Unit 2

Individual behaviour
Introduction : An organization is basically the association of human beings and a major problem
of today’s organization is how to get maximum possible efforts and contributions of the human
beings determining these efforts and contributions, those responsible for managing the
organization must understand the way human beings behave. It is to be noted that the world of
human work consists of individual performing jobs in some setting, usually in some
organization. The fact that there are tremendous differences among individuals and among jobs
is the basis of the frequently expressed notion of “matching” people and jobs and of the
expression “round pegs in square holes” when the “match” is not a good one. Mismatches can
occur in any setting.
Variables influencing Individual Behavior
The Person: Skills & abilities Personality Perceptions Attitudes Values Ethics
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The Environment: Organization Work group Job Personal life
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Behavior

A) Personal Factors: 1) Age 2) Education 3) Abilities 4) Marital Status 5) Number of

Dependents 6) Creativity 7) Emotional Intelligence as explained below:
1) Age: Age has impact on performance, turnover, absenteeism, productivity and
Satisfaction level Education: Increased levels of education serve to increase an
individual’s expectation about positive outcomes (general and specialized)
2) Ability: Ability refers to an individual’s capacity to perform various tasks in a given
job (intellectual and physical). Employee performance is enhanced when there is
ability-fit job • Marital Status: it has impact on absenteeism, turnover & satisfaction
5
3) Number of Dependents: There is a correlation between number of dependents and
absenteeism and satisfaction
4) Creativity: Creativity refers to the cognitive activity that results in a new or novel
way of viewing or solving a problem. They have three attributes of background
experience, personal traits and cognitive abilities (analytical skills)
 5) Emotional Intelligence: Emotions are an effective state of consciousness in which
joy, sorrow, fear, hate, love, surprise, and anger is expressed. Emotions have impact
on Mood, performance, Features are: Emotions are highly focused, expressions of
emotions is universal and Culture determines expression of feelings. Emotional
Intelligence helps us to monitor our emotions
B) Organizational Systems & Resources: 1) Physical Factors 2) Organizational structure &
design 3) Leadership 4) Reward System 5) Work related behavior as discussed below:
1. Physical Factors: Facilities Like lighting, ventilation, air-conditioning, décor, space
for employees, secretarial support.
2. Organizational structure & Design: The behavior & performance of an individual
is influenced by where that person fits into the overall structure & design of the
organization. Leadership: A leader provides direction, assistance, advice and
coaching to individuals, due to which a system of leadership and supervision is
necessary as it is a potential source of influence
3. Reward System: The behavior and performance of an individual is influenced by the
reward system of his or her organization
4. Work related behavior: The five stages of the individual’s stay in the organization
may be distinguished by joining in the organization, remaining with the organization,
maintaining work attendance, performing required tasks & exhibiting organizational
citizenship
C) Environmental Factors: 1) Economic 2) Social norms & cultural values 3) Ethics & social
Responsibility 4) Political as discussed below:
1. Economic Factors: All work is performed within economic framework that both
directly and indirectly, impinges on an organizational environment. Various factors
like employment opportunities, wage rates, economic outlook and Technological
change
2. Cultural Environment: Cultural environment is made up of institutions and other
forces that affect society’s basic values, perceptions, work ethics, achievement needs
and effort- reward expectations, values preferences and behavior
3. Ethics and Social Responsibility: Ethics refers to a system of moral principles; a
sense of right and wrong and goodness and badness of actions and the motives and
 the consequences of these actions. Social Responsibility or Corporate social
Responsibility is understood as the obligation of decision makers to take actions that
protect and improve the welfare of the society as a whole, along with their own
interest
4. Political Factors: The stability of Government tends to have impact on employment
opportunities and these, in turn, impact employee behavior. The political ideology of
a country affects individual behavior primarily through the relative freedom available
to the citizens
D) Psychological Factors • Perception, Attitude, Values, learning
1. Perception: Perception is the process of receiving information about and making sense of
the world around us. It involves deciding which information to notice, how to categorize this
information and how to interpret it within the framework of our existing knowledge.
• Perception is the act of seeing what is there to be seen
• Perception includes all those processes by which an individual receives information
about the environment-seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling.
The study of these perceptual processes shows that their functioning is affected by three
classes of variables: the objects or events being perceived, the environment in which perception
occurs and the individual doing the perceiving
Stephen P. Robins has defined perception as “Perception may be defined as a process by
which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning
to their environment.”
Perception is a more complex. It is virtually a cognitive, psychological process of sensing
filtering and modifying the raw data. Perception plays a crucial part in organizational life.
People often see the same phenomenon differently both with the organizational context and
outside the organization. For example, in relation to a strike, a manager may perceive the
immediate cause of the strike as trivial, while the workers may see it as very serious.
• Similarly, when there is any accident in the factory, the supervisor treat it as the
carelessness of workers while the workers may treat it has high handedness of the
management and lack of adequate provisions of security measures.
 • Thus, the situations remaining the same, causes have been assigned differently by
different group of persons. In order to understand the significance of this
phenomenon, one has to understand perception and its different aspects.
2. Attitude: Attitudes represent beliefs, feelings and action of an individual or group of
people toward objects, ideas or people. These feelings and beliefs define one’s
predispositions towards given aspects of the world. By attitudes we mean
 The beliefs, feelings and action tendencies of an individual or group of individuals
towards objects, ideas and people. Quite often persons and objects or ideas become
associated in the minds of individuals and as a result of attitudes become multi-
dimensional and complex
 An attitude is mental state of readiness, learned and organized through experience,
exerting a specific influence on person’s response to people, object and situations with
which it is related.
 Attitudes are learned
 Attitudes endure, unless something happens.
 Attitudes can fall anywhere along a continuum for very favorable to very unfavorable
 Attitudes are organized and are core to an individual
 All people, irrespective of their status or intelligence, holds attitude
Components of Attitudes Affective component and Cognitive component
a. affective component includes feelings, sentiments, moods and emotions about some idea,
person, event or object
b. cognitive component includes the beliefs, opinion, knowledge or information held by the
individual c. behavioral component includes the predispositions to get on a favorable or
unfavorable evaluation of something • an attitude represents the interplay of a person’s
affective, cognitive and behavioral tendencies with regard to a person, group, an event or an
issue.
3. Values • Value is generally used in two different ways:
 As a characteristics of an object or as an attribute possessed by an individual & through
desirable.
 A value system is viewed as a relatively permanent perceptual frame work which
influences the nature of an individual behavior.
  The values are the attributes possessed by an individual & thought desirable.
 Values are similar to attitude but are more permanent & well built in nature..
Importance of values:
 Values lay the foundation for the understanding of attitude and motivation
 Personal value system influence the perception of individuals
 Value system influences perception
 Value system influences decision making & solution to various problems
 Values influence the attitude & behavior
Sources of Our Value System • Social factors • Personal factors • Cultural factors •
Religious factors • Life experience • Role demands
4. Learning: A relatively permanent change in knowledge or behavior that results from
practice or experience.
The Learning Organization: Organizational learning is the process through which
managers instill in all members of an organization a desire to find new ways to improve
organizational effectiveness.
