CHAPTER TWO- FOUNDATION OF INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR AND

LEARNING IN AN ORGANIZATION
2.1. Perception and Individual Decision Making
Definition:
Perception is defined as “a process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory
impressions in order to give meaning to their environment (Robbins)”.
(a) What one perceives may be different from objective reality. A person coming late on duty
may be perceived as casual and tardy while there may be social problems faced by him.
(b) There is often disagreement among the individuals in the organization in relation to pay and
allowances, administrative back up, policies and procedures and the place of work itself. An
individual who displays a positive attitude may perceive above factors as good and conducive to
work environment while the others may consider them inadequate. Employees also compare
themselves on job assignment.
(c) It would often be observed that the manager is rated differently by his subordinates because
of the different perception of the individual about the manager. y. Sensation and perception are
complex phenomenon.
Perception is outcome of sensation and is much broader in its nature. Perception involves
observing data, selecting, and organizing the data based on sensory reflects and interpreting
the same as per personality attributes of the perceiver. That is why no two individuals can
perceive an employee in the same manner, for one he may be efficient while for the other he may
be perceived as useless.
Understanding perceptual process helps managers know better why people perceive things as
they do differently, and to better deal with such differences and minimize some distortions that
occur.

Attention &
Environmental Selection Organization Interpretation Personal
stimuli Classification Beliefs meaning & Behavior
Perceiver
Perceived Figure-ground Values intentions
Setting Closure Attitudes
Fig: 2.1. The perceptual process – from stimuli to behavior

Factors Influencing Perception

There are a number of factors operate to shape & sometimes to distort perception. These factors
mainly reside (as shown in the figure below) the perceiver, the target, and the situation.

The perceiver
The situation attitudes
time motives
work setting interests
social setting experience
Perception expectation

The target
Novelty
Motion; Sounds; size
background
proximity

Fig: 2.2. Factors that influence perception

Perceiver: When an individual looks at the object and attempts to interpret the same, what he or
she sees it is largely influenced by the personal characteristics. Perception is a matter of attitude
that can be positive or negative. 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.
Motive is another factor that plays an important role in perception. 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 in an individual. 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. It has also been observed in the work places that workers would display interest as per
their liking. Students in the class when preoccupied are not attentive in the class.
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 for
example, subsequent visit to a historic place. Object or events that have not been experienced
before are more noticeable and creates an interest for example, a female manager.
Expectations can distort one’s perception in what one sees and what one expects to see. For
example power hungry police officer to be strict regardless of his actual traits.
The Target: Objects, events that are similar to each other tend to group together and have a
tendency of perceiving them as common group. Physical and time proximity also leads us to
perceiving a situation in a different form than actual reality. Soldiers in identical uniform and
their uprightness is perceived as being strict, ruthless and tough, on the contrary they are sober,
soft and very delicate at heart. It is therefore important to analyses the event, situation, or an
object in its correct perspective and be led by similarity, physical and time proximity.
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. What
is important to remember is the perception should be done in a correct manner not to be led due
to work setting or social setting and that the situation is not allowed to perceive wrongly. An
object can be identified by its size, shade, shape, sound it makes and background. It can be
distinguished based on its movement. In darkness it may be identified by its silhouette, for
example caravan moving on skyline at the dawn.
Attribution Theory of Perception
In day-to-day life, we come across people with whom we interact. Motives, intentions, belief and
attitude of people have an impact as to how they behave. It has been seen that our perception
about the people is greatly influenced by the assumption we make about a person and not by
reality. There are two factors, which has an impact on human behavior. Firstis internally caused
behavior – refers to internal factors on which individual has a full control, secondly the
externally caused behavior refers to the behavior which has been caused due to external factors
and that the individual has no control over it.
Attribution theory suggest that when we evaluate human behavior, it is either internally
caused or it is caused due to external factors as explained above. The determination however
depends on the following three factors depicted in the following figure.

