Foundations of Individual

Behavior
 Individual-Level Variables (Outline)
Biographical Characteristics
Ability
Personality
Perception
Attitudes
Motivation
Learning &
 Their impact on employee productivity, absence, turnover,
and job satisfaction.
 And other recently added dependent variables in OB such as
Organizational citizenship behavior, Job involvement, and
work place deviance
1. Biographical Characteristics
Age
Age and Productivity
Belief: job performance declines with increasing age.
Evidences:
Older workers specifically bring to their jobs
experience, judgment, a strong work ethic, and
commitment to quality.
But older workers are also perceived as lacking
flexibility and as being resistant to new technology.
Younger employees are adaptable and open to change
Age—turnover
 the older one get, the less likely to quit one’s job
 Fewer job opportunities
 Long tenure :higher wage rate, longer paid vacation, better
pension benefits.
Age—absenteeism
 Lower avoidable absence
 Higher unavoidable absence

Age--satisfaction
 The finding is mixed.
 Professional—increase.

 Non-professional—U shape
Gender
Will the differences between man and women
affect their job performance?

difference No difference
Productivity ◎
Work schedule ◎ when employee
has pre-school
children
Turnover ◎ woman--higher
Absence ◎ woman--higher
Job Satisfaction ◎
Tenure- Seniority
Seniority positively related to job productivity
Seniority negatively related to absence.
Seniority negatively related to turnover.
Tenure on one’s previous job is a powerful predictor
of the one’s future turnover.
Tenure positively related to satisfaction.
Marital Status
Research indicates that:
Married employees have fewer absences, undergo less

turnover, and are more satisfied with their jobs than

unmarried coworkers and productive.
 Can we say that one is
inherently inferior/superior than
another?
Ability is an individual’s current
capacity to perform the various
tasks in a job.
Ability

Intellectual physical

Intellectual Ability
The capacity to do mental activities.
• Number aptitude Deductive Reasoning
• Verbal comprehension
• Perceptual speed
• Inductive reasoning
• Deductive reasoning
• Spatial visualization Inductive Reasoning
• The ability to mentally
manipulate 2-dimensional and
3-dimensional figures

• Memory
Physical Ability
The capacity to do tasks demanding stamina,
dexterity (swiftness or precision), strength, and
similar characteristics.

Flexibility Factors
5. Extent flexibility
Strength Factors 6. Dynamic flexibility
1. Dynamic strength Other Factors
2. Trunk strength 7. Body coordination
3. Static strength 8. Balance
4. Explosive strength 9. Stamina
 Ability-Job
Employee’s Fit Job’s Ability
Abilities Requirements
The Ability-Job Fit
Ability-Job
Employee’s Job’s Ability
Abilities Fit Requirements

• Performance

Low High inadequate

• Organizational Inefficiencies
• Reduce Job satisfaction

High Low
• Ensuring the ability job fit is the critical responsibility to
ensure productivity, job satisfaction and reducing turnover
• Towards this end adequate consideration need to be given
to:
 Recruitment and selection
 Job analysis
 Promotion and transfer decisions

• Diversity Management: recruiting, hiring, retention,

and development practices should leverage diversity
for the organization’s competitive advantage
Personality
Why are some people quiet and passive, while others
are loud and aggressive?
Stable set of both physical and psychological
characteristics that makes some one unique
Personality is “the dynamic organization within the
individual of those psychophysical systems that determine
his unique adjustments to his environment.” (Gordon
Allport)
Measuring Personality is relevant in hiring decisions
Personality can be measured using:
 Self-report surveys
 Observer-ratings surveys
Personality Determinants
• Heredity
At the time of conception (from parents)
Facial attractiveness, physical structure…
• Environment
Culture we raised and the norms
(that promotes competitiveness…
Personality traits
• Personality traits are permanent characteristics
(loyal, shy, ambitious, aggressive…) exhibited in large
number of situations that describe an individual’s
behavior
The more consistent the characteristic and the more
frequently it occurs in diverse situations, the more
important that trait is in describing the individual
They are important in employee selection, matching
employees to jobs and guiding career development
decisions
Extrovert Vs Introvert
Sensing Vs Intuitive
Thinking Vs Feeling
Judging Vs Perceiving
Note:
• Have lesser research support
• Commonly used for self awareness and career
development
• Rate your self using the MBTI questionnaire
The Big Five Model of Personality Dimensions