Five activities are central to a learning organization:
1. Encouragement of personal mastery or high self-efficacy.
2. Development of complex schemas to understand work activities.
3. Encouragement of learning in groups and teams.
4. Communicating a shared vision for the organization as a whole.
5. Encouraging systematic thinking. Knowledge management is the ability to capitalize on
the knowledge possessed by organizational members which is not necessarily written
down anywhere or codified in formal documents.
Personality
Personality: The overall profile or combination of characteristics that capture the unique nature
of a person as that person reacts and interacts with others.
Combines a set of physical and mental characteristics that reflect how a person looks, thinks,
acts, and feels.
Predictable relationships are expected between people’s personalities and their behaviors.
Meaning of Personality: Personality refers to a set of unique characteristics that make an
individual different from others.
Personality refers to the overall profile or combination of characteristics that capture unique
nature of a person as that person reacts and interacts with others.
Personality combines a set of physical and mental characteristics that reflect how a person looks,
thinks, acts and feels.
Personality Determinants There are several factors that determine the formation or shaping of
our personality. Among them the three major factors are:
i) Heredity: The genetic components inherited from our parents at the time of conception
determine strongly the personality characteristics of an individual. The color, height,
physical statutory, facial attractiveness, gender, temperament, muscle composition,
inheritable diseases etc are considered to be inherited from our parents.
ii) Environment: The culture in which people are brought up in their lives and they type of
socialization process such as family’s child rearing practices, socio economic status of
the family, number of children in a family, birth order, education of the parents, friends
and peer group pressures, religious practices, the type of schooling and recreational
activities, pastime behavior etc play a critical role in shaping our personalities.
iii) Situation: The type of specific situation which a person encounters also equally shapes
the type of personality characteristics. For example, an individual’s exposure to a job
interview and the type of experiences encountered during that time will shape certain
personality characteristics. Similarly, going for a picnic with friends and encountering the
type of experiences whether pleasant and unpleasant will shape the personality
characteristics of individuals.
Personality Traits: Popular characteristics including shy, aggressive, submissive, lazy,
ambitious, loyal and timid. Those characteristics, when they exhibited in large number of
situations, are called personality traits or enduring characteristics that describe on individual’s
behavior.
Primary Traits: Cattel (1973) identified 16 source traits/Primary Traits. These traits were found
to be generally steady and constant sources of behaviour.
1. Reserved - Outgoing
2. Less intelligent - More intelligent
3. Affected by feelings - Emotionally stable
4. Submissive - Dominant
5. Serious - Happy go Lucky
6. Expedient - Conscientious
7. Timid - Venturesome
8. Tough minded - Sensitive
9. Trusting - Suspicious
10. Practical - Imaginative
11. Forthright - Shrewd
12. Self-Assured - Apprehensive
13. Conservative - Experimenting
14. Group-dependent - Self-sufficient
15. Uncontrolled - Controlled
16. Relaxed – Tense
Characteristics of Personality: In order to understand the psychology of personality, it is
important to learn some of the key characteristics of how personality works.
1) Personality is organized and consistent. We tend to express certain aspects of our
personality in different situations and our responses are generally stable.
2) Personality is generally stable; it can be influenced by the environment. For example,
while your personality might lead you to be shy in social situations, an emergency might lead
you to take on a more outspoken and take-charge approach.
3) Personality causes behaviors to happen. You react to the people and objects in your
environment based on your personality. From your personal preferences to your choice of a
career, every aspect of your life is affected by your personality.
Theory of personality: Type Theory, Big five Traits
1) Type Theory: In type theory,
i) Individuals are categorized depending upon their physical characteristics. A relationship was
based between features of the face or body and personality.
ii) Another basis (by Carl Jung) was on the psychological factors of an individual i.e. whether
the individual is introvert or extrovert.
Type theories are simple as they are based on physical attributes or psychological factors for
categorization of personalities; however they fail to reveal all complexities of a personality. Type
theory unrealistically attempt to place personality into discrete and discontinuous categories
2) Big five Traits: A personality trait is understood as being an enduring attribute of a person
that appears consistently in a variety of situations. Trait terms include friendly, cautious,
excitable, intelligent or anxious etc, and scales such as intelligence, emotional stability,
aggressiveness, creativeness etc. Traits are reactions of an individual not a quality which can
be possessed. To assess a personality trait, a. a person can describe himself by answering
questions about attitudes, feelings, behavior. There are five Big Personality Traits which
have a significant impact in individual’s life. They are as follows:
i) Extroversion: Extroverts are sociable, lively, and gregarious and seek outward
interaction. Such individuals are likely to be most successful working in marketing
division, public relations etc. where they can interact face to face with others. Introverts
are quite, reflective, introspective and intellectual people, preferring to interact with a
small intimate circle of friends. Introverts are more likely to be successful when they can
work on highly abstract ideas (accountant, R&D work etc) in a relatively quite
atmosphere.
ii) Agreeableness: This refers to the extent to which individuals agreeing and cooperating
with others. Highly agreeable people are cooperative, warm and trusting. People who
score low on agreeableness are cold, disagreeable and antagonistic. This characteristic is
very important and critical in attaining a successful achievement in their life.
iii) Conscientiousness: This refers to the extent to which people are responsible and
dependable in their work and life. A highly conscientiousness person is responsible,
organized, dependable and persistent. They are likely to move upward direction very
quickly and attain remarkable achievement in their life. Those who score low on this
dimension are easily distracted, disorganized and unreliable.
iv) Emotional Stability: This refers to the extent to which people have the ability to
withstand stress. People with positive emotional stability tend to be calm, self confident
and secure. Those with highly low level of emotional stability tend to be nervous,
anxious, depressed and insecure.
v) Openness to experience: This refers to the extent to which people are more imaginative,
artistic sensitivity and intellectualism. Individuals tend to vary widely ranging from
conservative to creative or artistic. Extremely open people are creative, and artistically
 sensitive. Whereas not so open category personnel are very conservative and find comfort
in the familiar or routine activities.
Criticisms of Trait theory: Following points;
i) Terms are difficult to define
ii) The results are open to considerable challenges due to scientific reliability
iii) The traits are very descriptive rather than analytical
iv) Some theories tend to focus on isolated traits without specifying how they are organized
within the personality
v) Which traits are most important and how they relate to other traits are not explained
vi) Traits are abstracted from behavior however we cannot explain behavior from the traits
3) Psychoanalytic Theory: The theory was originated by Freud and he developed the first
comprehensive personality theory. According to Freud, personality consists of three elements
namely: 1) Super Ego 2) ID Ego 3) Conscious Unconscious. According to Freud, the three
should work together as a team for an individual to produce integrated behavior. Here,
 ID is the Latin word for “It” and it refers exclusively to the innate component of
personality.
 ID is the mental agency containing everything inherited, present at birth, and fixed in the
individual’s constitution, especially instincts.
 It is raw, animalistic, unorganized, knows no rules, obeys no rules and rains basic to the
individual throughout life.
 Ego develops out of the ID because of the necessity for dealing with the real world
 Ego strives to balance the desires of the ID and the realities of the objective, outside
world
 The ego is the “executive” of personality which makes decisions, controls actions and
allows thinking and problem solving of a higher order than ID’s capabilities permit.
