displays different behaviors in different situations.
Consensus: is occurred when everyone who faces a similar situation responds in the same way.
Consistency: refers to whether an individual responds the same way across time. The more
consistent the behavior, the more we are inclined to attribute it to internal causes.

Attribution errors
In addition to these three influences, two errors have an impact on internal versus external
determination—the fundamental attribution error and the self-serving bias.

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Fundamental attribution error: is the tendency to underestimate the influence of situational
factors and to overestimate the influence of personal factors in evaluating
someone else’s behavior.
Self-serving bias: refers to the tendency to attribute own success to internal causation like
ability, hard work and self-worth and the failure, to external factors like chance or Luck.
Common Errors While Judging Others
Some common kinds of distortions that can make the perceptual process inaccurate and affect the
response are:
Selective perception The tendency to selectively interpret what one sees on the basis of one’s
interests, background, experience, and attitudes.
Halo Effect: refers to judging an individual based on single characteristics, such as intellectual
ability, sociability and appearance.
Projection: You assume a person based on your own traits and not what he actually possesses.
Contrast effect: Evaluation of a person’s characteristics that is affected by comparisons with
other people recently encountered who rank higher or lower on the same characteristics.
Stereotyping: Judging someone on the basis of one’s perception of the group to which that person
belongs.
Prejudice: is an unfounded dislike of a person or group based on their belonging to a
particular stereotyped group.
2.2. Attitude
2.2.1. Definition of Attitude
Attitudes are evaluative statements either favorable or unfavorable about objects, people, or
events. They reflect how we feel about something. When I say “I like my job,” I am expressing
my attitude about work.
Attitudes are positive or negative feelings about objects, people, or events.
The attitude is the evaluative statements or judgments concerning objects, people, or events.
2.2.2. Characteristics of Attitudes

Attitude can be characterized in the following ways:

❖ An attitude is the predisposition of the individual psychological structure of beliefs which
are to be evaluated a favorable or an unfavorable manner.

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 ❖ They tend to persist unless something is done to change them.
❖ Attitudes can fall anywhere along a continuum from very favorable to very unfavorable.
❖ Attitudes are directed toward some object about which a person has feelings (sometimes
called “affect”) and beliefs.
❖ Attitudes are evaluating statements either favorable or unfavorable which concerned
about the objects and people or events.
2.2.3. Component of attitude
There are three components of attitude.
Cognitive component: the thoughts, opinions, knowledge, or information held by the individual
about a specific person, idea, event, or object;
E.g. “My pay is low”
Affective component: the feelings, sentiments, moods, and emotions about some specific person,
idea, event, or object; which may be positive, negative or neutral.
E.g. “I am angry over how little I’m paid.
Behavioral component: the predisposition to act on a favorable or unfavorable evaluation to a
specific person, idea, event, or object.
E.g. “I’m going to look for another job that pays better.”
2.2.4. Source of attitude
Attitudes have many sources: family, peer groups, coaches, society, and previous job experiences.
Early family experiences help shape individuals’ attitudes. Young children’s attitudes usually
correspond to their parents’. As children reach their teens, they begin to
be more strongly influenced by peers. Peer groups influence attitudes because individuals
want to be accepted by others. Teenagers seek approval by sharing similar attitudes or by
modifying attitudes to comply with those of a group. Culture, mores, and language influence
attitudes.
Through job experience, employees develop attitudes about pay equity, performance
review, managerial capabilities, job design, and work group affiliation. Previous experiences
account for some individual differences in attitudes toward performance, loyalty, and
commitment.

