Learning and Decision Making Flashcards
Learning
Permanent changes in an employee’s knowledge or skills that result from experience
Explicit Knowledge
Codified knowledge found in documents, databases, etc.
- Easy to communicate and teach
Tacit Knowledge
Intuitive knowledge and knowhow rooted in context and experience
- More difficult to communicate – gained with experience
- situation specific
Types of Reinforcement
- Positive Reinforcement
- Negative Reinforcement
- Punishment
- Extinction
Positive Reinforcement
desired behavior –> add positive outcome
(participate in class –> get extra credit)
Negative Reinforcement
desired behavior –> remove negative outcome
(participate in class –> less homework)
Punishment
undesired behavior –> add negative outcome
(use phone in class –> have to vacuum classroom)
Extinction
undesired behavior –> remove positive outcome
(use phone in class –> lose 10 points)
Best types of reinforcement for management
Positive reinforcement
Extinction
Timing of Reinforcement
Continuous or Partial Reinforcement
- Interval(Time) or Ratio(Behavior) based
- Fixed or Variable schedule
(Fixed Interval, Variable Interval, Fixed Ratio, Variable Ratio)
Best learning outcomes
- Continuous (every desired behavior - unrealistic)
- Variable Ratio (based on variable number of desired behaviors)
Social Learning Theory
People learn by observing the actions of others and engaging in similar behaviors
(Bobo doll)
Goal Orientation
predispositions or attitudes toward learning and performance that influence how you learn
Types of Goal Orientations
- Learning (building competence is more important than demonstrating competence)
- Performance-prove (demonstrating competence so others think favorably of them)
- Performance-avoid (demonstrating competence so others don’t think poorly of them)
Effectiveness of Goal Orientations
- Learning (positive effects - self confidence)
- Performance-prove (mixed effects)
- Performance-avoid (detrimental effects - anxiety and fear)
Bounded Rationality
Decision makers do not have the ability to process all the available information and alternatives to make an optimal decision
Heuristics
‘rules of thumbs’ or mental shortcuts for decision making
Biases
systematic patterns of errors (or deviations from rationality) in thinking
Types of Biases
- Faulty Perceptions
- Faulty Attributions
- Escalation of Commitment
Faulty Perceptions
- selective perception
- projection bias
- stereotype
- availability
- anchoring/adjustment
Selective Perception
Tendency for people to see their environment only as it affects them (you see what you want to see)
- Ignore certain aspects that are relevant
- Confirmation bias
Projection Bias
Tendency to project our own thoughts, attitudes, and motives onto other people (everyone likes what we like, agrees with our opinions, and is motivated the same way)
- assume everyone has the same decision making criteria as we do
Stereotype
Tendency to make assumptions based on a person’s membership to a social group (guys in suits are smart businessmen, guys in t-shirts are students)
- ignores variability within groups
- can lead to false or illegal discrimination
Availability
Tendency to base judgements on information easiest to recall
- recency bias
Anchoring/Adjustment
Tendency to rely too heavily (anchoring) on a piece of information or train when making decisions
Fundamental Attribution Error
Tendency to judge other people’s behaviors due to INTERNAL/DISPOSITIONAL factors
- fail to consider situational factors
- can lead to unnecessary negative evaluations
Self Serving Bias
Tendency to attribute your failures to external factors and your successes to internal factors (Your D because of a bad professor but your A is because of your hard work)
- ignorance of important external factors
Escalation of Commitment
The decision to continue to follow a failing course of action because of personal investment