 Super ego judges whether an action is right or wrong according to the standards of the
society.
 Super ego represents the internalized representation of the values and morals of society as
taught to the child by parents and others.
 ID seeks pleasure, the ego tests reality and the super ego strives for perfection
4) Social cognition/Learning Theory: Albert Bandura’s social-cognitive approach focuses on
self-efficacy and reciprocal determinism.
 Social Learning theory stresses on the change of behavior through learning from
several sources.
 Through learning one acquires knowledge, language, attitudes, values, manual skills,
fears, personality traits and self- insight.
 The two ways of learning are learning through reinforcement (direct experience) and
earning by observing others (vicarious learning).
 Situation is an important determinant of behavior for this theory .
 This theory focuses on behavior patterns and cognitive activities in relation to the
specific conditions which evoke, maintain or modify the situations
 The emphasis is what an individual will do in a given situation. The variables which
determine the choice are:
a) Competencies: intelligence abilities, social skills & other abilities
b) Cognitive strategies: Habitual ways of selectively attending to information
and organizing it in meaningful units.
c) Outcome expectations: expectations about the consequences of different
behavior and meaning of certain stimuli.
d) Subjective value outcome: similar expectations, however choosing different
behaviors due to subjective values of the outcome.
e) Self Regulatory systems and plans: Individual behavior in self- imposed
goals, rules guiding behavior and self-imposed rewards for success or
punishments, and ability to plan and execute
5) Humanistic Approach: Humanistic personality theories reject psychoanalytic notions.
Humanistic theories view each person as basically good and that people are striving for self-
fulfillment. Humanistic theory argues that people carry a perception of themselves and of the
world. The goal for a humanist is to develop/promote a positive self-concept.
Major Personality Attributes Influencing OB (Attributes): Major Personality Attributes
Influencing OB
1) Locus of control: People are assumed to be of two types: `Internals' and `Externals'.
Internals are people who believe that much of what happens to them is controlled by their
destiny. Externals believe that much of what happens to them is controlled by outside forces.
2) Machiavellianism: Machiavellianism is a personality trait that denotes cunningness, the
ability to be manipulative, and a drive to use whatever means necessary to gain power. High
Machs tend to take control, especially in loosely structured situations; Low Machs respond
well to structured situations. High Machs tend to be more logical, rational and Pragmatic.
They are more skilled in influencing and coalition building.
3) Self-esteem: People differ in the degree to which they like or dislike themselves. This trait is
called self-esteem. Individuals with high self-esteem will take more risks in job selection and
more likely to choose unconventional jobs than people with low self-esteem.
4) Self-monitoring: A personality trait that measures on individuals ability to adjust his or her
behavior to external, situational factors. Individuals high in self-monitoring show
considerable adaptability in adjusting their behavior to external situational factors. They are
highly sensitive to external cues and can behave different situations.
5) Risk Taking: This refers to the extent to which people are willing to take chances. This
propensity to assume or to avoid risk has been shown to have an effect on their decision
making capabilities and information gathering process. High risk taking managers made
more rapid decision and used less information in making their choices than did the low risk
taking managers.
6) Type ‘A’ or Type ‘B’: People who are Hard-driving, impatient, aggressive, and super
competitive are termed as Type `A' Personality. Those who are easy-going, sociable, laid-
back and non-competitive are termed as Type `B' Personality. Type A people tend to be very
productive and work very hard. They are workaholics. The negative side of them is that they
are impatient, not good team players, more irritable, have poor judgment. Type B people do
better on complex tasks involving judgment, accuracy rather than speed and team work.
Motivation
Motivation: Motivation is the process that initiates, guides, and maintains goal-oriented
behaviors. It is what causes you to act, whether it is getting a glass of water to reduce thirst or
reading a book to gain knowledge. Motivation involves the biological, emotional, social, and
cognitive forces that activate behavior. In everyday usage, the term "motivation" is
 frequently used to describe why a person does something. It is the driving force behind
human actions.
Definitions
According to Berelson and Steiner: “A motive is an inner state that energizes, activates, or
moves and directs or channels behaviour goals.”
According Lillis: “It is the stimulation of any emotion or desire operating upon one’s will
and promoting or driving it to action.”
Concept of Motivation: The ‘Motivation’ term has been derived from the Latin word
‘movere’ which means to move. Any activity initiated or sustained by anything is called
motive. Motive is a psychological force within an individual that provides him in motion.
Motive is responsible for each and every human action.
 Need: A need is a condition of lack or deficit of something required by the
organism/person.
 Motives: Motive is defined as an inner state that energises, activates (or moves) and
directs (or chanalises) the behaviour towards certain goals.
Nature of Motivation: Motivation is mainly concerned with the directing of employees
towards organisational objectives and mission. The nature of motivation is discussed as
follows:
(i) Motivation is a Continuous Process
(ii) Motivation is a Psychological Concept
(iii) The Entire Individual is Motivated
(iv) Frustrated Individual Fails to be Motivated
(v) Goals Lead to Motivation
(vi) The Self-Concept as a Unifying Force
Types of Motivation: Different types of motivation are frequently described as being either
extrinsic or intrinsic:
1. Extrinsic motivations are those that arise from outside of the individual and often involve
rewards such as trophies, money, social recognition, or praise.
2. Intrinsic motivations are those that arise from within the individual, such as doing a
complicated crossword puzzle purely for the personal gratification of solving a problem.
Importance of Motivation in an Organisation
1. Proper Utilisation of Resources
2. Reduction in Absenteeism and Turnover
3. Encouragement to Increase the Output
4. Inducing the Sense of Belonging
5. Promoting an Urge for Willingness to Work
6. Establishing Good Work Relation
Theories of Motivations:
1. Content Theories of Motivation: Content theories of motivation deal with identifying the
needs of the people and how they prioritise them. These needs include wage, salary in order
to satisfy physiological drives, incentives, social needs, security needs, recognition, etc. one
such theory is Theory X, Theory Y
Theory X and Theory Y: In 1960, Douglas McGregor formulated Theory X and Theory Y
suggesting two aspects of human behaviour at work, or in other words, two different views of
individuals (employees): one of which is negative, called as Theory X and the other is
positive, so called as Theory Y. According to McGregor, the perception of managers on the
nature of individuals is based on various assumptions.
Assumptions of Theory X: An average employee essentially does not like work and tries to
escape it whenever possible. Thus, we can say that Theory X presents a pessimistic view of
employees’ nature and behaviour at work. Since the employee does not want to work, he
must be persuaded, compelled, or warned with punishment so as to achieve organizational
goals. A close supervision is required on part of managers. The managers adopt a more
dictatorial style.
Many employees rank job security on top, and they have little or no aspiration/ ambition.
 Employees generally dislike responsibilities.
 Employees resist change.
 An average employee needs formal direction.
Assumptions of Theory Y: Employees can perceive their job as relaxing and normal. They
exercise their physical and mental efforts in an inherent manner in their jobs. Theory Y
presents an optimistic view of the employees’ nature and behaviour at work.