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 2.2.5. Types of attitude
Every person will have thousands of attitudes, but OB focuses our attention on a very limited
number of work-related attitudes. These tap positive or negative evaluations that employees hold
about aspects of their work environment. Most of the research in OB has looked at three job related
attitudes:
❖ job satisfaction,
❖ job involvement, and
❖ Organizational commitment.
Job satisfaction: refers to the feelings people have toward their job. A person with a high level
of job satisfaction holds positive feelings about his or her job, while a person with a low level
holds negative feelings.
Job Involvement: refers to the degree to which a person identifies himself (psychologically) with
his job, actively participates and considers his perceived performance level important to self-
worth. Employees with a high level of job involvement strongly identify with and really care about
the kind of work they do. Another closely related concept is psychological empowerment,
employees’ beliefs in the degree to which they influence their work environment, their
competence, the meaningfulness of their job, and their perceived autonomy.
Organizational Commitment: Organizational commitment is the emotional attachment people
have toward the company they work for. In organizational commitment, an employee identifies
with a particular organization and its goals and wishes to remain a member. Most research has
focused on emotional attachment to an organization and belief in its values as the “gold standard”
for employee commitment.
Employees who are committed will be less likely to engage in work withdrawal even if they are
dissatisfied, because they have a sense of organizational loyalty. On the other hand, employees
who are not committed, who feel less loyal to the organization, will tend to show lower levels of
attendance at work across the board. Research confirms this theoretical proposition.
2.2.6. Attitudes and consistency
Individuals strive to maintain consistency among the components of attitudes. But contradictions
and inconsistency often occur, resulting in a state of disequilibrium. The tension stemming from
such a state is reduced only when some form of consistency is achieved.

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It is seen that people seek consistency among their attitudes or between attitude and behavior but
the inconsistence will occurred. The inconsistency among attitudes or between attitude and
behavior is called Cognitive dissonance.
Leon Festinger proposed cognitive dissonance theory in 1950s. The theory seeks to explain linkage
between attitudes and behavior.
Cognitive dissonance: refers a situation where there’s a discrepancy between the cognitive and
behavioral components of an attitude.
For example, the chief executive officer of a cigarette company may experience cognitive
dissonance if she believes that she’s honest and hardworking but that cigarettes contribute to lung
cancer. She may think, “I’m a good human being, but I’m in charge of a firm producing a cancer-
contributing product.” These thoughts create inconsistency. Instead of quitting and giving up her
successful career, she’s more likely to modify her thoughts or cognitions. She could state, “Our
firm has manufactured a cigarette that’s now very safe and free of cancer producing products.” Or
she may think that cigarette smoking actually improves smokers’ mental well-being, that it helps
them reduce or cope with stress. When inconsistency in attitudes arises, the person can attempt to
work the problem out cognitively or behaviorally. Here the CEO used a cognitive process to reduce
her dissonance.
2.3. Personality
2.3.1. Definition of Personality
Personality is defined as the sum total of ways in which an individual reacts to and interacts
with others.
Personality encompasses the relatively stable feelings, thoughts, and behavioral patterns a
person has.
Personality is a stable set of characteristics and tendencies that determine commonalities and
differences in people’s behavior.
Personality is an individual’s consistent patterns of feeling, thinking, and behaving.
2.3.2. Personality determinants
Determinant of personality refers to factors directly and indirectly influenced to individual
behavior. Personality is determined by heredity, environment (culture) and situation under
which an individual works.

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Heredity
Heredity refers to factors determined at conception. It is an acquiring from parents certain
biological, physical and psychological commonalities, which are further reflected in physical
stature, facial attractiveness, sex, temperament, muscle composition and even reflect. They often
decide energy level. Heredity approach argues that the ultimate explanation of an individual’s
personality is the molecular structures of the genes, which are located in the chromosomes.
Environment
The environment we are exposed plays a substantial role in shaping our personalities. In this
context environment refers to culture, family, group membership, society, religion and life
experiences.
For example, it is commonly seen that a doctor’s son preferring his father’s profession and a child
of a soldier enters into Defense Services.
Situation
The third factor that determines personality is the situation which individuals face. The
personality will be shaped by the situation we interact.
For example, in class you are likely to rein in your high spirits and other related behaviors
encouraged by your personality. However, at a sporting event, you may be jumping up, cheering,
and loudly criticizing the referees.
2.3.3. Major personality attributes influencing OB
In this section, we will evaluate specific personality attributes that have been found to be powerful
predictors of behavior in organizations. These are locus of control, Machiavellianism, self-
esteem, self-monitoring, Narcissism, risk-taking, and Type A and proactive personalities.
1. Locus of Control
Locus of control is the degree to which individuals believe that they can control events affecting
them.
Those who believe that they control their destinies have been labeled internals, whereas who see
their lives as being controlled by outside forces, have been called externals. Individuals with an
internal locus of control are more likely to solve problem when they encounter an obstacle while
trying to achieve a goal. Individuals with an external locus of control are more likely to see the
obstacle as caused by outside forces, and they will not necessarily know what to do in the face of
that obstacle. Compared to internals, externals appear to prefer a more structured, directive style