• Extroversion: assesses comfort levels with

relationships
Sociable, gregarious, and assertive

• Agreeableness; propensity to defer to others

cooperative, warm and trusting

• Conscientiousness: measure of reliability

Responsible, dependable, persistent, and organized

• Emotional Stability: taps ability to withstand stress

Calm, self-confident, secure under stress (positive), versus
nervous, depressed, and insecure under stress (negative).
• Openness to Experience: range of interest and
fascination with novelty
Curious, imaginative, artistic, and sensitive
The Big Five Traits and Behavior At Work
Implication for Management
• Several of the big five dimensions of personality have
links to work related behaviors

Conscientiousness- is the most strongly correlated to

job performance across most types and levels of jobs
Individuals who are dependable, organized, and hard-
working tend to perform better in their jobs
Extroversion is the big five dimensions with the second
highest correlation to job- related behaviors.
 Extroversion is particularly important in jobs that rely on
social interaction, such as management or sales person.
Openness to experience can help performance in some
instances but not others.
Open persons would be motivated to explore new ideas
and to learn.
They are adaptive to changing situations
Emotional stability-
Individuals who are neurotic are less productive than
as individuals who can cope with stress

Managerial implications
• No single trait (except Conscientiousness) is strongly
linked to how well an employee will perform in all
types and levels of jobs
• Instead, managers need to consider many factors,
especially the person-job fit and person-
24
Type A personality
A personality with aggressive
involvement in a chronic,
incessant struggle to achieve
more and more in less and less
time and, if necessary, against the
opposing efforts of other things or
other people.

25
cont,………………
Type As are often impatient, hurried,
competitive, and hostile, but these traits tend
to emerge most often when a Type A
individual experiences stress or challenge.
Type As are fast workers because they
emphasize quantity over quality.
In managerial positions, Type As demonstrate
their competitiveness by working long hours
and, not infrequently, making poor decisions
because they make them too fast.
26
Cont………………….
 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.
27
Type B personality
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.

28
29
 Cont…………………….
Despite the hard work of Type As, Type Bs are the ones
who appear to make it to the top.
Great salespeople are usually Type As; senior
executives are usually Type Bs.
Why? The answer lies in the tendency of Type As to tradeoff
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.”

30
 Discussion Questions
Think about the personality traits covered in this chapter. Can you think of
jobs or occupations that seem particularly suited to each trait? Which traits
would be universally desirable across all jobs?
What are the unique challenges of managing employees who have low self-
efficacy and low self-esteem, low self-monitoring, negative core-self
evaluations, high risk taking, high Machs, external locus of control, and
high proactive personality scores? How would you deal with this
situations?
What are some methods that companies can use to assess employee
personality?
Have you ever held a job where your personality did not match the
demands of the job? How did you react to this situation? How were your
attitudes and behaviors affected?
Can you think of any limitations of developing an “ideal employee” profile
and looking for employees who fit that profile while hiring?
Which combination of the personality traits more likely fit with success of
individuals working in financial institution? Why? Discuss.
Perception

5–32
 • People’s behavior is
Perception
based on their
A process by which perception of what
individuals organize and
reality is, not on
interpret their sensory
impressions in order to reality itself.
give meaning to their • The world as it is
environment.
perceived is the world
that is behaviorally
important.

5–33
Attribution Theory
When individuals observe
behavior, they attempt to
determine whether it is
internally or externally caused.

• That determination, however, depends largely on three factors:

Distinctiveness: shows different behaviors in different situations.
Consensus: response is the same as others to same situation.
Consistency: responds in the same way over time.
5–35
Fundamental Attribution Error
The tendency to underestimate
the influence of external factors
and overestimate the influence
of internal factors when making
judgments about the behavior
of others.

5–37
Self-Serving Bias
The tendency for individuals
to attribute their own
successes to internal factors
while putting the blame for
failures on external factors.

5–38
Selective Perception
People selectively interpret what they see on the
basis of their interests, background, experience,
and attitudes.

5–39
Halo Effect
Drawing a general impression
about an individual on the
basis of a single characteristic
(intelligence, sociability...)