 Employees may not require only threat, external control and coercion to work, but they can
use self-direction and self-control if they are dedicated and sincere to achieve the
organizational objectives.
 If the job is rewarding and satisfying, then it will result in employees’ loyalty and
commitment to organization.
 An average employee can learn to admit and recognize the responsibility. In fact, he
can even learn to obtain responsibility.
 The employees have skills and capabilities. Their logical capabilities should be fully
utilized. In other words, the creativity, resourcefulness and innovative potentiality of
the employees can be utilized to solve organizational problems.
Implications of Theory X and Theory Y
i. Quite a few organizations use Theory X today. Theory X encourages use of tight control
and supervision. It implies that employees are reluctant to organizational changes. Thus,
it does not encourage innovation.
ii. Many organizations are using Theory Y techniques. Theory Y implies that the managers
should create and encourage a work environment which provides opportunities to
employees to take initiative and self-direction. Employees should be given opportunities
to contribute to organizational well-being. Theory Y encourages decentralization of
authority, teamwork and participative decision making in an organization. Theory Y
searches and discovers the ways in which an employee can make significant
contributions in an organization. It harmonizes and matches employees’ needs and
aspirations with organizational needs and aspirations.
2. Process Theories of Motivation: The content theories of motivation identify what
motivates people, while process theories deal with cognitive antecedents that go into
motivation and effort. These theories contribute to the complex processes involved in
motivational effort. Process theories; include Vroom’s Expectancy Theory etc.
Vroom's Expectancy Theory: The expectancy theory was proposed by Victor Vroom of
Yale School of Management in 1964. Vroom stresses and focuses on outcomes. The
Expectancy theory states that employee’s motivation is an outcome of how much an
individual wants a reward (Valence), the assessment that the likelihood that the effort will
lead to expected performance (Expectancy) and the belief that the performance will lead to
reward (Instrumentality).
Valence is the significance associated by an individual about the expected outcome. It is an
expected and not the actual satisfaction that an employee expects to receive after achieving
the goals.
Expectancy is the faith that better efforts will result in better performance. Expectancy is
influenced by factors such as possession of appropriate skills for performing the job,
availability of right resources, availability of crucial information and getting the required
support for completing the job.
Instrumentality or quality of serving as an instrument is the faith that if you perform well,
then a valid outcome will be there. Instrumentality is affected by factors such as believe in
the people who decide who receives what outcome, the simplicity of the process deciding
who gets what outcome, and clarity of relationship between performance and outcomes.
Thus, the expectancy theory concentrates on the following three relationships:
i. Effort-performance relationship: What is the likelihood that the individual’s effort
be recognized in his performance appraisal?
ii. Performance-reward relationship: It talks about the extent to which the employee
believes that getting a good performance appraisal leads to organizational rewards.
iii. Rewards-personal goals relationship: It is all about the attractiveness or appeal of
the potential reward to the individual.
Vroom was of view that employees consciously decide whether to perform or not at the job.
This decision solely depended on the employee’s motivation level which in turn depends on
three factors of expectancy, valence and instrumentality.
Advantages of the Expectancy Theory
1. It is based on self-interest individual who want to achieve maximum satisfaction and
who wants to minimize dissatisfaction.
2. This theory stresses upon the expectations and perception; what is real and actual is
immaterial.
3. It emphasizes on rewards or pay-offs.
4. It focuses on psychological extravagance where final objective of individual is to
attain maximum pleasure and least pain.
Limitations of the Expectancy Theory
1. The expectancy theory seems to be idealistic because quite a few individuals perceive
high degree correlation between performance and rewards.
2. The application of this theory is limited as reward is not directly correlated with
performance in many organizations. It is related to other parameters also such as
position, effort, responsibility, education, etc.
3. Implications of the Expectancy Theory
4. The managers can correlate the preferred outcomes to the aimed performance levels.
5. The managers must ensure that the employees can achieve the aimed performance
levels.
6. The deserving employees must be rewarded for their exceptional performance.
7. The reward system must be fair and just in an organization.
8. Organizations must design interesting, dynamic and challenging jobs.
9. The employee’s motivation level should be continually assessed through various
techniques such as questionnaire, personal interviews, etc.
3. Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory: Abraham H. Maslow 1966 attempted to study factors
which motivated people. However, he believed that people possess a set of motivation
systems unrelated to rewards. He believed that when a person has fulfilled his/her one need,
he/she may seek the next need to fulfill which may be more challenging to achieve than the
previous one. He developed the idea of “Hierarchy of Needs” which broadly categorised all
needs in order of their importance. Needs which are not satisfied can act as motivator for
influencing the human behaviour.
Assumptions of Hierarchy of Needs: Assumptions considered to devise the hierarchy of
needs included the following:
1. Humans have needs, want and desires which can be influenced by their own behaviour.
The factors which are not satisfied act as a motivator for influencing human behaviour.
2. Human needs are multiple but they can be arranged in an ascending order in terms of their
importance from the lowest to the highest. After the lowest level of needs is satisfied, the
needs at the highest level may occur.
3. Higher the level of needs to be satisfied greater is the extent of motivation. This implies an
individual will be most motivated to achieve self-actualisation needs but needs to initially
tackle all needs below it to achieve most satisfaction.
4. The gradual progress in satisfying needs across the hierarchy improves the psychological
health and develops a sense of individuality and humanity.
5. Different people will have different priorities.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: The five needs identified by Maslow are as follows:
i. Physiological Needs: Physiological needs are the most basic human needs which are
required for survival. They include needs for air, water, food, clothing, shelter, sleep,
etc. To satisfy these needs humans breathe, eat, drink, take care of all bodily needs
and they work for clothing, shelter and comfort to remain free from pain, hunger,
thirst, feeling tired, etc. When these needs are satisfied, humans are no longer
motivated. In the organisational context, many firms offer a place to live (office
quarters) close to workplace supported with basic amenities like water and electricity.
These firms also pay salaries that cover basic expenses on food, clothing, gas, etc.
ii. Security Needs: Following satisfaction of physiological needs, humans need to feel
physically and emotionally secured in their environment. While emotional security
can be obtained from pension plans, provident funds, job security, etc., physical needs
can be satisfied with medical insurance, reimbursements of medical expenses, life
insurance, etc. For example- if an employee possessing firm-specific skills decides to
quit, the company can provide higher wages and incentive along with a new position
and responsibilities to retain the employee and make this employee feel secure.
iii. Social Needs: When physiological and security needs are satisfied, the next set of
needs humans move to satisfy is the need for belongingness and acceptance. As
humans are social beings, we need love and to be loved, seek friendship, affection
and acceptance by the group they interact. While the extent of social need is different
from family/ friends in an organisational set up, companies attempt to create an
environment of amity and trust for enabling ease in communication, team work and
productivity. For example- Mumbai-based County Cricket Club, hosts ‘Corporate
T20’ tournaments for various multi-national and Indian companies consisting of
employees participating in the sport of cricket. Corporate tournaments in cricket are
 as competitive as those are played nationally/internationally. Employees meet their
social needs of belongingness and acceptance is satisfied by participating in such
recreational activities.
iv. Esteem Needs: Esteem needs refer to the need for a positive self-image, self- respect
and need for being respected by others. These needs may be satisfied through
personal accomplishment and worth, promotions leading to more responsibilities,
honours, awards and other forms of recognition.
v. Self-Actualisation Needs: The final set of needs sought by humans subsequent to
esteem needs is self-actualisation needs, which are the most difficult to satisfy. This
last need signifies the need for self-development, self-growth, self-actualisation, self-
advancement, and self-fulfillment. It represents the desire to reach one’s full potential
and gain mastery in skills, experiences or capabilities. Employees at this level are
self- starters, have enthusiasm and the strong desire to prove themselves the best.