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of supervision. Managers thus need to be more aware of obstacles facing employees who have an
external locus of control, and do what they can to remove those obstacles.
2. Machiavellianism
It is the degree to which an individual is pragmatic, maintains emotional distance, and believes
that ends can justify means. The personality characteristic of Machiavellianism (Mach) is named
after Niccolò Machiavelli, who wrote in the sixteenth century on how to gain and use power.
“If it works, use it” is consistent with a high-Mach perspective.
A considerable amount of research has been directed toward relating high- and low Mach
personalities to certain behavioral outcomes. High Machs manipulate more, win more, are
persuaded less, and persuade others more than do low Machs. Yet these high-Mach outcomes are
moderated by situational factors. It has been found that high Machs flourish (1) when they interact
face to face with others rather than indirectly; (2) when the situation has a minimum number of
rules and regulations, thus allowing latitude for improvisation; and (3) when low Machs get
distracted by emotional involvement with details irrelevant to winning.
High mach scorers would probably be suited for activities such as selling, negotiating, and
acquiring limited resources. Low mach scorers would seem to be better suited for structured,
routine, and none motional situations. They would seem to better suited for planning,
conceptualizing, and working out details.
Should we conclude that high Machs make good employees? That answer depends on the type of
job and whether you consider ethical implications in evaluating performance.
3. Self-Esteem (SE)
Self-Esteem refers to the degree to which individuals like or dislike themselves. Self-esteem is
the extent to which an individual believes that he or she is a worthwhile and deserving individual.
For example, self-esteem is directly related to expectations for success. High SEs believes that
they have the ability to succeed at work. Individuals with high self-esteem will take more risks in
job selection and are more likely to choose unconventional jobs than are people with low self-
esteem. High SEs also tend to emphasize the positive when confronted with failure.
The most generalizable finding on self-esteem is that low SEs are more easily influenced by
external factors than are high SEs. Low SEs are dependent on the receipt of Not surprisingly, self-
esteem has also been found to be related to job satisfaction.

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 4. Self-Monitoring
Self-monitoring is a personality trait that measures an individual’s ability to adjust behavior to
external, situational factors.
Individuals high in self-monitoring are highly sensitive to external cues and can behave differently
in different situations. High self-monitors are capable of presenting striking contradictions
between their public personae and their private selves. Low self-monitors cannot disguise
themselves in the same way. They tend to display their true dispositions and attitudes in every
situation; hence, there is high behavioral consistency between who they are and what they do.
Research suggests that high self-monitors tend to pay closer attention to the behavior of others and
are more capable of conforming than are low self-monitors. In addition, high self-monitoring
managers tend to be more mobile in their careers and receive more promotions (both internal and
cross-organizational).
5. Narcissism
In psychology, narcissism describes a person who has a very high sense of self-importance,
requires excessive admiration, has a sense of entitlement, and is arrogant. The term is from the
Greek myth of Narcissus, a man so vain and proud he fell in love with his own image.
E.g.: Hans likes to be the center of attention. He looks at himself in the mirror a lot, has extravagant
dreams, and considers himself a person of many talents. Hans is a narcissist.
Evidence suggests that narcissists are more charismatic and thus more likely to emerge as leaders,
and they may even display better psychological health (at least as they self-report). Despite having
some advantages, most evidence suggests that narcissism is undesirable. Because narcissists often
want to gain the admiration of others and receive affirmation of their superiority, they tend to “talk
down” to those who threaten them, treating others as if they were inferior. Narcissists also tend to
be selfish and exploitive and believe others exist for their benefit.
6. Risk-Taking
It is a person’s willingness to take chances or risks. People differ in their willingness to take
chances, a quality that affects how much time and information they need to make a decision. High
risk-taking managers made more rapid decisions and used less information in making their choices
than did the low risk-taking managers. Interestingly, the decision accuracy was the same for both
groups.