Contrast Effects
Evaluation of a person’s characteristics that
are affected by comparisons with other
people recently encountered who rank higher
or lower on the same characteristics.
5–40
 Stereotyping
Projection
Judging someone on the
Attributing one’s own basis of one’s perception of
characteristics to other the group to which that
people. person belongs (E.g., male
not interested in child care)

5–41
Specific Applications of shortcuts in
Organizations
Employment Interview
Perceptual biases of raters affect the accuracy of
interviewers’ judgments of applicants.
Performance Expectations
Self-fulfilling prophecy (pygmalion effect): The lower or
higher performance of employees reflects preconceived
leader expectations about employee capabilities.

5–42
Ethnic Profiling
A form of stereotyping in which a group of individuals
is singled out—typically on the basis of race or
ethnicity—for intensive inquiry, scrutinizing, or
investigation.

Performance Evaluations
Appraisals are often the subjective (judgmental)
perceptions of appraisers of another employee’s job
performance.

Employee Effort
Assessment of individual effort is a subjective judgment
subject to perceptual distortion and bias.
Attitudes
Attitudes Cognitive Component
The opinion or belief segment of an attitude
Evaluative
statements or
judgments Affective Component
concerning
objects, people, The emotional or feeling segment of an
or events attitude

Behavioral Component
An intention to behave in a certain
way toward someone or something
Job Satisfaction: General attitude towards job
A collection of positive and/or negative feelings that an
individual holds toward his or her job

Job Involvement
Psychological Identification with the job, actively
participating in it, and considering performance important
to self-worth

Organizational Commitment
Identifying with a particular organization and its goals,
and willingness to maintain membership in the
organization (Affective, Normative, and Continuance
Commitment)
Perceived Organizational Support
Degree to which employees feel the organization cares
about their well-being

Employee Engagement
An individual’s involvement with, satisfaction with,
and enthusiasm for the organization
Motivation:
• Motivation is a Latin word, which means to
move
• The willingness to exert high levels of effort
to reach organizational goals, conditioned by
the effort’s ability to satisfy some individual
need
• Motivation refers to the forces within a person
that affect his or her direction, intensity, and
persistence of voluntary behaviour
• Motivated employees are willing to exert a
particular level of effort (intensity), for a certain
amount of time (persistence), toward a
particular goal (direction) 6–52
• This definition of motivation recognizes that in order
to achieve goals, individuals must be sufficiently
stimulated and energetic, must have a clear focus or
end in mind, and must be willing and able to commit
their energy for a long enough period of time to
realize their aim
• The manager should make sure that employees are
sufficiently motivated in a continuous fashion and
provide a clear direction (goal specification) that is
consistent with the goal of the organization.
 Motivation

Effort

Organizational Needs
Goals

6–54
6–55
6–56
Hierarchy of Needs Theory
There is a hierarchy of five
needs:
Each need is substantially
satisfied, the next need
becomes dominant.

6–57
Lower-Order Needs Higher-Order Needs
Needs that are satisfied Needs that are satisfied
externally; physiological internally; social,
and safety needs Self Actualization esteem,
and self-actualization
needs
Esteem

Social

Safety

Physiological
6–59
6–60
• Movement up the Pyramid in order

• Only unsatisfied
needs are motivators Maslow Application:
A homeless person
will not be motivated to
meditate!

6–61
There are three groups of core needs:
existence, relatedness, and growth.

Core Needs

Existence: provision of basic material

requirements.

Relatedness: desire for relationships.

Growth: desire for personal development.

6–62
6–63
 ERG theory vs. Need Hierarchy Theory
1.Need Hierarchy Theory: needs operate parallelly

• ERG: more than one need can be operative at the same

time.
2.ERG: Frustration-regression principle.
• An already satisfied lower-level need becomes reactivated
when a higher-level need is frustrated.
• Need Hierarchy Theory: Stay there and try to satisfy

6–64
Examples:
Physiological needs: Provide lunch breaks, rest breaks,
and wages that are sufficient to purchase the essentials of
life.
Safety Needs: Provide a safe working environment,
retirement benefits, and job security.

Social Needs: Create a sense of community via team-

based projects and social events.

Esteem Needs: Recognize achievements to make

employees feel appreciated and valued.
•Offer job titles that convey the importance of the
position.
Self-Actualization: Provide employees a challenge
6–65
6–66
6–67
• Hygiene factors are
needed to ensure an employee does not
become dissatisfied.
• They do not lead to higher levels of motivation, but
without them there is dissatisfaction.