4) Herzberg Hygiene theory of motivation: In 1959, Frederick Herzberg, a behavioural
scientist proposed a two-factor theory or the motivator-hygiene theory. According to
Herzberg, there are some job factors that result in satisfaction while there are other job
factors that prevent dissatisfaction. According to Herzberg, the opposite of “Satisfaction” is
“No satisfaction” and the opposite of “Dissatisfaction” is “No Dissatisfaction”.
Herzberg classified these job factors into two categories
A) Hygiene factors- Hygiene factors are those job factors which are essential for existence
of motivation at workplace. These do not lead to positive satisfaction for long-term. But
if these factors are absent / if these factors are non-existant at workplace, then they lead
to dissatisfaction. In other words, hygiene factors are those factors which when
adequate/reasonable in a job, pacify the employees and do not make them dissatisfied.
These factors are extrinsic to work. Hygiene factors are also called as dissatisfiers or
maintenance factors as they are required to avoid dissatisfaction. These factors describe
the job environment/scenario. The hygiene factors symbolized the physiological needs
which the individuals wanted and expected to be fulfilled. Hygiene factors include:
i. Pay - The pay or salary structure should be appropriate and reasonable. It must be
equal and competitive to those in the same industry in the same domain.
 ii. Company Policies and administrative policies - The company policies should
not be too rigid. They should be fair and clear. It should include flexible working
hours, dress code, breaks, vacation, etc.
iii. Fringe benefits - The employees should be offered health care plans (mediclaim),
benefits for the family members, employee help programmes, etc.
iv. Physical Working conditions - The working conditions should be safe, clean and
hygienic. The work equipments should be updated and well-maintained.
v. Status - The employees’ status within the organization should be familiar and
retained.
vi. Interpersonal relations - The relationship of the employees with his peers,
superiors and subordinates should be appropriate and acceptable. There should be
no conflict or humiliation element present.
vii. Job Security - The organization must provide job security to the employees.
B) Motivational factors- According to Herzberg, the hygiene factors cannot be regarded as
motivators. The motivational factors yield positive satisfaction. These factors are inherent
to work. These factors motivate the employees for a superior performance. These factors
are called satisfiers. These are factors involved in performing the job. Employees find
these factors intrinsically rewarding. The motivators symbolized the psychological needs
that were perceived as an additional benefit. Motivational factors include:
i. Recognition - The employees should be praised and recognized for their
accomplishments by the managers.
ii. Sense of achievement - The employees must have a sense of achievement. This
depends on the job. There must be a fruit of some sort in the job.
iii. Growth and promotional opportunities - There must be growth and
advancement opportunities in an organization to motivate the employees to
perform well.
iv. Responsibility - The employees must hold themselves responsible for the work.
The managers should give them ownership of the work. They should minimize
control but retain accountability.
v. Meaningfulness of the work - The work itself should be meaningful, interesting
and challenging for the employee to perform and to get motivated.
 Limitations of Two-Factor Theory
i. The two factor theory is not free from limitations:
ii. The two-factor theory overlooks situational variables.
iii. Herzberg assumed a correlation between satisfaction and productivity. But the
research conducted by Herzberg stressed upon satisfaction and ignored productivity.
iv. The theory’s reliability is uncertain. Analysis has to be made by the raters. The raters
may spoil the findings by analyzing same response in different manner.
v. No comprehensive measure of satisfaction was used. An employee may find his job
acceptable despite the fact that he may hate/object part of his job.
vi. The two factor theory is not free from bias as it is based on the natural reaction of
employees when they are enquired the sources of satisfaction and dissatisfaction at
work. They will blame dissatisfaction on the external factors such as salary structure,
company policies and peer relationship. Also, the employees will give credit to
themselves for the satisfaction factor at work.
Implications of Two-Factor Theory
The Two-Factor theory implies that the managers must stress upon guaranteeing the
adequacy of the hygiene factors to avoid employee dissatisfaction. Also, the managers must
make sure that the work is stimulating and rewarding so that the employees are motivated to
work and perform harder and better. This theory emphasize upon job-enrichment so as to
motivate the employees. The job must utilize the employee’s skills and competencies to the
maximum. Focusing on the motivational factors can improve work-quality.
6) Reinforcement Theory: Reinforcement theory is also known as operant conditioning theory.
Principles of learning and conditioning are used in the reinforcement theory to the process of
influencing the motivation and job performance of people. B. F. Skinner developed this
theory of motivation. According to Skinner, behaviour of people is mostly influenced by its
consequences. The actions that result in positive consequence tend to be repeated more often.
On the other hand, the actions that result in negative consequence tend to be repeated more
often.
Perception
Perception: The study of perception is concerned with identifying the process through which we
interpret and organize sensory information to produce our conscious experience of objects and
object relationship.” “Perception is the process of receiving information about and making sense
of the world around us. It involves deciding which information to notice, how to categorize this
information and how to interpret it within the framework of existing knowledge.
“A process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give
meaning to their environment.
Meaning and Definition of Perception: “Perception is the process through which the
information from outside environment is selected, received, organised and interpreted to make it
meaningful to you. This input of meaningful information results in decisions and actions.”
According to Joseph Reitz, “Perception includes all those processes by which an individual
receives information about his environment—seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling. The
study of these perpetual processes shows that their functioning is affected by three classes of
variables—the objects or events being perceived, the environment in which perception occurs
and the individual doing the perceiving.”
Nature of Perception:
“Perception refers to the interpretation of sensory data. In other words, sensation involves
detecting the presence of a stimulus whereas perception involves understanding what the
stimulus means. For example, when we see something, the visual stimulus is the light energy
reflected from the external world and the eye becomes the sensor. This visual image of the
external thing becomes perception when it is interpreted in the visual cortex of the brain. Thus,
visual perception refers to interpreting the image of the external world projected on the retina of
the eye and constructing a model of the three dimensional world.”
From the above explanation it becomes clear that perception is something more than sensation. It
correlates, integrates and comprehends diverse sensations and information from many organs of
the body by means of which a person identifies things and objects, the sensations refer to.
Perception is determined by both physiological and psychological characteristics of the human
being whereas sensation is conceived with only the physiological features. Thus, perception is
not just what one sees with the eyes it is a much more complex process by which an individual
selectively absorbs or assimilates the stimuli in the environment, cognitively organizes the
perceived information in a specific fashion and then interprets the information to make an
assessment about what is going on in one’s environment.
