Personality & Learning Flashcards
Personality
Relatively stable set of psychological characteristics that influences the way an individual interacts with their environment and how they feel, think, and behave
Susceptible to change through adult learning experiences
Personality predicts things (important to know about)
Attribution
Process by which we assign causes or motives to explain people’s behaviour
Dispositional & situational
Interactionist approach/interactionism
Organizational behaviour is a function of dispositions and the situation
Most widely accepted theory today
Personality has most impact in weak situations (not clear how a person should behave)
Personality has less impact in strong situations (clear expectations about expected behaviour)
Trait Activation Theory
Personality traits lead to certain behaviours only when the situation makes the need for that trait salient
Fit: put the right person in the right job
Basic Model
Person/personality leads to thinking/feeling a certain way, leading to behaviour/performance
Dispositional approach
Can look at the person, the environment, or the interaction between them in producing behaviour
Trait
Person, individual difference, personality
Stage (situation)
Environment, situation
Trait X State
Person (P) x environment (E)
Five Factor Model of Personality
CANOE (conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism/emotional stability, openness to experience, extraversion)
Efficient
Culturally robust
Heritability and stability
Factor analysis
Locus of Control
Individuals’ beliefs about the location of the factors that control their behaviour
High internals: opportunity to control their own behaviour resides within themselves
High externals: believe that external forces determine their behaviour
Self Esteem
Degree to which a person has a positive self evaluation
High: favourable self images
Low: unfavourable self images, uncertain about the correctness of their opinions, attitudes, and behaviours
Behavioural Plasticity Theory
People with LSE are more susceptible to external and social influences than those who have HSE
LSE people are more pliable
LSE people seek approval from others, do not react well to ambiguous situations
Positive Affectivity
Experience positive emotions and moods like joy and excitement and view the world in a positive light
Cheerful, enthusiastic, lively, sociable, energetic
Negative Affectivity
Experience negative emotions and moods like fear and anxiety and view the world in a negative light
Overall negative view of themselves and the world
Tend to be distressed, depressed, unhappy
Proactive Behaviour
Taking initiative to improve one’s current circumstances or creating new ones
Proactive Personality
Unconstrained by situational forces and act to change and influence their environment
Stable personal disposition
Persevere until they bring about meaningful change
Related to positive job outcomes
General Self Efficacy (GSE)
Individual’s belief in their ability to perform successfully in a variety of challenging situations
Motivational trait because reflects people’s belief of success not how they feel about themselves
Develops over lifetime
Experiencing many successes = high GSE and vice versa
Core Self Evaluations (CSE)
Multidimensional trait and broad personality concept that consists of several more specific traits
Individuals hold evaluations about themselves and their self worth or worthiness, competence, and capability
Made up of four traits: self esteem, general efficacy, locus of control, neuroticism (emotional stability)
Learning
When practice or experience leads to relatively permanent change in behaviour potential
Rules out viewing behavioural changes caused by factors like drug intake or biological maturation as learning
Practical Skills
Job specific skills, knowledge, and technical competence
Intrapersonal Skills
Problem solving, critical thinking, learning about alternative work processes, risk taking
Interpersonal Skills
Interactive skills such as communicating, teamwork, conflict resolution
Cultural Awareness
Learning the social norms of organizations and understanding company goals, business operations, and company expectations and priorities
Operant Learning
Subject learns to operate on the environment to achieve certain consequences
B F Skinner
Behaviour is controlled by the consequences that follow it
Reinforcement
Stimuli strengthen behaviours
Reinforcer: stimulus that follows some behaviour and increases or maintains the probability of that behaviour
E.g. sales commission is reinforcer for sales people
Positive Reinforcement
Increases or maintains probability of some behaviour by the application or addition of a stimulus to the situation
E.g. food, praise, money, success
Negative Reinforcement
Increases or maintains the probability of a behaviour by removing a stimulus from the situation
Also occurs when a response prevents an event or stimulus from occurring
Negative reinforcer: removed or prevented stimulus
E.g. nagging
Extinction
Terminating reinforcement maintaining an unwanted behaviour
Without reinforcement a behaviour will dissipate over time
Punishment
Following an unwanted behaviour with some unpleasant, aversive stimulus
Nasty stimulus applied after a certain behaviour, decreasing the probability of it occurring later
E.g. criticism
Increasing Effect of Punishment
Chosen punishment is aversive
Punish immediately
Do not reward unwanted behaviour
Do not inadvertently punish desired behaviour
Triadic Reciprocal Causation
Personal factors and environmental factors work together and interact to influence people’s behaviour
People’s behaviour also influences the environment and personal factors
Social Cognitive Theory
Emphasizes the role of cognitive processes in regulating behaviour
People learn by observing behaviour of others
Manage our own behaviour by thinking about consequences of actions, setting performance goals, monitoring performance and comparing to goals, and rewarding themselves for goal accomplishment
Observational Learning
Process of observing and imitating the behaviour of others
Learning occurs by observing or imagining behaviour of others (not through direct personal experience)
See the consequence of behaviour for others
Self Efficacy Beliefs
Beliefs people have in their ability to successfully perform a task
Task specific cognitive appraisal of one’s ability to perform a task
Can have different efficacy beliefs for different tasks
Can be changed and modified in response to sources of info
Self Regulation
Employees use learning principles to manage their own behaviour
Observing own behaviour, comparing behaviour with the standard, rewarding oneself if behaviour meets the standard
Discrepancy Reduction
When discrepancy exists between goals and performance individuals are motivated to modify behaviour in pursuit of goal attainment
Discrepancy Production
When goals are attained, they set even higher goals
Organizational Behaviour Modification (OB mod)
Systematic use of learning principles to influence organizational behaviour
Employee Recognition Programs
Formal organizational programs that publicly recognize and reward employees for specific behaviours
Effective Recognition
How a person will be recognized
Type of behaviour being encouraged
Manner of the public acknowledgement
Token or icon of the event for the recipient
Peer Recognition Programs
Formal programs in which employees can publicly acknowledge, recognize, and reward their coworkers work and performance
Training
Planned organizational activities designed to facilitate knowledge and skill acquisition to change behaviour and improve performance
Development focuses on future job responsibilities
Behaviour Modelling Training (BMT)
Training method in which trainees observe a model performing a task followed by opportunities to practice the behaviours
Task Performance
Behaviours involved in the transformation of organizational resources into goods and services (e.g. job ad)
Organizational Citizenship Behaviour
Voluntary employee activities that may or may not be rewarded, but contribute to the organization by improving the quality of the setting