 Motivation factors are needed in order to motivate an

employee into higher performance.
 Motivators are related to the job itself and factors derived from
it. These factors result from internal generators in employees.
They create Satisfaction. Without them there is a state of “no
satisfaction”.
Hygiene Motivators
Separate constructs
Factors
– Hygiene Factors---
Extrinsic & Related to
Dissatisfaction

– Motivation Factors---
Intrinsic and Related
to Satisfaction

6–69
 Note: Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction are
not Opposite Ends of the Same
Thing!

The opposite of satisfaction-------No Satisfaction

The opposite of dissatisfaction------No dissatisfaction

Hygiene Factors
Dissatisfaction No Dissatisfaction

Motivators
No satisfaction Satisfaction
6–70
 Motivation factors
• Company policy &
increase job
administration
• Supervision satisfaction
• Interpersonal relations
• Working conditions • Work itself
• Salary • Achievement
• Status • Achievement
• Security recognition
• Responsibility
• Advancement
Hygiene factors avoid • Growth
job dissatisfaction
6–72
 Motivation-Hygiene Combinations

High M Low M
High H high motivation low motivation
few complaints few complaints
Low H high motivation low motivation
many complaints many complaints
(Motivation = M, Hygiene = H)
74
75
 To Bring satisfaction …………provide motivators
To avoid dissatisfaction…………. Provide hygiene factors

6–76
Theory X
Assumes that employees
dislike work, lack ambition,
avoid responsibility, and must
be directed and coerced to
perform.

Theory Y
Assumes that employees like
work, seek responsibility,
are capable of making
decisions, and exercise self-
direction and self-control
when committed to a goal.

6–77
 Having Little Ambition
Theory X Disliking Work
Managers See Workers As…

Avoiding Responsibility

Self-Directed
Theory Y Enjoying Work
Managers See Workers As…
Accepting Responsibility

6–78
 Managerial
Managerial
Managerial Implication
Implication
Implication
If Theory Y holds true:
Decentralization and Delegation
Job Enlargement - Broadening the scope of
job
Participative Management
Performance Appraisals – self & peer

If Theory X holds true:

people may not have reached the level of
maturity assumed by Theory Y and therefore
may need tighter controls that can be relaxed
as the employee develops.
6–79
 McClelland believes needs are:
– Need for achievement (n Ach)
– Need for affiliation (n Aff)
– Need for power (n Pow)

nPow

nAch nAff

6–80
Need for Achievement
The drive to excel, to achieve in relation to a set of
standards, to strive to succeed.
Achievers:
Don't believe on chance & dislike gambling
Striving for personal achievement rather than the
rewards of success.
Have a desire to do something better or more efficiently
than it has been done before.
Prefer to face challenges & accepting the personal
responsibility for success or failure
Dislike low odds (high probability of success) because
then there is no challenge to their skills.
Need for Power
The need to make others behave in a way that they would not have
behaved otherwise.
Individuals high in nPow

Enjoy being “in charge,”- to be accountable.

 Strive for influence over others
Prefer to be placed into competitive and status-oriented
situations
Tend to be more concerned with prestige and gaining influence over
others than with effective performance.

6–83
Need for Affiliation

The desire for friendly and close personal relationships.

Individuals with a high affiliation motive:

Have the desire to be liked and accepted
by others.
Strive for friendship

 Prefer cooperative situations rather than

competitive ones.

Desire relationships involving a high degree

of mutual understanding.
6–85
• High achievers are not necessarily good
managers.
• Affiliation and power closely related to
managerial success.
• Successful managers are high in need for
power and low in need for affiliation.

6–86
Providing an extrinsic reward for behavior that
had been previously only intrinsically rewarding
tends to decrease the overall level of motivation.

6–87
Major Implications for Work Rewards
Intrinsic and extrinsic rewards are not
independent
Extrinsic rewards decrease intrinsic rewards
Pay should be non-contingent on performance
Verbal rewards increase intrinsic motivation,
tangible rewards reduce it

Self-concordance
When the personal reasons for pursuing goals are
consistent with personal interests and core values
(intrinsic motivation), people are happier and more
successful.
6–88
• Goals can be a major source of work
motivation
• Tells what needs to be done and how much
effort need to expended
Factors influencing the goals–
performance relationship:
• Specific goals
•Difficult goals
•Feedback
• Participation
•Self-efficacy
6–89
•
Research Findings
Recently, Locke and Latham summarized the 35-year
work on goal setting and task motivation and
performance as follows:
With goal-setting theory, specific difficult goals have
been shown to increase performance on well over 100
different tasks involving more than 40,000
participants in at least eight countries working in
laboratory, simulation, and field settings. . . . The
effects are applicable not only to the individual but to
groups, organizational units, and entire organizations.
 Specific goals lead to increased performance.

