Chapter 3

LEARNING, PERCEPTION and

ATTRIBUTION
Objectives
1. Define the following:
a. Learning
b. Theories of Learning
c. Perception
2. List the factors influencing perception
3. 3. Define what attribution is
4. 4. List common attribution errors
5. List factors that influence attribution and shortcuts used in forming
impressions of others
 Learning
• It is defined as
relatively
permeant
change in
behavior or
knowledge due
to experience.
• Knowledge or
skill gained
from learning
Theories of Learning
1. Classical Conditioning – a type of learning in which a stimulus
acquires the capacity to evoke a response that was originally
evolved by another stimulus.
Classical Stages of Conditioning
SCENARIO: When Ariel studies, he enjoys listening to his favorite
music. Recently, he also decided to start using an essential oil diffuser
with a lavender scent while studying. Over time, he developed a
conditioned response to the specific scent of lavender, which became
associated with his focused and productive study state.
1. Unconditioned stimulus example (UCS): The natural stimulus that elicits
a response is the scent of lavender. Initially, this scent has no particular
significance to Ariel’s studying.
2. Unconditioned response example (UCR): Ariel’s focused and productive
study state while listening to their favorite music is the natural response
that occurs without conditioning. This is their innate reaction when
studying.
3. Conditioned stimulus example (CS): The neutral stimulus repeatedly
paired with the UCS is the scent of lavender. Ariel uses the lavender
essential oil as a room fragrance every time
4. Conditioned response example (CR): The learned response that occurs
due to the conditioning is Ariel entering a focused and productive study
state when they encounter the scent of lavender. After repeated pairing
of the scent with their studying routine, the scent alone becomes enough
to trigger their concentration and focus.
• Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS): Something that naturally triggers a
response.
Example: The smell of food (it naturally makes you hungry).
• Unconditioned Response (UCR): The natural reaction to the UCS.
Example: Feeling hungry when you smell food.
• Conditioned Stimulus (CS): Something that doesn’t naturally cause a
response but does after being paired with the UCS.
Example: The bell ringing before lunch (normally doesn’t make you
hungry, but after pairing with food, it does).
• Conditioned Response (CR): The learned response to the CS.
Example: Feeling hungry when the bell rings (even if there is no food).
Situation: A teacher rings a bell before giving students snacks every
day.
1.Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS): Snacks (something naturally liked by
students).
2.Unconditioned Response (UCR): Students feel happy or excited when
they get the snacks.
3.Conditioned Stimulus (CS): The sound of the bell (originally doesn’t
make students excited).
4.Conditioned Response (CR): Over time, when students hear the bell,
they feel happy or excited even before the snacks arrive.
• In this case, the bell becomes associated with the excitement of
getting snacks!
Situation: A student goes to the dentist and gets a painful shot before a
procedure.
1.Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS):
2.Unconditioned Response (UCR):
3.Conditioned Stimulus (CS):
4.Conditioned Response (CR):
Theories of Learning (cont.)
2. Operant Conditioning – occurs when a learner's behavior is followed by
a consequence or reinforcement.
Positive Reinforcement – increases the frequency of a behavior when
applied.
Example: if you finish your homework early, you get to the movies a reward.
Negative Reinforcement – increases the frequency of a behavior when
removed.
Example: To stop the buzzing sound in your car, you have to roll up the
window.
Punishment – decreases the frequency of a behavior.
Example: Your parents take away your cp for one day each week to lower
your phone bill.
Positive Reinforcement
Example: A student finishes their homework on time, and the teacher gives them a
sticker. The sticker (positive reinforcement) encourages the student to keep doing their
homework on time.
Example: A child cleans their room, and their parents give them extra screen time. The
extra screen time motivates the child to clean their room more often.
2. Negative Reinforcement
Example: A student keeps their phone away during class, so the teacher doesn’t assign
extra homework. The removal of extra homework (negative reinforcement) encourages
the student to follow the rule.
Example: A student raises their hand instead of shouting answers. The teacher stops
giving warnings, so the student continues raising their hand.
3. Punishment
Example: A student is caught using their phone during an exam, and the phone is
confiscated for the rest of the day. The removal of the phone (punishment) discourages
the student from using it during exams in the future.
Example: A student skips class, and their participation grade is lowered. The drop in
their grade (punishment) decreases the likelihood of skipping class again.
 How Social Learning
Social Learning is achieved?
- is the process of observing the By observing what
behavior of others, recognizing happens to other
its consequences and altering
people;
behavior as a result.
Example: a child may learn how
to ride a bike by watching a By being told about
sibling or friend do it, or something and ;
someone may learn how to dress
by observing how others dress.