Observation Interpretation Attribution of

cause
High External
Distinctiveness
Low Internal

High External
Individual Consensus
behavior
Low Internal
High
Consistency External

Low Internal

Figure: 2.3. Attribution Theory

(A) Distinctiveness: Let us for evaluation purposes take an example of X worker coming late for
duty. When we carry out interpretation there are two factors, one whether arriving late is usual or
unusual behavior. If it is usual, it is attributed to internal factor on which X has full control.
When the behavior is unusual then it can be attributed to external factors. In the former situation
individual could be counseled appropriately in the later situation, the external factors cannot be
corrected. If the external factors are high, then late coming should not be attributed to the
individual behavior.
(B) Consensus: This factor refers to group behavior. If the entire group taking the same route
came late on duty, the causation is attributed to external factors. But by some chance if X only
was late then the causation would be internal.
(C) Consistency: If the behavior of Mr. X is consistence that is if he is consistently coming late
then attribution should be to internal factors. In such cases there is a high internal causation. If X
came late once in a while the causation would be low and attributed to external factors. More
consistencies the behavior, the more the observer is inclined to attribute it to internal causes. It
has been seen that we have the tendency to under estimate the influence of external factors and
overestimate the influence of internal factors or personal factors while carrying out perception.
This phenomenon is called the fundamental attribution error.
Aspect of personality that influence perceptions
Costello, Zalkind (1962) and Hamacheck (1971) indicate the following relationship between
personality factors and perception
(a) Secure person perceives others as warm individuals.
(b) Self-accepting people perceive others liking and accepting them. Those who are not self-
accepting tend to distrust others.
(c) Self-accepting person also accepts others easily which is not true of those who are not self-
accepting.
(d) People tend to perceive others more accurately when they are more like the ones they
perceive than if they are different from those who are being perceived.
Common Errors While Judging Others
1. Selective Perception: People selectively interpret what they see based on their attitude,
interest, background and experience. In an organization so many things keep happening but
different people will perceive one fact differently based on individuals selectivity in perceiving
which is generally based on his past experience and attitude towards work. It is important that
when we read others, we make a mistake reading with speed and putting seal of what has been
selectively seen by a perceiver. For correct perception an individual must be observed, studied,
tried and later perceived without an individual bias.
2. Halo Effect: Halo effect refers to judging an individual based on single characteristics, such
as intellectual ability, sociability and appearance. This type of perception is quite common in any
organization, which is called halo effect in perceiving an individual or situation. A rater may rate
a subordinate based on dominance of a single trait of the subordinate. The halo effect has been
very frequently noticed in performance appraisal.
3. Projection: You assume a person based on your own traits and not what he actually possesses.
If you were hard working and dependable you would expect others to be so. If a person projects
the above characteristics in his dealings he is rated high or perceived in a different way than what
he actually is. It is commonly found that subordinates do or exhibit the same behavior as desired
by the boss.
4. Contrast Effect: We do not evaluate a person in isolation. Our reaction to one person is
relative to the other. During selection process, interviewer selects a particular person for a
particular job not because he fulfils all requirements but he is generally selected in relation to the
other candidates. Individual selected may be academically, skill wise, experience wise better
than those not selected. So it is a comparative or contrast phenomenon of perception. We
generally hear, people say that Mr. X presentation was good thereby meaning it was better in
relation to other people who would have made presentations in a particular session.
5. Stereotyping: In order to simplify matters, we often tend to classify people and events into
already known categories or groups. For example we generally perceive man as executive and
woman as secretary even if the situation may be different. For police person, it is generally
believed that they are generally tough and law abiding which may not be true. In reality this may
not be true. Similarly we attach positive attribute to judges, professors and doctors and negative
attributes to school dropouts, addicts although they may not be really so.
2.2. ATTITUDE
According to G.W. Allport, “Attitude is a mental and neutral state of readiness organized
through experience, exerting a directive or dynamic influence upon individual’s response to
all objects and situations with which it is related.”
Krech and Crutchfield defined “attitude as an enduring organization of motivational,
emotional, perceptual and cognitive processes with respect to some aspect of the
individual’s world”
In effect attitude is used in a generic sense, as to what people perceive, feel and express their
views about a situation, object or other people. Attitude cannot be seen, but the behavior can be
seen as an expression of attitude.