Perception is a subjective process, therefore, different people may perceive the same
environment differently based on what particular aspects of the situation they choose to
selectively absorb, how they organize this information and the manner in which they interpret it
to obtain a grasp of the situation.
Importance of Perception:
(i) Perception is very important in understanding the human behaviour, because every person
perceives the world and approaches the life problems differently- Whatever we see or feel is not
necessarily the same as it really is. It is because what we hear is not what is really said, but what
we perceive as being said. When we buy something, it is not because it is the best, but because
we take it to be the best. Thus, it is because of perception, we can find out why one individual
finds a job satisfying while another one may not be satisfied with it.
(ii) If people behave on the basis of their perception, we can predict their behaviour in the
changed circumstances by understanding their present perception of the environment. One
person may be viewing the facts in one way which may be different from the facts as seen by
another viewer.
(iii) With the help of perception, the needs of various people can be determined, because
people’s perception is influenced by their needs. Like the mirrors at an amusement park, they
distort the world in relation to their tensions.
(iv) Perception is very important for the manager who wants to avoid making errors when
dealing with people and events in the work setting. This problem is made more complicated by
the fact that different people perceive the same situation differently. In order to deal with the
subordinates effectively, the managers must understand their perceptions properly.
Factors Affecting perception:
1. External Factors: These factors include the characteristics of perceived object. These are:
a) Intensity: The intensity states that more intense the situations, the more likely it is to be
perceived. For example, loud noises will be noticed more than a soft sound. Similarly,
high intensity increases the chances of selection. If sentences are underlined it gets more
attention than in normal case. The greater the intensity of stimulus, the more likely it will
be notices. An intense stimulus has more power to push itself to our selection than does
the weak stimulus.
b) Size: Size plays an important role in perception. The bigger the size of the perceived
object, higher is the probability that it is perceived. Size always attracts the attention of
the individuals. For example, we see hundreds and thousands of people on the road, but
we always remember the ones who are usually tall. In other words, size establishes
dominance and over-rides other things and thereby enhances perceptual selection. The
bigger the size of perceived stimulus, higher is the probability that it is perceived
c) Frequency: A repeated external object/stimulus gets more attention than a single one
does. Repetition increases our sensitivity to the object. A situation that is repeated has a
chance of catching our attention. For example, we remember the advertisement that is
repeated again and again. In other simple words, a repeated external stimulus gets more
attention than a single one. A stimulus that is repeated has a chance of catching our
attention. Repetition increases our sensitivity and alertness to the stimulus. Thus, greater
the frequency with which a sensory stimulus is presented, the greater the chances we
select it for attention. Repetition is one of the most frequently used techniques in
advertising and is the most common way of receiving our attention. Repetition aids in
increasing the awareness of the stimulus.
d) Order : The order in which the objects or stimuli are presented is an important factor in
influencing selective attention. Sometimes, the first piece of information among many
pieces received, receives the most attention, thus making the other pieces of information
less significant. Sometimes, the most important piece is left to the end in order to
heighten the curiosity and perceptive attention. For example, a writer of communication
may intentionally build up to a major point by proceeding through several similar and
less important points.
e) Repetition: A repeated message is more likely to be perceived than a single message.
Work instructions that are repeated tend to be received better. Marketing managers and
advertisers use this principle in order to get the customer’s attention. Morgan and King
stated that “a stimulus that is repeated has a better chance of catching us during one of the
periods when our attention to a task is waning. In addition, repetition increases our
sensitivity or alertness to the stimulus.”
f) Novelty and Familiarity: The principle states that either the familiar or the novel factor
can get attention easily. New objects in a familiar setting or familiar objects in a new
 setting will draw attention. People quickly notice an elephant walking along a city street.
Similarly, among a group of people walking towards us, we are most likely to perceive
the face of friend in the crowd. People with unusual clothing will be attention getters.
g) Movement: People pay more attention to moving things than that of the stationary ones.
For example, people are more attracted by flying aeroplanes than a stationary one in the
airport. In other words, moving objects are more likely to be perceived than stationery
objects. Movement increases our awareness of the object before we become aware of the
stationary surroundings. A flashing neon sign is more easily noticed. A moving car
among parked cars gets our attention faster.
h) Status: Perception is always influenced by the status of perceiver. People of higher status
tend to have more positive perception. Similarly, people with high status can influence
the perception of others more than the people of low status. High status people can export
more influence on perception of employees than low status people.
i) Contrast: Persons or objects of contrasting nature generally receive more attention and
thereby influence one’s perception. Stimuli that contrast with the surrounding
environment are more likely to be selected for attention than the stimuli that blend in. a
contrasting effect can be caused by color / size or any other factor that is unusual. The
contrast principle states that external stimuli that stand out against the background or
which are not what are expected will receive better attention. The contrast effect also
explains why a male person stands out in a crowd of females. For example, in a crowd of
men, a woman is more attracted and vice versa.
2. Internal Factors: These factors are related to the characteristics of the perceiver. These
factors include:
a) Needs and Desires: An individual’s perception about something or somebody is influenced
by his needs and desires at a particular time. Similarly, perception varies depending on variation
in desires and needs. Perception of a frustrated individual is totally different from a satisfied
person. It is believed that socially oriented people pay attention to interpersonal factors in
connection with their perception. Similarly, the needs and motives of the people play a vital role
in perception. Perception of a frustrated person would be entirely different from that of a happy
going person. People at different levels of needs and desires perceive the same thing differently.
Power seekers more likely notice power related stimuli. Socially oriented people pay attention to
interpersonal stimuli. People are likely to notice stimuli relevant to current active motives and
major personality characteristics.
b) Experience: Experience and knowledge have a constant influence on perception. Successful
and positive experiences express one’s perception ability and failure and negative experiences
affects one’s self-confidence. In other words, experience and knowledge have a constant bearing
on perception. Successful experiences enhance and boost the perceptive ability and lead to
accuracy in perception of a person whereas failure erodes self-confidence.
c) Learning: Learning is an important factor in developing perceptual sets. A perceptual set is
basically what a person expects from the stimuli on the basis of his learning and experience
relative to same or similar stimuli. This is also known as cognitive awareness by which the mind
organizes information and forms images and compares them with previous exposures to similar
stimuli.
d) Personality: Personality is another important factor that has a profound influence on
perceived behavior. What is perceived in a given situation depends much on one’s personality
type. Personality is one area where individual differences are significant. Optimistic people
always perceive things favorable but pessimistic people always perceive things unfavorable.
Individuals having a sense of security perceive others as warm, self-accepted by others. Research
on the effects of individual personality on perception reveals many truths. These are:
Persons who accept themselves and have faith in their individuality perceive things favorably.
Thoughtful individuals do not expose by expressing extreme judgments of others.
Secure individuals tend to perceive others as warm, not cold.
3. Symbolic Factors: Another important factor influencing perception is symbolic factor. As
regards to emotional or motivational factors, a condition of motivated tensions in the individual
increases the sensitivity to those stimuli which are relevant for the satisfaction of his motives and
determines the manner in which the individual perceives the ambiguous objects. The hungry
individuals tend not only to select objects which will pacify their hunger but also interpret
available objects in terms of their own tension.