Observing others:Being
told:Direct experience:
Perception
- is a process by which individuals organize and interpret their
sensory impressions to give meaning to their environment.
- It is important to the study of OB because people’s behaviors
are based on their perception of what reality is, not on reality itself.
Factors influencing Perception
Attribution
• Way how people attach meaning to other behaviors or their own.
Example, someone is angry because they are bad-tempered or
something bad happened.
• Internal Attribution (Personality): Someone is angry because they
have a bad temper.
• External Attribution (Situation): Someone is angry because
something bad happened to them.
Common Attribution Errors
1. The Fundamental Errors – the tendency to underestimate the
influence of external factors and overestimate the influence of
internal or personal factors in the behavior of others.
2. Self-Serving bias – people tend to attribute their achievements to
their good inner qualities whereas they attribute their failures to
adverse factors within the environment.
Fundamental Attribution Errors
• when you walk into a store and someone bumps you and thought or label them as
careless
• when your friend and you were given exams and she always has low grades, you may
think he/she is lazy, dumb, involved in other activities than studying, not interested in
studies.
• commitment phobia. Children who have seen parents divorce are likely to suffer fears of
commitment. A girl who've been fooled by ex bf are now finding it hard to trust a
sincere guy
• you give/help someone not asking for assistance and snaps you down or ignores you,
becomes irritated. You also get angry and dismisses the person as rude, and someone
who doesn't value help or friendly offer.
More Example for Fundamental Attribution
Errors
A teacher comes late to school
What is the internal attribution:
What is the external attribution:
A straight A student fails at her math exam for the first time
What is the internal attribution:
What is the external attribution:
Example for Self Serving bias
• A person gets promoted/not promoted.
Reason why he/she gets the promotion:
Reason why he/she did not get the promotion:
Shortcuts used in Forming Impressions of
others or in judging others
1. Selective perception
• Any characteristic that makes a person, object, or event stand
out will increase the probability that it will be perceived.
• Since we can’t observe everything going on around us, we
engage in selective perception.
2. Halo effect
• The halo effect occurs when we draw a positive general
impression based on a single characteristic.
3. Horns effect
• The tendency to draw a negative general impression about an
individual based on a single characteristic.
Shortcuts used in Forming Impressions of
others or in judging others (cont.)
4. Contrast effects
• We do not evaluate a person in isolation.
• Our reaction to one person is influenced by other persons we have
recently encountered.
5. Stereotyping
• Judging someone based on one’s perception of the group to which
that person belongs.
• We have to monitor ourselves to make sure we’re not unfairly
applying a stereotype in our evaluations and decisions.
Examples 1. you are left in charge of selecting a team for a soccer game
coming up next week which you need to win by all means. The team
can be a combination of both boys and girls and you end up selecting
more boys than girls only because you expect boys to be better than
girls in soccer.
Example 2. We may assume someone would be an excellent employee
or hard worker because they graduated form an ivy school university.
Example 3. a person might assume that someone they view as
unattractive is also unkind.
Example 4. Imagine Candidate A and Candidate B come in for an
interview on Monday. Both perform well but Candidate A is
significantly more qualified and has a couple of extra years of
experience. They are immediately offered one of the two open
positions.
Example 5. women may be assumed to be less competent than men in
the workplace, which can lead to them being passed over for
promotions and denied other opportunities.