2.2.1. Components of Attitude

(a) Cognitive component: Cognitive component of attitude is related to value statement. It
consists of belief, thoughts, values and other information that an individual may possess or has
faith in. Quality of working hard is a value statement or faith that a manager may have.
(b) Affective component: Affective component of attitude is related to person’s feelings about
another person, which may be positive, negative or neutral. I do not like Maya because she is not
hard working, or I like Mina because she is hard working.
It is an expression of feelings about a person, object or a situation.
(c) Behavioral component: Behavioral component of attitude is related to impact of various
situations or objects that lead to individual’s behavior based on cognitive and affective
components. I do not like Maya because she is not hard working is an affective component, I
therefore would like to disassociate myself with her, is a behavioral component and therefore I
would avoid Maya. Development of favorable attitude and good relationship with Mina is but
natural. Individual’s favorable behavior is an outcome of the fact that Mina is hard working.
Cognitive and affective components are bases for such behavior.

2.2.3. Sources of Attitudes

Attitudes like values are acquired from parents, teachers, and peer group members. We are born
with certain genetic predispositions. Then, in our early years, we begin modeling out attitudes
after those we admire, respect, or may be even fear. We observe the way family and friends
behave, and we shape out attitudes and behavior to align with theirs. People also imitate the
attitudes of popular individuals and those they admire and respect.
In contrast to values, your attitudes are less stable. Advertising messages, for example, attempt to
alter your attitudes toward a certain product or service. In organizations, attitudes are important
because they affect job behavior. If workers believe, for example, that supervisors, auditors,
bosses, and time-and-motion engineers are all in conspiracy to make employees work harder for
the same or less money, then it makes sense to try to understand how these attitudes were
formed, their relationship to actual job behavior, and how they might be changed.

2.2.4. Types of Attitude

Job satisfaction: Job satisfaction is related to general attitude towards the job. A person having a
high level of satisfaction will generally hold a positive attitude while dissatisfied people will
generally display negative attitude towards life. When we talk about attitude, we generally speak
about job satisfaction because they are inter-related in organizational behavior.
Job involvement: 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 (Robbins). High level of involvement indicates that the individual
cares for his job, which has an impact on high productivity.
Organizational commitment: Organizational commitment refers to degree to which an
employee identifies himself with the organizational goals and wishes to maintain membership in
the organization. He wants to “belong” to the organization and take an active part in its
functioning. Absenting or resigning from the job versus job satisfaction is a predictor of
organizational commitment. The concept has been very popular in the recent times.
Organizational commitment depends upon degree to which the workers enjoy autonomy and
freedom of action while performing.
2.2.5. Attitude and Consistency
As stated earlier that the attitude of an individual is not visible but is reflected through his
behavior as a mirror of his attitude. It is seen that people seek consistency among their attitudes
or between attitude and behavior. They seek to reconcile their attitudes and align their attitudes
with behavior so that it is rational and consistent. If there is inconsistency between attitude and
behavior, outside forces act upon an individual, which leads to attaining of equilibrium state,
thus consistency is achieved.
Cognitive Dissonance Theory
The theory proposed in 1950s seeks to explain linkage between attitudes and behavior. We have
often observed workers saying that working conditions in an organization are poor. Does it mean
that if the working conditions were improved the workers will achieve higher productivity? It is
a difficult question to answer, because there is in-consistency between working conditions and its
impact on changing of attitude of workers in relation to productivity. Festinger explains that
dissonance is inconsistency, and cognitive dissonance refers to any inconsistency or
incompatibility that an individual might perceive between two or more attitudes, and attitude and
behavior.
He further argues that
(a) Any form of inconsistency is uncomfortable and individual attempts to reduce dissonance or
discomfort.
(b) Individual tries to reduce dissonance to achieve stable state of behavior. For example non-
payment of tax (behavior) while recommending payment and displaying honesty towards social
obligation (attitude)
Reduction of dissonance
Reduction of dissonance depends upon following three factors.
(a) Importance of the issue, element or situation. If elements creating dissonance are
unimportant, the pressure to correct behavior will be low. For example to prevent pollution (non-
use of polythine bags) is not so important for an individual.
Therefore, though prevention of pollution is important but individual rarely show the concern
and keep using plotline bags in day-to-day Life. On the other hand train driver, though does not
want to run the train at odd hours of night but he has to make the living and hence he runs the
train (behavior) in spite of the high degree of dissonance because it is related to high degree of
rewards.
(b) Degree of influence individual believes he has on issue, element or situation. If one
perceives that the dissonance is uncontrollable then one is less likely to change the attitude.
Attitude change is a matter of conviction. It is voluntary in nature. In such situation (because it is
from within) the pressure to change the attitude is more to reduce the state of discomfort. For
example voluntary disclosure of Income Tax scheme (VDIS) introduced by the government. If
an individual wants to reduce dissonance (tension of being caught if not paid) and if the degree
of influence is high, then the pressure to reduce dissonance will be high and therefore individual
will disclose his income (behavior).
(c) Reward that may be associated to the dissonance. Rewards influence the degree to which
individuals are motivated to reduce dissonance. If high rewards are associated with dissonance
(discomforts) then individual will reduce tension, which is inherent in dissonance. A reward acts
as positive attitude change agent and further achieves consistency in human behavior. VDIS is a
scheme where government had asked people to disclose their income and that it would not ask
the individuals about its source. The scheme therefore attempted to reduce dissonance that led to
heavy deposits in the banks.
Organizational implications
(a) The theory can help predict individual attitude and behavioral change.
(b) Greater the dissonance (incompatibility or discomfort) the greater would be the pressures to
reduce the same (after they have been moderated by choice, importance and rewards). Attitude –
behavior relationship can be improved by considering moderating variables of attitude and
behavior relationship. These are personal involvement, social constraints like group pressure and
the experience.