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 7. Type A and Type B Personalities
An individual with a Type A personality is “aggressively involved in a chronic, incessant struggle
to achieve more and more in less and less time, and, if required to do so, against the opposing
efforts of other things or other persons.”
Type As
✓ Are always moving, walking, and eating rapidly
✓ hurried
✓ Feel impatient with the rate at which most events take place
✓ Strive to think or do two or more things at once
✓ Cannot cope with leisure time
✓ Are obsessed with Quantity
✓ competitive, and hostile
But these traits tend to emerge most often when a Type A individual experiences stress or
challenge.
In contrast to the Type A personality is the Type B, who is exactly the opposite. Types Bs are
“rarely harried by the desire to obtain a wildly increasing number of things or participate in an
endless growing series of events in an ever-decreasing amount of time.”
Type Bs
✓ Never suffer from a sense of time urgency with its accompanying impatience
✓ Feel no need to display or discuss either their achievements or accomplishments unless
such exposure is demanded by the situation
✓ Play for fun and relaxation, rather than to exhibit their superiority at any cost
✓ Can relax without guilt
In managerial positions, Type As demonstrate their competitiveness by working long hours and,
not infrequently, making poor decisions because they make them too fast. Stressed Type As are
also rarely creative. Because of their concern with quantity and speed, they rely on past experiences
when faced with problems. They will not allocate the time that is necessary to develop unique
solutions to new problems. They seldom vary in their responses to specific challenges in their
environment, and so their behavior is easier to predict than that of Type Bs.
Are Type As or Type Bs more successful in organizations? Despite the hard work of Type
As, Type Bs are the ones who appear to make it to the top. Great salespeople are usually

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Type As; senior executives are usually Type Bs. Why? The answer lies in the tendency of
Type As to trade off quality of effort for quantity. Promotions in corporate and professional
organizations “usually go to those who are wise rather than to those who are merely
hasty, to those who are tactful rather than to those who are hostile, and to those who are
creative rather than to those who are merely agile in competitive strife.
8. Proactive Personality
Proactive personality refers to People who identify opportunities, show initiative, take action, and
persevere until meaningful change occurs.
People with a proactive personality create positive change in their environment, regardless or even
in spite of constraints or obstacles. Not surprisingly, proactives have much desirable behavior that
organizations look for. For instance, the evidence indicates that proactive are more likely to be
seen as leaders and are more likely to act as change agents within the organization. Other actions
of proactives can be positive or negative, depending on the organization and the situation. For
example, proactives are more likely to challenge the status quo or voice their displeasure when
situations are not to their liking. If an organization requires people with entrepreneurial initiative,
proactives make good candidates; however, these are people that are also more likely to leave an
organization to start their own business.
2.3.4 The Big Five Personality Model
There are many different dimensions of personality that can be used to describe people. Over the
past two decades, a consensus has emerged that five dimensions or factors can be used to describe
a substantial amount of human personality. The following are the Big Five factors:
Extraversion–introversion: This dimension captures our comfort level with relationships.
Extraverts tend to be gregarious, assertive, and sociable. Introverts tend to be reserved, timid, and
quiet.
Research has been reported that extraverted people tend to perform well in sales and management
jobs, do better in training programs, and have higher levels of overall job satisfaction.
Agreeableness: The degree of working well with others by sharing trust, warmth, and
cooperativeness. People who score low on agreeableness are cold, disagreeable, and antagonistic.
People who are high in agreeableness tend be better team players and get along better with
colleagues, customers, and other stakeholders.78 Jobs and professions that require such individuals
include customer service, sales, auditing, nursing, teaching, and social work.