 Difficult goals, when accepted, result in higher

output / motivation than easy goals.

 Self-Efficacy
The individual’s belief that he or she is capable
of performing a task.

6–91
 Provide valued outcomes for goal
accomplishment.
 Raise employees’ self-efficacy about
meeting goals by:
• Providing adequate training
• Role modeling desired behaviors and actions
(Vicarious modeling)
• Persuasively communicating confidence in the
employees ability to attain the goal
 Have employees make a public
commitment to the goal 6–92
 Communicate an inspiring vision and explain
how individual goals relate to accomplishing
the vision.

 Allow employees to participate in setting the

goals.

 Behave supportively rather than punitively.

 Break a long-term goal (i.e., a yearly goal) into

short-term sub-goals

 Ensure that employees have the resources

required to accomplish the goal. 6–93
 Behavior is environmentally caused.

 Reinforcers control behaviors.

 Consequences immediately following
response increase the probability of repeated
behavior.
 behavior is a function of its
consequences.

• Behavior can be modified (reinforced) by

providing (controlling) consequences.
• Reinforced behavior tends to be repeated. 6–94
Reinforcement
Positive reinforcement
Providing a reward for a desired behavior

Negative reinforcement
Removing an unpleasant consequence when the desired
behavior occurs

*Punishment
Applying an undesirable condition to eliminate an
undesirable behavior

*(NOTE: THIS IS NOT THE SAME AS NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT)

6–96
Individuals compare their job inputs and outcomes
with those of others and then respond to eliminate
any inequities.

Referent
Comparisons:
Self-inside
Self-outside
Other-inside
Other-outside

6–97
6–98
6–99
6–100
6–101
6–102
6–103
Equity is relative

Understanding the role of comparison people

is especially crucial.

6–104
Expectancy Theory (Victor Vroom)
The strength of a tendency to act in a certain way
depends on the strength of an expectation that the
act will be followed by a given outcome and on the
attractiveness of that outcome to the individual.

6–105
 Performance appraisal system

Training and Human resources

development management
6–106
Effort Expectancy
X

Perfor-
mance Instrument MOTIVATION
ality
X
Rewards

Rewards
Valence
6–108
 IMPLICATIONS OF EXPECTANCY THEORY
Clarify expectancies about effort and levels of
performance
Help employees attain desired level of performance, be a
coach
Clearly link rewards and performance
Know what types of rewards are desired.
Raise employees’ self-efficacy about meeting goals
by:
1. Providing adequate training
2. Role modeling desired behaviors and actions
3. Persuasively communicating confidence in the
employees ability to attain the goal
Have employees make a public commitment to the
goal.
6–110
Learning
Any relatively permanent change in behavior
that occurs as a result of experience.

Learning
• Involves change
• Is relatively permanent
• Is acquired through experience
Ivan Petrovich Pavlov
(1849 - 1936)
Russian physiologist
1. Classical Conditioning
A type of conditioning in which an individual
responds to some stimulus that would not
ordinarily produce such a response.

Key Concepts
• Unconditioned stimulus
• Unconditioned response
• Conditioned stimulus
• Conditioned response
Classical Conditioning: Key concepts explained…

Unconditionally, naturally, and automatically

triggers a response. For example, when you
smell one of your favorite foods, you may
immediately feel very hungry. In this example,
the smell of the food is the unconditioned
stimulus.
Classical Conditioning: Key concepts explained…

The unlearned response that occurs naturally in

response to the unconditioned stimulus. For
example, if the smell of food is the
unconditioned stimulus, the feeling of hunger in
response to the smell of food is the
unconditioned response.
 Classical Conditioning: Key concepts explained…

Previously neutral stimulus that, after becoming associated

with the unconditioned stimulus, eventually comes to trigger a
conditioned response.