2.3. PERSONALITY
Personality is a very complex and multidimensional construct of a human being. No common
definition of personality has so far been arrived at. Personality is a dynamic organization within
an individual of those psychological systems that determines his unique adjustment with the
environment. It is a sum total of ways in which an individual reacts and interacts with others.
Personality is a stable set of characteristics and tendencies that determine those commonalities
and differences in the psychological behavior (thoughts, feelings, and actions) of people that
have continuity in time and that may not be easily understood as the sole result of the social and
biological pressures of the moment.

2.3.1. Determinants of Personality

Personality is determined by heredity, environment (culture) and situation under which an
individual works. This is shown in diagrammatic form as below:

Heredity Environment
Personality

Situation

Figure: 2.4. Factor influencing personality

Let us study these concepts one by one in detail.
Heredity
Heredity is transmitted through genes, which determine hormone balance, which later determine
physique and subsequently the personality. Heredity refers to 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. These factors have a deciding influence on how a person in an organization
would display his reactions in a particular situation.
Nature of health and psychological makeup that an individual enjoys can be traced from the traits
his parents possessed. Parents prominently pass on shyness, fear and distress to the next
generation
Environment
Every individual is born and brought up in a particular environment. Environment leaves an
imprint on the personality of an individual. It is commonly seen that a doctor’s son preferring his
father’s profession and a child of a soldier enters into Defense Services.
More advanced the socio-economic conditions of the society more would the children be forward
thinking. Environment should be viewed from the point of view of norms, ethics and value that
are observed and the attitude displayed by the social group. The cultural background is important
to evaluate personality.
In childhood, a parent, uncles, aunts and even neighbor’s behavior is copied by a child.
It is therefore necessary to display an ideal behavior on the part of all the adults who come in
direct contact with the children. Family molds character of children through role models re-
enforcements, rewards and punishments. Other influences like first born and later born child will
have different personality traits. First-born child would generally be commanding. Female child
would be more responsive and pass on sobering effect on younger brothers/sisters.
Situation
Individual has to interact with number of problems in a given situation, which does not remain constant. It
is subject to change and hence fluid in nature. There is therefore a need to recognize the person-situation
interaction. It can be social learning activity of personality. Thus personality is situational; the uniqueness
of each situation and any measure of personality must be examined. Personalities therefore mean how
people affect others, how they understand and view themselves, pattern of personality traits and person
situation interaction. When an individual goes to temple he would be sober, generally put on plain clothes
and bow. When the same individual goes for interview he would be armed with knowledge of the
organization.

The Big five model

The Big five model is a widely accepted five factor model of personality. It is a unifying
framework. The factors help people observe and understand an individual’s style and differences.
Each factor represents one aspect of individual’s personality and style and has important
implications for job performance (both to individual & team).
The Big five model Consists of five basic personality dimensions
 Extroversion
 Agreeableness
 Conscientiousness
 Emotional stability
 Openness to experience
Extroversion describes someone who is sociable, talkative, and assertive. Agreeableness
describes someone who is good natured, cooperative and trusting and also refers to individuals’
propensity to defer to others.
Conscientiousness describes someone who is responsible, dependable, persistent and
achievement-oriented. It is a measure of reliability. Emotional stability describes someone as
calm, enthusiastic, and secure. It taps a person’s ability to withstand stress. Openness to
experience describes someone in terms of imaginativeness, artistic sensitivity, and
intellectualism. It addresses one’s range of interests & fascination with novelty.