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Conscientiousness: is a measure of reliability. A highly conscientious person is the hardworking,
responsible, organized, dependable, and persistent. Those who score low on this dimension are
easily distracted, disorganized, and unreliable.
Emotional stability: refers a person’s ability to withstand stress. People with positive emotional
stability tend to be calm, self-confident, and secure. Those with high negative scores tend to be
nervous, anxious, depressed, and insecure.
Openness to experience: addresses range of interests and fascination with novelty. Extremely open
people are creative, curious, and artistically sensitive. Those at the other end of the category are
conventional and find comfort in the familiar.
2.3.5. Matching personality and job
Matching the personality of employees with the job they do is an important element in
organizational goal achievement. Using the Big Five terminology, for instance, we could
expect that people high on extraversion fit well with aggressive and team-oriented cultures,
which people high on agreeableness match up better with a supportive organizational climate
than one focused on aggressiveness, and that people high on openness to experience fit better
in organizations that emphasize innovation rather than standardization. Following these
guidelines at the time of hiring should identify new employees who fit better with the
organization’s culture, which should, in turn, result in higher employee satisfaction and
reduced turnover.
In fitting personality and job John Holland's developed personality job fit theory which identifies
six personality types and proposes that the fit between personality type and occupational
environment determines satisfaction and turnover. The theory is based on the notion of fit between
an individual's personality characteristics and his or her occupational environment.
The theory argues that satisfaction is highest and turnover lowest where personality and
occupation are in agreement. Social individuals should be in social jobs, conventional people
in conventional jobs, and so forth. A realistic person in a realistic job is in a more congruent
situation than is a realistic person in an investigative job. A realistic person in a social job is
in the most incongruent situation possible.
The key points of this model are that:
1. There do appear to be intrinsic differences in personality among individuals,
2. There are different types of jobs, and

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 3. People in job environments congruent with their personality types should be more
satisfied and less likely to voluntarily resign than people in incongruent jobs.

2.4. Learning
Learning is a relatively permanent change in knowledge or observable behavior that results from
practice or experience. Learning is a Process by which a relatively enduring change in behavior
occurs as a result of practice. Learning is any relatively permanent change in behavior that occurs
as a result of experience.

❖ First, learning involves change.

❖ Second, the change must be relatively permanent.
❖ Third, the change is concerned with behavior.
❖ Finally, some form of experience is necessary for learning acquired directly through
observation or practice.

2.4.2. Theories of Learning

How do we learn? Three theories have been offered to explain the process by which we acquire
patterns of behavior:
❖ Classical conditioning,
❖ Operant conditioning,
❖ Social learning

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Classical Conditioning: Learning by Association

Classical conditioning is the process by which individuals learn to link the information from a
neutral stimulus to a stimulus that causes a response. This response may not be under an
individual’s conscious control. In the classical conditioning process, an unconditioned stimulus
(environmental event) brings out a natural response. Then a neutral environmental event, called a
conditioned stimulus, is paired with the unconditioned stimulus that brings out the behavior.
Eventually, the conditioned stimulus alone brings out the behavior, which is called a conditional
response.

This theory developed by Pavlov. He was studying the digestive system of dogs and became
intrigued with his observation that dogs deprived of food began to salivate when one of his
assistants walked into the room. He began to investigate this phenomenon and established
the laws of classical conditioning. Pavlov carried out this experiment in three sequential stages.

In stage one; he presented meat (unconditional stimulus) to the dog. He noticed a great deal of
salivation (unconditional response). In stage two he only rang up the bell (neutral stimulus), the
dog had no salivation. In stage three, Pavlov was to accompany the offering of meat to the dog
along with ringing up of bell. After doing this several times, Pavlov rang up only bell (without
offering of meat to the dog). This time the dog salivated to the ringing up of bell alone. Pavlov
concluded that the dog has become classically conditioned to salivate (response) to the sound of
the bell (stimulus). It will be seen that the learning can take place amongst animals based on
stimulus – response (SR) connections. The study was undoubtedly single most famous study ever
conducted in behavioral sciences. It was a major breakthrough and had a lasting impact on
understanding of learning.