Learning
Meaning and Nature of Learning: Learning is a key process in human behaviour. All living is
learning. If we compare the simple, crude ways in which a child feels and behaves, with the
complex modes of adult behaviour, his skills, habits, thought, sentiments and the like- we will
know what difference learning has made to the individual.
The individual is constantly interacting with and influenced by the environment. This experience
makes him to change or modify his behaviour in order to deal effectively with it. Therefore,
learning is a change in behaviour, influenced by previous behaviour. As stated above the skills,
knowledge, habits, attitudes, interests and other personality characteristics are all the result of
learning.
Concept and Definition Learning is defined as “any relatively permanent change in behaviour
that occurs as a result of practice and experience”. This definition has three important elements.
a. Learning is a change in behaviour—better or worse.
b. It is a change that takes place through practice or experience, but changes due to growth or
maturation are not learning.
c. This change in behaviour must be relatively permanent, and it must last a fairly long time.
Learning, in psychology, the process by which a relatively lasting change in potential behaviour
occurs because of practice or experience. Learning is also a process of acquiring modifications in
existing knowledge, skills, habits, or tendencies through experience, practice, or exercise.
According to Gates and others ―Learning is the modification of behaviour through experience
Henry, P Smith ―Learning is the acquisition of new behaviour or strengthening or weakening
of old behaviour as a result of experience
Crow and Crow ―Learning is the acquisition of habits, knowledge and attitudes. It involves
new ways of doing things, and it operates in an individual‘s attempt to overcome obstacles or to
adjust to new situations.‖
Skinner ―Learning is the process of progressive behaviour adaptation.
Munn ―To learn is to modifyn behaviour and experience.
M. L. Bigge ―Learning may be considered as change in insights, behaviour, perception,
motivation or a combination of these.
The above definitions emphasize four attributes of learning As Process:
1) The first is that learning is permanent change in behaviour.
2) It does not include change due to Illness, fatigue, maturation and use of intoxicant.
3) The learning is not directly observable but manifests in the activities of the individual.
4) Learning depends on practice and experience.
Nature of Learning:
a. Learning is adaptation or adjustment: All persons continuously interact with their
environment. We often make adjustment and adapt to our social environment. Through a process
of continuous learning, the individual prepares himself for necessary adjustment or adaptation.
That is why learning is also described as a process of progressive adjustment to ever changing
conditions, which one encounters.
b. Learning is improvement: Learning is often considered as a process of improvement with
practice or training. We learn many things, which help us to improve our performance.
c. Learning is organizing experience: Learning is not mere addition of knowledge. It is the
reorganization of experience.
d. Learning brings behavioural changes: Whatever the direction of the changes may be,
learning brings progressive changes in the behaviour of an individual. That is why he is able to
adjust to changing situations.
e. Learning is active: Learning does not take place without a purpose and self-activity. In any
teaching learning process, the activity of the learner counts more than the activity of a teacher.
f. Learning is goal directed: When the aim and purpose of learning is clear, an individual learns
immediately. It is the purpose or goal, which determines what, the learner sees in the learning
situations and how he acts. If there is no purpose or goal, learning can hardly be seen.
g. Learning is universal and continuous: All living creatures learn. Every moment the
individual engages himself to learn more and more. Right from the birth of a child till the death,
learning continues.
Characteristics of Learning
Yoakum & Simpson have stated the following general characteristics of learning:
Learning is growth, adjustment, organisation of experience, purposeful, both individual and
social product of the environment.
But According to W.R McLaw learning has the following characteristics:
 Learning is a continuous modification of behaviour which continues throughout life
 .Learning is pervasive. It reaches into all aspects of human life.
 Learning involves the whole person, socially, emotionally & intellectually.
 Learning is often a change in the organisation of behaviour.
 Learning is development. Time is one of its dimensions.
  Learning is responsive to incentives. In most cases positive incentives such as rewards
are most effective than negative incentives such as punishments.
 Learning is always concerned with goals. These goals can be expressed in terms of
observable behaviour.
 Interest & learning are positively related. The individual learns best those things, which
he is interested in learning. Most boys find learning to play football easier than learning
to add fractions.
 Learning depends on maturation and motivation.
Principles of Learning
1) Readiness: Readiness implies a degree of concentration and eagerness. Individuals learn best
when they are physically, mentally, and emotionally ready to learn, and do not learn well if
they see no reason for learning. Getting students ready to learn, creating interest by showing
the value of the subject matter, and providing continuous mental or physical challenge, is
usually the instructor’s responsibility.
2) Exercise the principle of exercise states that those things most often repeated are best
remembered. It is the basis of drill and practice. It has been proven that students learn best
and retain information longer when they have meaningful practice and repetition. The key
here is that the practice must be meaningful. It is clear that practice leads to improvement
only when it is followed by positive feedback.
3) Effect: The principle of effect is based on the emotional reaction of the student. It has a
direct relationship to motivation. The principle of effect is that learning is strengthened when
accompanied by a pleasant or satisfying feeling, and that learning is weakened when
associated with an unpleasant feeling. , every learning experience should contain elements
that leave the student with some good feelings.
4) Primacy: The state of being first often creates a strong, almost unshakable, impression.
Things learned first create a strong impression in the mind that is difficult to erase. For the
instructor, this means that what is taught must be right the first time. For example, a student
learns a faulty technique; the instructor will have a difficult task correcting bad habits and “re
teaching” correct ones. The student's first experience should be positive, functional, and lay
the foundation for all that is to follow. What the student learns must be procedurally correct
and applied the very first time.
5) Recency: The principle of recency states that things most recently learned are best
remembered. Conversely, the further a student is removed time-wise from a new fact or
understanding, the more difficult it is to remember. For example, it is fairly easy to recall a
telephone number dialed a few minutes ago, but it is usually impossible to recall a new
number dialed last week.
6) Intensity: The principle of intensity implies that a student will learn more from the real thing
than from a substitute. For example, a student can get more understanding and appreciation
of a movie by watching it than by reading the script. Likewise, a student is likely to gain
greater understanding of tasks by performing them rather than merely reading about them.
7) Requirement: The law of requirement states that "we must have something to obtain or do
something." it can be ability, skill, instrument or anything that may help us to learn or gain
something. A starting point or root is needed; for example, if you want to draw a person, you
need to have the materials with which to draw, and you must know how to draw a point, a
line, and a figure and so on until you reach your goal, which is to draw a person.
8) Freedom: The principle of freedom states that things freely learned are best learned.
Conversely, the further a student is coerced, the more difficult is for him to learn, assimilate
and implement what is learned. Compulsion and coercion are antithetical to personal growth.
The greater the freedom enjoyed by individuals within a society, the greater the intellectual
and moral advancement enjoyed by society as a whole. Since learning is an active process,
students must have freedom: freedom of choice, freedom of action, freedom to bear the
results of action—these are the three great freedoms that constitute personal responsibility. If
no freedom is granted, students may have little interest in learning.
Theories of learning
1) Classical conditioning: This method of conditioning got its name from the fact that, it is a
kind of learning situation that existed in the early classical experiments of Ivan P Pavlov
(1849-1936), Russian physiologist who was awarded Nobel Prize, in 1904 for his
experiments. Pavlov designed an apparatus to measure the quantity of saliva produced in
response to food (meat power).