2.3.2. Major personality attributes influencing OB

There are specific personality attributes that are relevant and powerful predictors (indicators) of
behavior in organizations. The common ones are:
1. Locus of control
Locus of controlis the dimension of personality that explains the degree to which people believe
they are in control of their own fate, rather than external forces, they determine their own lives
i.e. describes individuals who believe that they control what happens to them.
Some people believe that they are in control of their own destiny where as others see themselves
as pawns of fate, believing that what happens to them in their lives is due to luck or chance.
Hence the first types are internals and the second ones are externals.
Internals are people who believe they control the events and consequences that affect their lives,
i.e. see themselves as masters of their own fate and not simply lucky. i.e. those who believe that
they control their destinies whereas Externals are people who believe that what happens is
caused by fate, lack, or other external forces. i.e. who see their lives as being controlled by
outside force.

Researchers have found important behavioral differences between internals and externals.
o Internals display greater work innovation
o Internals have stronger expectations that effort leads to performance
o Internals exhibit higher performance on tasks involving learning or problem
solving, when performance leads to valued rewards
o There is strong relationship between job satisfaction and performance for internals
than for externals
o Internals obtain higher salaries and greater salary increase than externals
 o Externals tend to be more anxious than internals.
2. Machiavellianism
Machiavellianism, named after Niccole Machiavelli, is a personality attribute that describes the
extent to which a person manipulates others for personal gain. It is describing the degree to
which an individual is pragmatic, maintains emotional distance, and believes that ends can be
justifying means.
The concept refers to rational, pragmatic approaches to situations and emotional distance from
subordinates. High Machiavelli performs better in loosely structured situations and when they
interact face to face with others.

3. Self –esteem (SE)

Self – esteem (SE) is individual’s degree of liking or disliking of themselves. People differ in the
degree to which they like or dislike themselves. It is a judgment one makes about one’s own
worth; and directly related to expectations for success.
People with high esteem tend to like themselves, have high expectation for success and feel
confident they can achieve their goals. Those with low self-esteem lack confidence, and look to
others for praise and reinforcement.
4. Self-monitoring
Self-monitoring has recently received increased attention in organizational literature. It is a
personality trait that measures/ refers an individual’s ability to adjust behavior to external
situational factors
Individuals high in self-monitoring show considerable ability to adjust & adapt their behavior to
external situational factors. They are highly sensitive to external cues and can behave differently
in different situations.
5. Risk taking
People differ in their willingness to take chances. Risk taking/ risk propensity refers to a person’s
willingness to take chances of risks, or a person’s willingness to take risks. People with high
propensity for risk make decisions faster and are willing to take the chances. Risk-aversive
people are more cautious, make decisions more carefully, and try to minimize risk.
High risk taking managers made more rapid decision and used less information in making their
choices than did the low risk-taking mangers (interestingly, the decision accuracy was the same
for both group).
6. Dogmatism
Dogmatism refers to the degree of flexibility or rigidity of person’s views. Those high in
dogmatism tend to be rigid and closed. They often view the world as threatening and cling their
beliefs. People lows in dogmatism are more open-minded and respective to considering views
that differ from their own cling.
7. Authoritarianism
Authoritarianism is the degree to which a person behaves that status and power difference are
appropriate in the organization. People high in authoritarianism tend to be autocratic and
demanding with subordinate but are likely to accept orders and directions from superiors without
questions. High authoritarian type could not fit well in organizations that require flexibility and
quick changes or sensitive to people and cooperative behavior. They would fit in highly
structured organization that values conformity (traditionalism).