This stimulus – response connection (S-R) can be applied in management. Historically when a
CEO visits an organization, production charts are updated, individuals put on a good dress, window
panes are cleaned and floors are washed. What all one has to do is to just say that the Top Boss is
visiting. You will find that all above work is undertaken (response) without any instructions.
Because the people in the organization have learned the behavior (conditioned). It has caused a
permanent change in the organization (S-R) connections.

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Operant Conditioning

The concept was originated by B.F. Skinner. It is a type of conditioning in which desired voluntary
behaviors leads to reward or prevent punishment which deals with Response Stimulus (R-S)
connection.

Operant conditioning argues that behavior is a function of its consequences. People learn to behave
to get something they want or avoid something they don't want. Operant behavior means voluntary
or learned behavior in contrast to reflexive or unlearned behavior. The tendency to repeat such
behavior is influenced by the reinforcement or lack of reinforcement brought about by the
consequences of the behavior. Reinforcement, therefore, strengthens a behavior and increases the
likelihood it will be repeated.

Skinner argued that by creating pleasing consequences to follow specific forms of behavior, the
frequency of that behavior will increase. People will most likely engage in desired behaviors if
they are positively reinforced for doing so. Rewards, for example, are most effective if they
immediately follow the desired response. Additionally, behavior that is not rewarded, or is
punished, is less likely to be repeated.

You see illustrations of operant conditioning everywhere. For example, any situation in which it
is either explicitly stated or implicitly suggested that reinforcements are contingent on some action
on your part involves the use of operant learning. Your instructor says that if you want a high grade
in the course you must supply correct answers on the test. A commissioned salesperson wanting
to earn a sizable income finds it contingent on generating high sales in her territory. Of course, the
linkage can also work to teach the individual to engage in behaviors that work against the best
interests of the organization.
Social Learning

This is a theory that states the learning of People through observation and imitation of others in a
social context. Individuals can also learn by observing what happens to other people and just by
being told about something, as well as by direct experiences. So, for example, much of what we
have learned comes from watching models-parents, teachers, peers, motion picture and television
performers, bosses, and so forth.

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While social-learning theory is an extension of operant conditioning that is, it assumes behavior is
a function of consequences-it also acknowledges the existence of observational learning and the
importance of perception in learning. People respond to how they perceive and define
consequences, not to the objective consequences themselves.

2.4.3. Methods of shaping behavior

There are three ways in which to shape behavior:
❖ reinforcement, ❖ punishment, ❖ extinction
1. Reinforcement

Reinforcement is a behavioral shaping method that increases the frequency of a particular

behavior that it follows. There are two types of reinforcements which are positive and negative
reinforcements. Whether positive or negative, reinforcement always increases the frequency of the
employee behavior.

A. Positive Reinforcement: When a response is followed with something pleasant, it is

called positive reinforcement. These positive reinforcers could include items such as raises,
bonuses, or promotions or less tangible things such as praise or encouragement.
B. Negative reinforcement: refers to an increase in the frequency of a behavior following
removal of something that is displeasing (e.g., an undesired situation) immediately after
the response. If your college instructor asks a question and you don't know the answer,
looking through your lecture notes is likely to preclude your being called on. This is a
negative reinforcement because you have learned that looking busily through your notes
prevents the instructor from calling on you.
2. Punishment

Punishment is an undesirable consequence of a particular behavior. Punishment decreases the

frequency of an undesired behavior.

E.g. A professor who takes off 10 points for each day a paper is late is using punishment. Giving
an employee a two-day suspension from work without pay for showing up drunk is an example of
punishment.

Punishment is sometimes confused with Negative reinforcement because both use unpleasant
events that influence behavior. Negative reinforcement is used to increase the frequency of a
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desired behavior. In contrast, punishment is used to decrease the frequency of an undesired
behavior.

3. Extinction

Extinction refers to decline in response rate because of non-reinforcement. When the behavior is
not reinforced, it tends to gradually be extinguished.

For example, a member of a work team may have gotten into the habit of telling jokes at team
meetings because people laughed at them (positive reinforcement). If the team began to feel that
the jokes were a time waster and made an effort not to laugh, over time the team member’s joke
telling is likely to diminish.

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