Suppose that the smell of food is an unconditioned stimulus

and a feeling of hunger is the unconditioned response. Now,
imagine that when you smelled your favorite food, you also
heard the sound of a whistle. While the whistle is unrelated to
the smell of the food, if the sound of the whistle was paired
multiple times with the smell, the sound would eventually
trigger the conditioned response. In this case, the sound of
the whistle is the conditioned stimulus.
Classical Conditioning: Key concepts explained…

The learned response to the previously neutral stimulus.

For example, let's suppose that the smell of food is an
unconditioned stimulus, a feeling of hunger in response
the smell is a unconditioned response, and a the sound
of a whistle is the conditioned stimulus. The conditioned
response would be feeling hungry when you heard the
sound of the whistle.
2. Operant (or Instrumental) Conditioning
A method of learning that occurs through rewards and
punishments for behavior. Through operant
conditioning, an association is made between a
behavior and a consequence for that behavior.

Key Concepts
• Reflexive (unlearned) behavior
• Conditioned (learned) behavior
• Reinforcement
Operant conditioning was coined by behaviorist
B.F. Skinner, which is why, you may occasionally hear it
referred to as Skinnerian Conditioning.

As a behaviorist, Skinner believed that internal thoughts

and motivations could not be used to explain behavior.
Instead, he suggested, we should look only at the
external, observable causes of human behavior.

Skinner used the term operant to refer to any "active

behavior that operates upon the environment to
generate consequences" (1953). In other words,
Skinner's theory explained how we acquire the range of
learned behaviors we exhibit each and every day.
We can find examples of operant conditioning at work all
around us. Consider the case of children completing
homework to earn a reward from a parent or teacher, or
employees finishing projects to receive praise or
promotions.
In these examples, the promise or possibility of rewards
causes an increase in behavior, but operant conditioning
can also be used to decrease a behavior. The removal of
an undesirable outcome or the use of punishment can be
used to decrease or prevent undesirable behaviors. For
example, a child may be told they will lose recess privileges
if they talk out of turn in class. This potential for punishment
may lead to a decrease in disruptive behaviors.
Four types of learning processes in
Operant Conditioning
… a learning process that involves an increase or decrease in the
likelihood of some behavior as a result of the consequences.

1. Positive reinforcement
2. Negative reinforcement
3. Positive punishment
4. Negative punishment.
Four types of learning processes in
Operant Conditioning (cont’d…)
A reinforcer is any event that strengthens or increases the behavior it
follows. There are two kinds of reinforcers:

A) Positive reinforcers are favorable events or outcomes that are

presented after the behavior. In situations that reflect positive
reinforcement, a response or behavior is strengthened by the
addition of something, such as praise or a direct reward.

B) Negative reinforcers involve the removal of an unfavorable

events or outcomes after the display of a behavior. In these
situations, a response is strengthened by the removal of something
considered unpleasant.

In both of these cases of reinforcement, the behavior increases.

Punishment, on the other hand, is the presentation of an
adverse event or outcome that causes a decrease in the
behavior it follows. There are two kinds of punishment:

A) Positive punishment, sometimes referred to as

punishment by application of an adverse stimulus,
involves the presentation of an unfavorable event or
outcome in order to weaken the response it follows.

B) Negative punishment, also known as punishment

by removal of a pleasant stimulus, occurs when an
favorable event or outcome is removed after a behavior
occurs.
Examples of Positive Reinforcement
1. We may continue to go to work each day
because we receive a paycheck on a
weekly or monthly basis. 

2. If we receive awards for writing short

stories, we may be more likely to increase
the frequency of writing short stories.
Examples of Negative Reinforcement
Imagine that you decided to open a window in your
home.  However, you are not happy with the noise from
the traffic.  Thus, you decide to turn on the radio and
listen to music.  This makes the traffic noise less
noticeable.  The frequency in which you turn on the
radio when the window is open has increased.  This
would be an example of negative reinforcement. 
Turning on the radio has resulted in a decrease in the
unpleasantness of the traffic noise. 
Examples of Positive Punishment
1. The negative behavior of an employee decreases as
the result of being criticized by a supervisor.
Examples of Negative Punishment
1. The frequency in which an employee is
late for work deceases as a result of
losing the right to listen to music while
s/he works.
 It is important to not confuse negative
reinforcement and negative punishment. 
 They are different. 
 Negative reinforcement involves an
increase in a behavior.  
 In contrast, punishment involves a
decrease in a behavior.
 It depends…
 The use of positive reinforcement techniques
may result in people becoming more
extrinsically motivated.
 The ideal employee may be one who is
intrinsically motivated and does not require
constant supervision. Intrinsically motivated
employees may be less likely to be late.  They
also may be more likely to excel at their jobs. 
Shaping Behavior
Systematically reinforcing each successive step that
moves an individual closer to the desired response.