Types of Personality
Do you know any people who are excessively competitive and always seem to be experiencing a
chronic sense of time urgency? If so it’s a good bet these people have a type a personality. A
type ‘A’ individual is “aggressively involved in a chronic, incessant struggle to achieve more and
more in less and less time, and it required to do so, against the opposing efforts of other things or
other persons.
Type A’s
1. Are always moving, walking, and eating rapidly;
2. Feel impatient with the rate at which most events take place;
3. Strive to think or do two or more things simultaneously;
4. Cannot cope with leisure time; and
5. Are obsessed with numbers, measuring their success in terms of how much of everything
there acquire.
In contrast to the Type ‘A’ personality is the Type ‘B’, who is exactly opposite. Type B’s 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 B’s
1. Never suffer from a sense of time urgency with its accompanying impatience.
2. Feel no need to display or discuss either their achievements or accomplishments unless
such exposure is demanded by the situation;
3. Play for fun and relaxation, rather than to exhibit their superiority at any cost; and
4. Can relax without guilt.
2.3.3. Matching Personalities and Jobs
This concern with matching the job requirements with personality characteristics is best
articulated in John Holland’s personality-job fit theory. The theory is based on the notion of fit
between an individual’s personality characteristics and his or her occupational environment.
Holland presents six personality types and proposes that satisfaction and the propensity to leave a
job depend on the degree to which individuals successfully match their personalities to a
congruent 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 individual;
2. There are different types of jobs, and
3. People in job environments congruent with their personality types should be more
satisfied and less likely to voluntarily resign than people in congruent jobs.

2.4. Learning
A definition of Learning
Learning is any relatively permanent change in behavior that occurs as a result of a person’s
interaction with the environment. Ironically, we can say that changes in behavior indicate
learning has taken place and that learning is a change in behavior.
2.4.1. Types or Theories Learning
How do we learn? Three theories of have been offered to explain the process by which we
acquire patterns of behavior. These are:-
Classical Conditioning: - is a type of conditioning where an individual responds to some
stimulus that would not invariably produce such a response. Dear students for further knowledge
you are required to ready Stephen P. Robbins page 106 – 107. This theory grew out of
experiments to teach dogs to salivate in response to the ringing of a bell, conducted at the turn of
the century by a Russian physiologist, Iran Pavlov.
Operant Conditioning: - is a type of conditioning in which desired voluntary behavior leads to
a reward or prevents a punishment. It argues that behavior is a function of its consequence.
People learn to behave to get something they want or avoid something they don’t want.
Organizational behavior means voluntary or learned behavior in contrast to reflective or
unlearned behavior. The tendency to repeat such behavior is influenced by the reinforcement or
lack of reinforcement brought about by the consequence of the behavior.
Social-Learning Theory
This theory advocates people can learn through observation and direct experience. 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.
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.

2.4.2. Methods of Shaping Behavior

We can shape behavior by systematically reinforcing each successive steps that moves the
individual closer to the desired response. Reinforcement would increase as responses more
closely approximate the desired behavior.
Strategies of reinforcement, punishment and extinction
There are four way in which to shape behavior: through positive reinforcement, negative
reinforcement, punishment and extinction. Look at the following table.
Consequence No Consequence
is introduced consequence is removed
Positive Negative
reinforcement
Behavior reinforcement
Example: Supervisor
increases Example: You receive a
stops criticizing you
bonus after successfully
or is when your job
completing an important
maintained performance improved.
project
Punishment Extinction Punishment
Behavior Example: You are Example: Co-workers Example: You give up
decreases threatened with a demotion no longer praise you your “Employee of the
or discharge after treating a when you engage in month” parking spot to
client badly. dangerous pranks. this month’s winner

I. Positive reinforcement – This occurs when the introduction of a consequence

increases or maintains the frequency or future probability of a behavior. Receiving a
bonus after successfully completing an important project usually creates positive
reinforcement because it typically increases the probability that you use those
behaviors in the future.
II. Negative reinforcement:- Occurs when the removal or a voidance of a
consequence increases or maintains the frequency or future probability of a behavior.
Supervisors apply negative reinforcement when they stop criticizing employees
whose substandard performance has improved.
III. Punishment: - This occurs when a consequence decreases the frequency or future
probability of a behavior. It may occur by the supervisor’s introducing an unpleasant
consequence or removing a pleasant consequence.
IV. Extinction: - occurs when the target behavior decreases because no consequence follows it.
For example, if an employee makes practical jokes that are potentially dangerous or costly,
this behavior might be extinguished by discouraging others from praising the employee when
he/she engages in these pranks. Behavior that is no longer reinforced tends to disappear; it
becomes extinct.