At the beginning of his experiment Pavlov noted that no saliva flowed when he rang the bell.
He then trained the dog by sounding the bell, and shortly afterwards presenting food. After
the sound of the bell had been paired with food a few times, he tested the effects of the
 training by measuring the amount of saliva that flowed when he rang the bell and did not
present food.
He found that some saliva was produced in response to the sound of the bell alone. He then
resumed the training-paired presentation of bell and food a few times and then tested again
with the bell alone.
As the training continued, the amount of saliva on tests with the bell alone increased. Thus,
after training the dog’s mouth watered-salivated- whenever the bell was sounded. This is
what was learned; it is the conditioned response.
This theory states that CS (bell) becomes a substitute after pairing with UCS (food) and
acquires the capacity to elicit a response. It is because the association (conditioning) is
formed between CS and UCS. This may be symbolically presented as follows:

UCS<———————————à UCR
(Food) (Saliva)
↓ (Conditioning)
CS<————————————-à CR
(Bell) (Saliva)

Sub-principles of Classical Conditioning: There are certain sub-principles which explain the
different phenomena of this experiment.
a. Extinction and spontaneous recovery: Extinction means cessation or end of a response. The
strength of the CS gradually decreases when it is presented alone and not followed by UCS for a
number of trails. This process is called ‘extinction’. In this experiment when only bell is
presented without food for a number of trials, the dog stopped salivation gradually.
But when the CS (bell) was paired again with UCS (food) for some trials, the CR (salivation)
recovered. This is known as ‘spontaneous recovery’. In spontaneous recovery the dog required
less number of trials than the first time, because the association between CS and UCS still
existed in the brain of the animal.
b. Stimulus generalization: A tendency to respond to a stimulus which is similar to original one
is called stimulus generalization, the greater the similarity, the more the generalization. In this
experiment, the dog started salivating even for the sound of a buzzer which was similar to bell.
c. Stimulus discrimination: When there is much difference between two stimuli, the animal can
discriminate between the two. For example, if the dog is conditioned to salivate at the signal of
red light, it will not salivate when green light is presented.
d. Higher order conditioning: If a ‘light’ is presented followed by bell and then by food for a
number of trials, the dog will start salivating to light itself. This phenomenon is called higher
order condition.
All these principles are very useful in behaviour therapy. Conditioning is not confined only to the
laboratory.
Conditioning is used as psychotherapeutic technique very effectively in the treatment of
abnormal behaviours such as phobias, alcoholism, enuresis, etc. These are called behaviour
modification techniques. Watson and others have conducted many experiments to prove the
usefulness of this method.
2) Operant Conditioning: This method of conditioning was developed by an American
psychologist BF Skinner. This theory is also known as ‘Instrumental conditioning’, because
the animals use certain operations or actions as instruments to find solution.
Skinner conducted his famous experiment by placing a hungry rat in a box called after his
name ‘Skinner box’. This box was containing a lever and a food tray in a corner of the box. It
was so arranged, that the animal was free to move inside the box, but the pressing of the lever
would get the animal a pallet of food in the tray as reinforcement.
Arrangement was also made to record the number of pressings of the lever by a mechanical
device. It was found in the beginning that the rat pressed the lever occasionally and used to
get food as reinforcement for each pressing.
Gradually, as the animal learnt the pressing of lever would give some food, it repeated the
responses very rapidly. This rapid increase in pressing the lever is the indication of the
animal conditioned to get food.
In day-to-day’s life also, much learning takes place in animals as well as in human beings by
this method. The reinforcement will be the motivating factor. It will make the organism to
repeat its action.
It is on the basis of these experiments, Skinner made his famous statement “Rewarded behaviour
is repeated”. Instrumental conditioning involves more activity by the learner than classical
conditioning. Skinner conducted his experiments on different animals like pigeons, rats, etc.
Reinforcement which is the most important aspect of this experiment is divided into two
types:
a) positive reinforcement is used in reward training.
b) Negative reinforcement-like punishment is used to stop undesired responses or behaviours.
Operant conditioning is useful in shaping undesirable behaviour and also in modification of
behaviour.
3) Social Learning Theory: In 1961 and 1963, Albert Bandura External link conducted a
series of experiments to determine whether social behaviors (aggression) could be accrued by
observation and imitation. The research that entailed children observing a model punch an
inflatable doll looked to support the idea that children emulate their behavior by watching
others. These experiments were collectively known as the Bobo doll experiments.
Supported by his findings in the Bobo doll experiments, Bandura developed the social
learning theory in 1977. The theory later evolved into the social cognitive theory in 1986
which postulates that learning takes place in a social framework with an ever-changing and
shared interaction between the person, environment and behavior.
Assumptions of Social Learning Theory: Social learning theory is grounded by several key
assumptions External link :
1) People learn through observation. Learners can acquire new behavior and knowledge by
merely observing a model.
2) Reinforcement and punishment have indirect effects on behavior and learning. People form
expectations about the potential consequences of future responses based on how current
responses are reinforced or punished.
3) Mediational processes influence our behavior. Cognitive factors that contribute to whether a
behavior is acquired or not.
4) Learning does not necessarily lead to change. Just because a person learns something does
not mean they will have a change in behavior.
Social learning theory suggests that social behavior is learned by observing and imitating the
behavior of others. Psychologist Albert Bandura developed the social learning theory External
link as an alternative to the earlier work of fellow psychologist B.F. Skinner, known for his
influence on behaviorism. While behavioral psychology focuses on how the environment and
reinforcement affect behavior, Bandura put forth that individuals can learn behavior through
observation.
The social learning theory External link has four mediational processes that help determine
whether a new behavior is acquired:
1) Attention: The degree to which we notice the behavior. A behavior must grab our attention
before it can be imitated. Considering the number of behaviors we observe and do not imitate
daily indicates attention is crucial in whether a behavior influences imitation.
2) Retention: How well we remember the behavior. We cannot perform the behavior if we do
not remember the behavior. So, while a behavior may be noticed, unless a memory is formed,
the observer will not perform the behavior. And, because social learning is not immediate,
retention is vital to behavior modeling.
3) Reproduction: The ability to perform the behavior. This is the ability to reproduce a
behavior we observe. It influences our decision about whether to try performing the behavior.
Even when we wish to imitate an observed behavior, we are limited by our physical abilities.
4) Motivation: The will to emulate the behavior. This mediational process is referred to as
vicarious reinforcement. It involves learning through observing the consequences of actions
for other people, rather than through direct experience.
In addition to the behavior, rewards and punishment that follow will be studied by the observer.
If the observer perceives the rewards to be greater than the costs (punishment) then they will
most likely imitate the behavior. If, however, the vicarious reinforcement is not valued enough
by the observer, they will not model the behavior.
Applications of Social Learning Theory
Two areas of application of social learning theory in social work include research and
intervention.
 Researchers can use the theory to understand how aggressiveness and violence can be
transferred through observational learning External link.
 The theory can further be used to investigate how positive role models can foster
desirable behaviors and promote social change.