Key Concepts
• Reinforcement is required to change behavior.
• Some rewards are more effective than others.
• The timing of reinforcement affects learning
speed and permanence.
Methods of Shaping Behavior
• Positive reinforcement
– Providing a reward for a desired behavior.
• Negative reinforcement
– Removing an unpleasant consequence when the desired
behavior occurs.
• Punishment
– Applying an undesirable condition to eliminate an
undesirable behavior.
• Extinction
– Withholding reinforcement of a behavior to cause its
cessation.
Example of Extinction
If the smell of food (the unconditioned stimulus) had
been paired with the sound of a whistle (the
conditioned stimulus), it would eventually come to
evoke the conditioned response of hunger.
However, if the unconditioned stimulus (the smell of
food) were no longer paired with the conditioned
stimulus (the whistle), eventually the conditioned
response (hunger) would disappear.
Schedules of Reinforcement
In real-world settings, behaviors are probably not
going to be reinforced each and every time they
occur.
For situations where you are purposely trying to
train and reinforce an action, such as in the
classroom, in sports or in animal training, you
might opt to follow a specific reinforcement
schedule.
Some schedules are best suited to certain types of
training situations.
Schedules of Reinforcement (cont’d…)
In some cases, training might call for starting out
with one schedule and then switching to another
once the desired behavior has been taught.

A schedule of reinforcement is basically a rule stating

which instances of a behavior will be reinforced.
In some case, a behavior might be reinforced every
time it occurs.
Sometimes, a behavior might not be reinforced at all.
Two Types of Reinforcement Schedules
1. Continuous Reinforcement

2. Partial Reinforcement
2.1 Fixed-ratio schedules
2.2 Variable-ratio schedules
2.3 Fixed-interval schedules
2.4 Variable-interval schedules
Continuous Reinforcement
A desired behavior is reinforced
each time it is demonstrated.

Intermittent Reinforcement
A desired behavior is reinforced
often enough to make the
behavior worth repeating but not
every time it is demonstrated.
Fixed-Interval Schedule
Rewards are spaced at
uniform time intervals.

Variable-Interval Schedule
Rewards are given at variable
time.
Fixed-ratio
1. Deciding when to reinforce a behavior can
depend upon a number of factors.
2. In cases where you are specifically trying to
teach a new behavior, a continuous schedule is
often a good choice.
3. Once the behavior has been learned, switching
to a partial schedule is often preferable.
 Realistically, reinforcing a behavior every single
time it occurs can be difficult and requires a
great deal of attention and resources.
 Partial schedules not only tend to lead to
behaviors that are more resistant to extinction,
they also reduce the risk that the subject will
become satiated.
 If the reinforcer being used is no longer desired
or rewarding, the subject may stop performing
the desired behavior.
The social learning theory proposed by Albert Bandura has
become perhaps the most influential theory of learning and
development.

While rooted in many of the basic concepts of traditional

learning theory, Bandura believed that direct reinforcement
could not account for all types of learning.

His theory added a social element, arguing that people can

learn new information and behaviors by watching other
people. Known as observational learning (or modeling), this
type of learning can be used to explain a wide variety of
behaviors.
Bandura's Social-Learning Theory
People can learn through observation and direct experience.

"Learning would be exceedingly laborious, not to mention

hazardous, if people had to rely solely on the effects of their
own actions to inform them what to do. Fortunately, most
human behavior is learned observationally through modeling:
from observing others one forms an idea of how new
behaviors are performed, and on later occasions this coded
information serves as a guide for action.”
- Albert Bandura, Social Learning Theory, 1977
 OB Mod
The application of reinforcement concepts to individuals
in the work setting.

Five Step Problem-Solving Model

1. Identify critical behaviors
2. Develop baseline performance data
3. Identify behavioral contingencies or consequences of performance
4. Develop and apply intervention strategy to strengthen desirable
performance behaviors and weaken undesirable ones.
5. Evaluate performance improvement